Ask the Domestic Life Stylist: Time Management Tips for Moms

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Ask The Domestic Life Stylist

Lisa our resident fine living expert answers your questions each Thursday.

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Is it possible to work outside the home, prepare healthy meals, be a good wife and mom and keep a clean house etc… all successfully? I fall off right at the healthy meal preparation part. I need some advice. 
~Tina, Arizona

First off, I want to tell  you that you are not alone in your quest for balance in your life. Managing life at home with kids is a lot of hard work. Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you are alone in this. Like you, I have some days that are better than others. We live in a culture of multi-taskers with to-do lists that never seem to end.

That being said, here some of my tips for packing it all into a twenty-four hour day.

Prioritize

To-do lists work well for things you actually want to do. Scheduling items on an appointment calendar with deadlines is a much more effective strategy. Think about it for a minute. If I asked you to pick me up at the airport for 3pm on Saturday, I am guessing that if you told me you would pick me up, then you wouldn’t leave me stranded.

Why? Well, because I suspect that “being reliable” is important to you and therefore high on your list of priorities. Not only that but, having an actual time and date for the task means that you don’t get to skip it over like you would if it were on a list of other unfavorable things that you may have to do. So at 3pm, I would expect to see you waiting at the curb with a warm smile, waiting to pick me up.

Apply this concept to home management. Schedule time for grocery shopping, meal planning and making healthy meals. Thanks to the era we live in, no longer do you have to  thumb through several cookbooks for ideas for healthy recipes. Websites like SkinnyTaste allow users to navigate tons of yummy recipes for free!

Stephen Covey said it best when he said, “The key is not to prioritize your schedule but, schedule your priorities”. 

Outsource

It’s a fallacy that you have to do it alone. Ask for help if you need it. It’s not a sign of weakness but rather a sign of strength to ask for help. Talk to nearby relatives and friends and ask them for help with the kids, running errands and completing small chores. If you don’t have relatives and friends that live nearby, have a candid conversation with your spouse and ask for help.

Talk about ways that he can help you manage what needs to get done. Resources like Care.com make it easy to hire nannies, cleaning services and even pet sitters from the convenience of your computer. If you are going to use this route, I highly encourage using  pre-screening options as well as getting references from the job candidates.

Use the time that you earn from outsourcing to make healthy eating a priority. Batch cook meals when you have chunks of time (maybe nights or weekends). Plan your meals proactively instead of using a reactive approach to navigate meal time.

The shocking truth about home management is that you can’t do it all alone. So utilize these tips to help get on a path of doing what you can and doing it well.

[Tweet “The truth about home management is that you can’t do it all alone… #TimeManagement #Moms”]

Come back on Thursday for another edition of “Ask The Domestic Life Stylist”.

Submit a question here.

You can also tweet a question to Dlifestylist on Twitter or email me at ask{at}thedomesticlifestylist{dot}com. I will select one question to answer every Thursday.

If you are a blogger, this is a great chance to have us feature and link to your blog.

Lisa is a pharmacist turned fine living/travel writer & founder of The Domestic Life Stylist, following her passion for all things food, family and travel. Read more of her lifestyle tips on her blog, learn effective fine living strategies, family travel tips and expand  your culinary horizons.