Organization Tips For Busy Working Moms

by Dr. Shanthi Thomas

Working mothers are the modern-day superheroes, who do the seemingly impossible task of juggling home and work. They will really benefit from organization tips that will make life easier and more productive. Read on to see these organization tips for working mums:

1. Do not strive to be a supermom

A busy working mum should not strive to be a supermom who will not make any mistakes and who cannot tolerate imperfection. You are a human being, and you are juggling work and home. Your house may be messy and you may be late to work sometimes. You may not be able to be the image of the ideal mum that is ingrained in our social consciousness. It is ok. As long as you are able to maintain a balance between work and home life, and as long as you are comfortable with that balance, things will be fine.

2. Ask for help

When you have too many things on your plate, do not hesitate to ask for help, and hire paid help. Tasks that can be delegated are house cleaning, laundry, ironing, lawn mowing, car washing, basic cooking and driving kids to school. This will leave you with enough time to spend with your kids, read them stories, or check their homework. If you are a working mother who cannot spend money on hired help, see if your family members can help. The best people to delegate house work to is your own husband and children. If you divide the work in equal and fair ways, and train them to do it, that is the best solution for you.

3. Plan. Plan. Plan.

A busy working mother cannot underestimate the importance of intelligent planning. The most important kind of planning is weekly meal planning. On Saturday or Sunday, the whole family can sit together and plan the meals for the coming week – breakfast, brunch to be taken to school, lunch, evening tea time and dinner. The advantage of planning as a family is that when everyone agrees on the meal plan, you won’t have to worry about whether your family will eat what you make. Once the meal plan is made, make your shopping list for the week – groceries, vegetable, meat and fish, depending on what your family likes to eat. You can shop for the following week on the weekend, and thus be free of shopping during weekdays.

4. Train children to wash their clothes and iron uniforms

If your children are above 10 years of age, they can be trained to use the washing machine. A family of three children can have different days allotted to each for washing their clothes, hanging them out to dry and ironing their uniforms. You can have a work completion chart stuck to the fridge on which you can put a tick if the washing for the day is done by the child whose turn it is that day.

5. Get help from household gadgets

Get technology to help you ease your life. An electric pressure cooker 7-in-1 that combines a pressure cooker, rice cooker, sauté pan, steamer, slow cooker, warmer, and yogurt maker is one gadget that can cook up to 70% faster than a normal cooking. If you can afford it, skip vacuuming and use a Roomba instead. Vegetable peelers, corers, food chopping machines and toasters are all godsends for a busy mom.

6. Write things down

Write things down and display it where everyone in the family can see it. Things that should be written down are such as a) who is doing which house chore on a given day b) afterschool activities and tuition timings of kids c) things that are over in the kitchen and should be bought, d) reminders for everyone, and everyone’s mobile phone numbers. Things that should be written down privately by everyone in the family are such as your email passwords.

7. Make a to-do list the night before

Every night, before going to sleep, make a list of things to do the following day, prioritizing your tasks. The Eisenhower Matrix is something you can use to prioritize your tasks. The matrix, developed by the former US President Dwight Eisenhower, helps separate urgent tasks from important ones. Urgent tasks are tasks that you feel like you need to respond to right away, such as emails, phone calls, texts, or news. Important tasks are ones that contribute to your values, long-term mission, and goals. If a task is urgent and important, do it as soon as possible. If it is important but not urgent, schedule it for a later time. If something is urgent but not important, delegate the task to someone else. Tasks that are neither urgent nor important should be dropped from your to-do list.