Busy? That’s an Understatement
I think the fact that I’m busy goes without saying. I keep seeing meme’s that say a mom is supposed to manage doctor’s appointments, school drop offs, working, cleaning the house, cooking dinner AND find time to work out, eat healthy and of course, self-care. Self-care has almost become a bad word to hear because it’s just one more thing that you must have on your schedule. And if you are just ticking a box, is it really self-care?
There are days where the weight of everything we have to do just to keep a family of seven up and running are exhausting and one more thing will set me off. People think it’s absolutely impossible for my husband and I to be starting our mini homestead on top of everything
I am here to tell you that it is not impossible. I use hacks to make my days (and my house) run smoothly. Well…. As smoothly as it can go. When you have this many kids you just accept that your house will be in a constant state of chaos. I just try to keep that chaos moving in a positive direction with right and left limits. Restrain it so we don’t become a vortex each night at bedtime
I’ll take any time-saving hack I can find and give it a try. Some work for me, some do not. But here are 5 time-saving mom hacks that I use every day that work for us.
1. The 10 Minute Tidy
Have you ever set a timer and ran around your house seeing how much you can clean up? I like to make it like a reality-TV show game. I even tell my self “Ready, set, GO!” and then I spring into action seeing how much I can pick up before the timer goes off.
I’ve done it with my kids as well and they go absolutely wild for it. There’s so many ways to make a game out of it. You can focus on one room, you can see who can pick up the most items. Sometimes I let the item that I pick up lead me to the next room. For example, I see a soda can in the living room so I take that to the recycling bin in the kitchen and notice the coffee grounds need dumped and then notice dishes can be loaded. When I follow a trail I don’t get bored.
If that’s too overwhelming spend 10 minutes just on the living room. Remember this is tidying, not cleaning. Clutter is not dirt, but clutter can make your mind feel like a mess. It can increase your anxiety and make it hard to decide on the next logical step. Clean the clutter, clean your mind.
If you do this ten minute tidy every day it will get easier and easier and easier. The more you keep up on your cleaning, the cleaner your house (and your mind) will stay. With 5 kids, there is no shortage of toys in my house. That’s why I involve them in the tidy. They each get assigned an area that gets a lot of clutter: The laundry room, the play room, and the living room. Each day the big kids rotate who is in charge of picking up each room. But each night my house at least looks tidy and ready for a new day.
2. Area Clean
Cleaning my entire house in one day is too much. Cleaning with kids in general is like shoveling snow in a snow storm. As soon as I finish one room another is trashed. It’s disheartening. So instead, back when I only had 2 kids, I devised a schedule that divided my house into 7 sections. Each day I clean one section of the house.
I don’t necessarily mean a deep clean of that are. But I am talking more than just the 10 minute tidy. For example- On Mondays I clean the kitchen. I wipe the counters, the cabinets, the appliances. I clean out the espresso machine, scrub the sink, mop the floor. Any of those cleaning tasks that need to be done readily. The whole process takes me about 30 minutes and I’m done. On Tuesday I do two of the bathrooms. Same thing- scrub the shower, the counters, the toilet, the floors.
Not only is this my opportunity to clean, but it’s also the point where I remove any and all objects that don’t belong in that section. That paper that has been sitting on my kitchen counter waiting for signature, the toy car that ended up on my bathroom sink. The groceries that were delivered and we pulled into the living room but never put away.
Each weekday section really only takes 40 minutes or less which is not that much of a commitment- especially if things get crazy and I need to tack it on to the next day. My husband knows the schedule too so he can help if he gets an early day. This keeps my house clean and doesn’t overwhelm me with having hours of work to do on the weekend while kids are destroying it.
3. The beauty of the Routine
I can not emphasize this enough. Find a routine that works. Weekday mornings and weekday evenings should look relatively the same. Everyone should know exactly what to expect. If there is a deviation from the routine, we have a quick chat at dinner the night before so everyone is on the same page and we keep it moving.
Yes my house is loud and constant chaos but everyone knows where they need to be and the order that things will be done. This keeps the chaos moving forward instead of spiraling.
In my last post I talked about what my day looks like. My weekdays are easy for me to describe because we do the same thing. We follow the same routine. Everyone knows where to be and when and what is happening next. Of all my tips this is the one that makes us truly successful.
4. The Command Center
Find a corner, a wall, an area in your house that you deem “The Command Center”. This should have your family calendar, important schedules, chore charts, anything your family needs to know what is happening every day.
I have seen ads for those skylight calendars everywhere. Instead we have a 15 inch Alexa mounted to my wall that looks like a little TV. This nifty screen contains a to do list, sticky notes, our grocery shopping list and our calendar.
The calendar links to my calendar on my phone so I always have it with me when I need to schedule appointments. The to-do lists and shopping lists are easily found in my alexa ap and I can add to them or edit them from alexa’s all over my house.
Right next to it I have the master whiteboard with the weekly cleaning schedule on it. Just in case Travis forgets that Tuesday is bathroom day he can easily refer back to it so he doesn’t have to ask me what has to be done. Or he can check the to do list on the Alexa for more tasks.
Nearby on the fridge I have a magnetic chore chart for the big kids so they each know their three chores for that day. Next to this is their specials schedule so everyone know when they have art, PE, return library books- anything they need to know.
My whiteboard has a bulletin board around it so I can stick birthday party invites, extra homework, anything we need to get done or remember within the next 30 days.
Keeping everything in one centralized place makes it easy on me but also the whole family to remember key dates and what is happening on each day. Everyone knows where to find it which improves our efficiency.
5. Accept the Chaos
Last but not least accept that sometimes the chaos spirals out of control. Plan for these days as best as you can. For a week straight this summer we went to the county fair. We would come home, drop our stuff and turn around and run out the door.
But we had a plan in place. We had a pile of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made the night before to cut down on costs at the fair. We had a grocery bag stuffed with snacks. Water bottles were refilled as soon as we walked in the door, the stroller was in the car. Everyone knew what HAD to get done in those ten minutes between work and fair. Clothes were laid out to change into, chickens were fed, dogs were let out. The essentials were still done, everything else was planned in advanced as much as we could.
Some nights we shower before dinner because it’s taking too long to cook. Other nights we eat outside so we don’t make a mess on the table. Some nights we eat on paper plates to save time on dishes and clean up. Other days I clean in the morning to save on evening chores or because I didn’t get to it the night before.
Save Your Sanity, Save Your Time
Time saved is also sanity saved which is more valuable than keeping things the way you planned.
What works for my family might not always work for you. If this list seems overwhelming, just pick one thing to try for this week. Try it for a week or two, if it doesn’t work, toss it. There is no reason to stick to something that isn’t working.
On the same lines- don’t stay stuck in a rut. Don’t keep slamming your head against a wall as you push a square peg in a round hole. Every family looks different. Every family operates different. But who wouldn’t want to get some time back in their day? What are your favorite mom hacks? Share in a comment and sign up to get emails every time a new blog is out!
