Moms Talk: How Does She Do It?

It's an easy thing to wonder how a mom (or any parent) gets everything done. Both stay-at-home moms and working moms must accomplish a large amount of tasks every day and still raise their children. 

CNN recently shared this list of survival tips for working moms. 

What are your tricks of the trade? How do you accomplish your goals? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Samantha Goswami
I loved the article and wanted to share it; I could identify with most of the article. I use a calendar (Yahoo) so I connect to it from everywhere. With reminders popping up as emails, I have yet to miss a big event. I write down and send myself an email if I remember anything anytime otherwise I find it is impossible to keep track of everything.
 
With both of us working full time and with no family in St Louis, I try and get most of my chores done on weekends including cooking for three days. Laundry is washed during the week and is sorted on Saturdays. The kids pitch in sorting laundry and my husband does most of the cooking. I clean as I go everyday and get the cleaners every few weeks. Sunday we keep all articles needed for activities during the week in separate bags. We try and finish any homework or projects we know in advance over the weekend. Both the kids do a couple of recreational activities each besides school.
  
I sometimes need to work from home when paged but thankfully it is not a frequent occurrence. There was a time I was on production support and would work any time of the day or night. Thankfully that is now past. I quote from the article "You are one person, indivisible, who just happens to wear many hats. And while I get that the weight of all those hats can wear you down, at least be happy you've got something important to do." 

Jennifer AuBuchon
Interesting article. Some parts of it really spoke to me because they're pertinent to things I'm struggling with right now. In general, I feel that I'm fairly able to "keep up with things" being a "work at home" mom. One of my favorite tools is a website/app called "Cozi." I read about it in Better Homes and Gardens and now use it faithfully.  

It's an online organizational website, more than just a calendar, but that's how I primarily use it.  It allows me to update my calendar from my desktop, phone, or iPad, and it allows me to color code the members of my family, print just one person's schedule for the week or text it to them, etc.  It has a section for creating "to do" lists, shopping lists, journaling, etc.  It even links to meal planning and more.  I love it! One of my favorite finds ever.

I am a big "to do" list maker.  That's how I stay focused.  Otherwise, I get so easily distracted.  I also try to use my time as efficiently as possible.  I will never forget how years ago, when I was a new teacher, I was listening to this teacher (who had 4 boys I think) talk about how she'd put a load of laundry in before she left for work and had one already in the dryer.  I couldn't even conceive of that (of course, I was right out of college, not married, no kids yet, etc.  I had no idea how much time I really had! To me, laundry was a weekend chore that took a couple of hours.  I'm fairly sure it was about a month after my daughter was born that I started to "get it."  I really was going to need to multitask and plan my life out with a little more attention!

My goal as a "work at home" mom is to try to get things done during the day so I am free to run my kids to their activities and enjoy family time in the evenings and on the weekends without the stress of additional chores.  Of course that doesn't always happen.  Sometimes I "play" during the day (go to lunch, go shopping, etc.) and have to "get stuff done" in the evenings, but overall, my kids and husband have it pretty good.  They all have some things they have to do around the house, but I guarantee if I worked outside the home, they'd all have a lot more to do and wouldn't be able to do as many activities as they're able to do now.  I'm very grateful that we're able to keep things balanced like this now! 

Jenny Wescoat
Loved the article. Thought it had some good points that encourage me to think of the big picture. Thankfully, I am not a perfectionist. I am okay with a slightly-better-than-disgusting house. I think that my kids watching a little TV sometimes while I get something pressing done for work is okay, too.

There are a few things I won't budge on, though, and that's what I make a priority: reading with my kids, sitting down to dinner at home together, and talking with my husband after the kids are in bed. One thing I stumbled upon that really helps me is a cleaning list. I keep it posted inside my pantry, and try to get just one or two things done each day. That way, even if the kitchen floor is looking a little crusty, just having it posted on a list reassures me somehow that it's under control.

It keeps me from thinking I have to scrub the entire house in any one day. I've also discovered that a sink full of dishes and an unmade bed are what bother me the most, so if I'm feeling buried, that's what I go for first. 

As far as work, as I wrote in a column a few weeks ago, I have a lot of flexibility in my freelance writing. I have deadlines, but I usually get the work far before it's due. So I try to not procrastinate and instead attack it early. It is almost a sure thing that someone will get stomach flu and need my constant attention if I put a project off until the last minute. I often think that I could keep up if laundry would just go away!

This weekend my husband's brother got married and between the rehearsal and the busyness of having three of my immediate family in the wedding party, I did not get to any laundry for two days. What I thought would be a relaxing Sunday started with a realization that there was a mountain of clothing waiting for me under the laundry chute. With adding a new member of the family in December, I'm sure it's not going to get any better! I would love to hear the other moms' tips for keeping up with laundry.