There is an opinion that a young mother is a woman driven by life, always out of breath with a tortured look, without makeup and manicure and always with disheveled hair. She always does not have time for anything, constantly wants to sleep and never takes care of herself. And if this unfortunate woman still has not one child, but two or (oh, horror!) Three, then she completely resembles a monkey with many children from a popular Soviet cartoon.
In fact, not everything is so scary. There are a huge number of mothers, among whom there are many children, who manage not only to take care of children, but also find time to take care of themselves, cook three-course dinners and surprise guests with the cleanliness of the apartment. Some even work part-time at home, do handicrafts, or go to the gym. And neither a nanny, nor a mother-in-law or a mother helps them, but the most common time management. It is his laws that make it possible to devote enough time to everyday affairs, and rest with entertainment.
1. Clear planning
The golden rule of time management is clear and structured planning of all daily activities. Create a daily planner or family calendar, use bright stickers for reminders, download a planning application to your smartphone, create a special audit trail - choose what is convenient and familiar for you. Carry your to-do list with you or hang it up in a prominent place. It is very motivating to mark completed tasks with a tick.
Plan as big as possible: split the general cleaning into several rooms and distribute it by days of the week, leave the purchase of food on Saturday or another day convenient for you. Plan weekends, vacations, holidays, doctor visits.
Advice: Spend your day carefully recording how many minutes you spend on any activity. Don't miss anything, count not only the time you spent making breakfast or walking with your baby, but also how long you spent on the Internet, looking on social networks for a minute, how much you chatted with your neighbor on the staircase. Already at this stage, time absorbers will be identified, and you will begin to fight with them.
2. Prioritization
No matter how hard you try, you will not succeed in doing absolutely everything. So that at the end of the day not to lament that she had time to watch her favorite movie, but did not wash the floors, tomorrow the mother-in-law will come, and it will be a shame - set your priorities wisely. You can mark them in the planning list with special icons or colors, numbered according to the degree of importance, or underline those that require prompt execution. Divide the priorities into three groups:
- For yourself.
- For husband, children, other family members.
- For strangers (work and other areas of life).
And do not be surprised that at the head of the pyramid is not your family and children, but you. Psychologists have long proven that only a happy, healthy and sleepy mother can make her loved ones happy. Finally love yourself. Nobody needs your sacrifice and it just looks pointless. Who, if not a mother, can charge the household with positive emotions, tune in to a wave of relaxation and enjoyment of home comfort after a hard day's work? And how much positive will the family wait from you if you are barely standing on your feet from exhaustion?
3. Gadgets to help
Such useful inventions as a washing machine, a multicooker, a microwave oven, a nipple and bottle sterilizer, a bottle warmer, a blender, a steamer and many others not only allow you to keep up with the times, but also significantly save time. Of course, it's nice to know what a good mom I am, I wash baby clothes with pens, but believe me, your pointless work will not be appreciated. Buy a good hypoallergenic powder and wash it by hand in a washing machine. The time saved can be spent on games or educational activities with your child.
Do not be afraid to experiment and acquire new useful things: from a potato peeler to a swing chair. At first, the electric kettle seemed useless to someone, but now it is difficult to imagine the most modestly equipped kitchen without it.
4. Electronic assistant
Another gadget that I want to highlight separately is a radio or video nanny. It will come in handy if you have a large apartment or private house. You can turn on the device and do your household chores in peace by putting the parent unit in your pocket. Many nannies have a lot of useful additional functions - breathing and motion sensors, a night light, a thermometer, lullabies, control from the parent unit, and a night mode. It is difficult not to entrust a child with such a perfect mechanism.
- TOP 6 models of the best baby monitors: description, pros, cons, prices
- Rating of the 6 best video baby monitors (description, pros, cons, average price)
5. Online stores
Online shopping is another incredibly useful thing for the modern housewife. While the children are sleeping, you can leisurely make a choice by comparing prices and choosing the promotions that interest you, and the courier will bring the products literally to your doorstep. You can order everything - from diapers to interior items. Just imagine how much time and effort you will save by giving up the hectic crush in the market or in the supermarket, the road through traffic jams back and forth. Devote the free time to yourself, to your beloved - lie in a bubble bath, read your favorite novel, just lie down for 15 minutes with your eyes closed.
Heading: the best children's online stores
6. Walk - do not sleep!
Do not walk with your child in the afternoon or other times when he is sleeping. On the one hand, it is pleasant to take a walk with a stroller in which a baby sniffs sweetly, but at home a wakeful baby will persistently demand your attention. And at this time, if the baby was asleep, you would have successfully completed several household chores. And active being in the fresh air is more beneficial for the child's health.
7. Multitasking
As you write your daily activities into your diary, analyze the notes every night and plan your overlapping tasks. If you think about it, many tasks can be performed simultaneously:
- On the way to the clinic, there is an excellent store of household chemicals, go to it when you go to the doctor's office and get the things you need. You won't have to go to the store separately.
- If you have a trip in the morning, plan more time to cook dinner the day before and prepare double the amount. Then you don't have to rush to prepare lunch after the trip. It remains only to warm it up.
- While chatting on the phone, pick up a damp cloth and wipe off the dust.
- While lunch is cooking, you can, for example, iron the laundry. And the baby at this time will be next to his mother in a sun lounger, on an electric swing, etc.
8. Ask for help
Time management is a really great way out of the addictive swamp of everyday life. But there are situations in the life of every woman when there is no energy left even for time management. Ask for help - mom, husband, mother-in-law, girlfriend or sister. Leave the child with the nanny for at least a couple of hours and go to the beauty salon or go for some pleasant shopping. If there are no relatives nearby and there is no way to hire a nanny, find mummies of little children like you in your city, make friends with them and help each other out on difficult days.
- How to do everything on maternity leave, or 10 rules of a young mother
- 7 useful habits that will save time and energy for a young mother
- Where to find time for mom: 6 tips
- Who will help a working mom?
- 7 home appliances every mom needs
Motherhood is the most beautiful job in the world. No matter how intense and tiring the first months after the birth of a baby are, they will fly by unnoticed and will remain only sweet and touching memories.
