The fact of the matter is, life these days is not easy for any parent. Long gone are the days where you could raise multiple children on one salary, leaving one parent to care for the kids full time. We all have busy lives to juggle, and sometimes it can feel like everything is just too much to handle. The more you have going on, the more you have to balance.
This is why it’s important to take the “sparking joy” mantra that Marie Kondo has popularized. Is everything that you’re doing absolutely mandatory, or are there things you’re doing out of a sense of obligation, but are taking away from your wellbeing? Here’s some advice for busy moms who want to take control of their lives back.
Family Sitting At Breakfast Table, Mother Holding Baby Boy, Father And Girls Eating Food
Do Less, Accomplish More
You’re never going to do every single thing on your physical or mental to do list, and that’s okay. This is especially true when your kids are young. You’re always going to want your house to look more organized and clean, and it’s never going to be up to the standard in your head. This is when you should adopt a less is more mentality. The more decluttered your space is, the less you’ll have to worry about.
Living or working in a scattered place will lead to more confusion and frustration. Instead of wasting time on organizing stuff you don’t actually need, decluttering allows you to focus more of your time on the important stuff.
Group Your To-Do’s
It can be so overwhelming to try to keep track of everything you have to do and want to do throughout the week. Set aside some time to plan out the week. It should only take about half an hour of your week, and it will save your a lot of time down the road. Try to compartmentalize your to-do list in order to reduce stress over the week.
Group Your To Do’s
Don’t Equate Chores With Self-Care
How often have you taken a vacation day and ended up spending it doing errands, especially ones that are for other members of your family? How often when you do that do you feel restless at the end of the day and wish you had ended up going to work instead?
Of course, errands and chores are necessary, but you must take time for yourself to do things you enjoy. Spend quality time with yourself and your family members in order to keep yourself sane.
Don’t Equate Chores With Self Care
Off-Load Tasks You Don’t Like
If you hate cleaning and you can afford it, hire someone to clean for you. It will help reduce the stress and dread you feel when it comes to that particular task. You can apply this to other tasks or chores. Try to outsource any chores that you do not like or are not particularly good at. Similarly, try to communicate with your partner and try to divide and conquer tasks, that way the responsibility does not fall onto one person and overwhelm them.
Off Load Tasks You Don’t Like
