I have a question for you working moms. Between work, kids, sports, cooking/cleaning, and aging parents…how do you fit it all in? Without time to even think about how we will get it all done, stress quickly becomes our middle name. We just have to move forward and conquer our next priority on our never ending “To Do List.”
There are five simple remedies that can help us de-stress, and I’m not talking about drinking more wine after dinner! Some common things we can implement to help us manage our hectic days and nights include:
- Keeping things simple – With Halloween coming and the kids wanting to dress up and go out to get a pillow case full of candy treats. Who has the time to make costumes or even buy one from your local party store? Have them dig through old costumes and come up with something really original. Last year, my then 12 year old, cut two eyes out of an old sheet and was an old fashioned ghost. He received many comments and high fives for a great costume.
- Morning Routines – Have everyone make their beds, put PJ’s in their hampers and clean up tooth paste in the sink. If everyone commits to this daily routine, the house stay’s a bit cleaner.
- Dinner Time Savers – Slow cookers are great meals in minutes when you arrive home. Especially if the kids have practices, games or need help with homework. There are a ton of slow cooker recipes on line as well as inexpensive slow cooker recipe books. This time of year, the slow cooker helps prepare comfort food as the nights become dark and chilly. Another big time saver is keeping prepared food in meal size containers. Make a big pot of sauce, soups and other meals on the weekend and freeze them in the portion that will work during the week for family dinners. Easy reheat meals saves time and helps to keep families eating healthy and will save money over take out dinners.
- Evening Routines – Get clothes, lunches, gym bag, brief case, and kids back packs, etc. all laid out the night before. Have kids pick up their rooms before they go to bed. So there is no stress in cleaning up while they try to catch the school bus. Then all you need to do is shower, change, throw lunch bags in back packs and brief cases and you’re out the door. I have even gotten into the habit of getting my vitamins out the night before and organized by my coffee cup. Saves about 3 minutes every morning.
- Half Hour Date Night – Instead of dividing and conquering that lengthy “To Do List,” pick something you and your partner can do together, once every two weeks, so you can have some alone adult time. There is a new wine store, by my home, that opened about a year ago. Every Thursday night, they have free wine tasting. It’s great and takes less than a half hour. It allows us to have interesting conversation, learning something fun and new, plus it provides a tasty treat. It really does help to keep connected to our partners without adding stress to taking a full night off. Every month or two, couples should go out without the kids in tow and have a nice dinner alone or with other couples, take in a movie you have wanted to see, etc.
