Top tips for the busy working mum

Being a working mum is hard!! There never seem to be enough hours in the day to achieve everything and you often feel like your chasing your tail trying to keep on top of the simplest of tasks such as cooking dinner every evening. When I returned to work full time after having my daughter, I found it really difficult to adjust as there never seemed to be enough hours in the day. I didn’t really appreciate how valuable time management would become when being a working Mum and so I made some changes to our day to day lives that relieved the pressure a little. Here are my top tips for the busy working mum.

Top tips for the busy working mum

Get the weekly shop delivered

This was the big one for me! I hate doing the weekly food shop and we were doing it online to save time, then going to collect it using the click and collect service. However this often meant changing plans or rushing to the supermarket within our allocated time slot. When everything got a bit much, the first change I made was to get the food shop delivered and it is so much better! Most supermarkets offer a flexible service whereby you can choose a four-hour window and it is a little cheaper. We do this and get our shopping delivered between 6.00 and 10.00 when we know at least one of us will definitely be in! It makes shopping much less stressful for the busy working mum.

Hire a cleaner

This isn’t as middle class as you think. When you are a busy working mum it’s really hard to keep on top of the housework and the last thing you want to be doing is tackling the ironing on your precious days off. Cleaners can be as little as £10 an hour and you can utilise their skills as little or as often as you need, Even just a couple of hours a month to change the beds and give the bathroom a good going over could save your sanity in the long run (note this isn’t something we have done yet due to the renovation work still going on, but once that is done we will be!)

Get a gardener

The same thing goes for a gardener. When working full-time hours it can be hard to find enough spare time to get the lawnmower out of the shed (or wherever it is kept) and give the grass a good cut, especially in summer when it seems to grow three inches over night! Find a gardener who can take this pressure out of your hands sending someone to mow your lawn a couple of times a month. This means that next time the sun is shining at a weekend, you’re free to enjoy the day with a white wine in your hand, rather than fighting with a dirty old lawnmower!

Invest in a decent iron

If I cleaner isn’t your thing, then it may be time to upgrade your equipment. I never realised there was such a thing as a ‘super iron’ until I borrowed friends to iron a shirt that had been creased in the car. She had one of those big fancy steam irons and it glided over my shirt in no time! It has cut the time I spend chained to ‘the board’ down by hours!

Make lunches at the same time you are preparing dinner

There’s often a little downtime during meal preparation while you wait for the onions to brown or chicken to cook through. Use this time to whip up some sandwiches for the next day then you have one less thing to do in the morning.

Make time for you

This may seem like an oxymoron when we’re talking about time-saving. But taking some time out for you, to do some exercise or read a book will actually make you more productive. Make sure you schedule out at least one evening a week where you concentrate on you, and let the others in your family know that this time is off-limits.

These tips come courtesy of Emma over on The Halcyon Years Blog

Do  you have any top tips for the busy working mum?