3 Tips for Keeping up with my house!!! – Balanced Life

Is it possible for a working mother of three to have “balance” in life???  This is a question I have asked myself since the birth of my first child over a decade ago and my quest for balance has not been conquered yet.  Why?  As you enter and exit different stages of life, you must readjust your activities (and mindset) in order to achieve balance.  Inadvertently, your definition of “balance” changes.  In the meantime, here are some helpful tips on how to work towards a balanced life.
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1.       Outsource Cleaning.  Are you spending your free time cleaning, instead of taking walks, reading, or playing with the children?  Consider hiring someone to clean your home for you.  Instead of spending late evenings cleaning or having Saturday morning family cleaning parties, pay a cleaner to take on this mandatory, but time consuming, task.  Short on cash?  Choose a cleaner who can accommodate your needs.  Instead of a full cleaning each week, have your cleaner come for 2 hours to clean the high traffic areas (such as bathrooms and floors) on alternating weeks.  At $20/hr, that’s a $80 cost monthly, but a much bigger, happier payoff!
2.       Plan your meals for the week.  Planning for the month is ideal, but not as sustainable.  The key here is to plan some meals throughout the week that are very easy, so easy that your child can help by preparing one of the meals for the week.  Consider cooking double portions so that you can have leftovers.  Leftovers work best on the family’s favorite foods, so go easy on the mushroom covered liver!
3.       The Sock Bag!   As the family fills the dirty clothes hamper, put all of the socks in a separate laundry bag.  The socks are washed and dried in this bag so that when it’s time to fold clothes, all of the socks are already together.  This tremendously reduces the amount of time you normally spend hunting and gathering socks.

Sherlonda Adkins