Back to Work this year! Working Moms (and Dads) share your timesavers!

[tinker&belle]

I have been so happy to stay home with my children the last several years while my children have been young. Now my youngest is going to be in Elementary School next year and I have found a part time job in my field to have something to do and bring in a little extra money.

The extra money will be wonderful and allow us to get serious about college savings. I am hoping to find some time savers to help me with this transition.

I have already:
-Gotten someone to help clean once a month (not budget, but something we have planned on doing if I went back to work)
-Subscribed to Amazon Prime

TIA!

 

[BellsFam]

Time-savers as a working mom for me are:

#1 - extensive meal planning and preparing, (two days a week I plan and/or make meals for three to four days, lunches, etc.); pack everything the night before
#2 - Laundry is done in one day now - I used to space it out over a couple of days... Now it's one day a week, all ironing is done on that day, folded put away and ready to be pulled out to wear at a moments notice
#3 - I cannot afford extra help for cleaning, but we keep up on cleaning by doing one room a day... Monday is kitchen, tuesday is living room, etc.; a little bit of cleaning up for 20-30 mins at a time gets it done and out of the way for the rest of the night/week. Seems to work well for us...
#4 - Try to stress to myself that time with DD and DH is quality over quantity...

 

[wlake]

For my family, with two busy tween boys and a frequently traveling DH, planning is key! Have a good list when you go to the store (grocery, drug, whatever type) so you don't forget anything and have to go back. Keep track of what you're running low on with a list on the fridge or somewhere so you don't have to go scrambling through the cupboards while you're making that list (I'm not good at that). Every weekend, we plan out all of the lunches and dinners for the week as well as the boys' chores. We look at the family's activities (sports, meetings, etc.) and make sure the dinner plan fits in with the plan for the evening time-wise. I can also plan for which evenings I'm going to need help getting the boys places if DH is traveling. I also plan laundry (wish I could do it once a week, but one uniform and two games a week dictate otherwise!) so everyone has the right clothes clean at the right times during the sports seasons and bathing suits are clean in the summer.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Congratulations on this new stage. I also stayed home with my children and only recently started back with a part-time job. It is a strange transition at first, but you will get used to it.
Like others said, planning is the key. Plan everything you can on weekends. I also make up individual breakfast foods on Sunday night.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Laundry - I do laundry a little differently. My kids bring their dirty laundry to my bedroom closet each night where I have two small baskets for darks and whites. When a basket is full (this only takes a day or two at the most), I put it in the washing machine that morning before work. It goes in the dryer when I get home. I fold it, and each kid takes their own stuff back to their room. This is the only way I've found to keep up with it. I don't want to spend half my Saturday doing 6 loads of wash!

Meals & grocery shopping - I second everyone's ideas about menu planning and grocery shopping lists. I do the same. I'm a teacher so I finish work in the afternoon. I try to get the grocery shopping done on my way home from work. I drive right by the store on my way home. If I don't do it then, I don't do it because once I'm home, I don't want to go back out!

House cleaning - This is the hardest part for me. I like a super clean and tidy house. I had to relax my standards a bit. My kids help. They freshen their own bathroom between deep cleanings. One vacuums the house, the other dusts the house. They do this between their sports and school activities at least once every 3 weeks. They started helping with this stuff when they were 8 and 10 years old. I clean the kitchen and bathrooms. This year I have taken on more hours at work and DS is going away to college so I am thinking about getting a cleaning lady once a month. We'll have to see if I can afford it with the college expenses though.

I try to get most of my chores done during the week. I'm a teacher so I also try to get most of my school work done during the week too. When my children are doing homework, I'm doing chores or my own homework. Weekends are for FUN with my family. I do not want to do chores on my weekends.

 

[Debbie]

Time-savers as a working mom for me are:

#1 - extensive meal planning and preparing; pack everything the night before
#4 - Try to stress to myself that time with DD and DH is quality over quantity...

Laundry - I do laundry a little differently. My kids bring their dirty laundry to my bedroom closet each night where I have two small baskets for darks and whites. When a basket is full (this only takes a day or two at the most), I put it in the washing machine that morning before work. It goes in the dryer when I get home. I fold it, and each kid takes their own stuff back to their room. This is the only way I've found to keep up with it. I don't want to spend half my Saturday doing 6 loads of wash!

Meals & grocery shopping - I second everyone's ideas about menu planning and grocery shopping lists. I do the same. I'm a teacher so I finish work in the afternoon. I try to get the grocery shopping done on my way home from work. I drive right by the store on my way home. If I don't do it then, I don't do it because once I'm home, I don't want to go back out!

House cleaning - This is the hardest part for me. I like a super clean and tidy house. I had to relax my standards a bit. My kids help. They freshen their own bathroom between deep cleanings. One vacuums the house, the other dusts the house. They do this between their sports and school activities at least once every 3 weeks. They started helping with this stuff when they were 8 and 10 years old. I clean the kitchen and bathrooms. This year I have taken on more hours at work and DS is going away to college so I am thinking about getting a cleaning lady once a month. We'll have to see if I can afford it with the college expenses though.

I try to get most of my chores done during the week. I'm a teacher so I also try to get most of my school work done during the week too. When my children are doing homework, I'm doing chores or my own homework. Weekends are for FUN with my family. I do not want to do chores on my weekends.

Love the laundry idea! Wish I'd done that when my kids were little. I'm lucky enough to have had a stay-at-home hubby, and he did the laundry (still does)

Planning is key in my head.
Plan for the meals (I wrote them on the calendar for the week). I also did once-a-month cooking when the kids were little, so that meals were in the freezer (BEST use of money when you have a young family!) Planning the shopping trips so that they are on the way to/from work, or done in one fell swoop worked for me. I froze sandwiches, too, for the week. Each family member took a day to make all of the lunches: grab sandwiches from the freezer, add fruits, veggies, drink box, and cookie or rice krispie treat (DH makes these to this day!) They helped with this once they were in grade one. I made sure the food was in the house and freezer, and they packed. Planning for dressing the next day....clothes were (are still!) laid out the night before. That does require checking the weather, but that doesn't take too much time before bed.

The whole family can help with chores. Even little kids can vacuum, dust, clean the toilet (love to play with that brush while I did the other parts of the room). Giving them responsibility for family as well as personal chores give kids a sense of accomplishment, but, even more important a sense of worth.

 

[kj2mom]

Have patience with yourself and your family while you all adjust. It most likely will not happen overnight (like we probably want it to) but it will happen. Go easy on yourself while you put the pieces together and figure out what works best for your family!

 

[rnorwo1]

Narnia, What do you do ahead of time for breakfast? I want them to have a healthy, protein based breakfast each day, but sometimes that goes to the wayside if we are running late. My oldest is starting high school that is a 50 minute drive away, so I've got to get all the kids out of the house an hour earlier this year, and I don't want to sacrifice breakfast!

 

[crisi]

My kids do their own laundry and have since elementary school (mine are now high schoolers). My daughter is responsible for emptying the dishwasher, my husband or I stack. With high schoolers, everyone usually feeds themselves - we aren't too successful having meals around baseball, drama, school events, social lives, and work. If I put something in the crockpot, when its time to eat everyone turns up their nose at what is ready and makes their own thing. So there is plenty of lunchmeat, cheese, eggs, mac-n-cheese, etc for them to self prepare.

 

[java]

Narnia, What do you do ahead of time for breakfast? I want them to have a healthy, protein based breakfast each day, but sometimes that goes to the wayside if we are running late. My oldest is starting high school that is a 50 minute drive away, so I've got to get all the kids out of the house an hour earlier this year, and I don't want to sacrifice breakfast!

Not narnia but our go to is a breakfast burrito. I freeze them. I buy the big tortillas. Then after I stuff I wrap in wax paper and cut in half. wrap again. Then freeze- they can be nuked for about a minute and are good to go.

What I put in has changed through the years depending on who is eating them. Our current version is Scrambled eggs, chopped potatoes(cooked leftovers) cooked breakfast sausage cut into chunks. tomatoes, Hot peppers and cheese. roll and wrap- freeze.

Another one that is carb heavy that I don't eat but they do is sausage and cheese biscuits.

It's all make ahead that makes it easier. I find that on Sunday I make those burritos. I pre cut all my veggies ect that I am going to use during the week. I try to prep any crockpot meals that I can have in the freezer for those days that I am not feeling it.
The trick is to have plenty of grab and go type meals. I thought I would have no problem cooking dinner as I was getting home at 4- well surprise I was exhausted and some nights just wanted to scramble eggs and call it a day.
Unfortunately the family didn't feel the same way.

I just got a freeze it cookbook from the grocery store to make a few meals to have on hand once school kicks back in (I work during the school year)
Good luck and it's amazing how much more organized you can become when you have to.

Oh yes and have clothes ready to go the night before including all jewelry ect. For everyone- means shoes and socks together ready to go. That evolved after a frantic WHERE ARE MY SOCKS morning.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

My kids do their own laundry and have since elementary school (mine are now high schoolers). My daughter is responsible for emptying the dishwasher, my husband or I stack. With high schoolers, everyone usually feeds themselves - we aren't too successful having meals around baseball, drama, school events, social lives, and work. If I put something in the crockpot, when its time to eat everyone turns up their nose at what is ready and makes their own thing. So there is plenty of lunchmeat, cheese, eggs, mac-n-cheese, etc for them to self prepare.

I hear ya! Once DS started driving and working, I got a text each evening around dinner time - "What's for dinner?" If he liked it, he'd come home to eat. If he didn't, he'd feed himself. He's been eating at home more these days because he's trying to save all his earnings for college spending money.

 

[crisi]

I hear ya! Once DS started driving and working, I got a text each evening around dinner time - "What's for dinner?" If he liked it, he'd come home to eat. If he didn't, he'd feed himself. He's been eating at home more these days because he's trying to save all his earnings for college spending money.

I have my mother's hatred of cooking for people who don't show up. So when that started happening, I stopped cooking.

My daughter is somewhat less self sufficient, but she doesn't starve. My son has become a pretty good cook with a fairly wide repertoire of fairly quick to make foods.

 

[havaneselover]

Single mom--I had to go back to work when my younger child was in kindergarten. Here is what I do:

1) Use a grocery shopping list app (my shoppi) to minimize unnecessary trips because I realize we're out of something we need.

2) Meal plan--make sure I have what we need to get us through the week.

3) Put the kids to work--my kids have made their beds since they were three but now they have to clean their own rooms, help with dinner, take the dogs out, take the garbage out, etc.

4) Multi-task--I exercise in the morning at home and while I'm on the stairmaster I've got my laptop on the reading rack and take care of administrative stuff (check bank balance, pay bills, respond to emails, see what's on sale at the grocery store, etc.)

5) Do my shopping online (clothes, shoes, gifts, etc.)--generally there's a better selection and with ebates and online coupons it's usually cheaper.

 

[Teresa Pitman]

For breakfast my kids loved overnight steel cut oats cooked in the slow cooker, with cinnamon and diced apples. When I served it out in the morning I'd add peanut butter or almond butter, a little almond or soy milk, and maybe some berries. Any leftover oatmeal can go in the fridge to be reheated on another morning.

Another thing that worked for me was to take a sliced loaf of bread, cook the slices as French toast, let them cool, and then put the slices back in the plastic bread bag and freeze it. You can pull out a couple of slices in the morning, toast them, and serve with a little fruit and maple syrup.

 

[gatormom2tots]

Getting ready over here...I am a teacher and my husband is an attorney. We have 4 kids- one who spends 10 hours in gymnastics a week and another who spends about 5 hours at Karate a week. The 4 year old is quickly following in her footsteps and is already in the gym about 2 hours a week. The one year old is the only one with a simple schedule right now! The struggle is VERY real!

My husband, unfortunately, is not able to help much with the housecleaning. He started his own practice about a year ago and is crazy busy. We started a new "chore chart" this summer in prep for the upcomig school year. Basically, I have had to relax my OCD compulsions with the house cleanliness and delegate to the older ones. It has helped...and I am learning to deal. Our house is about 4500 sq. feet so I have given up the idea of always having all areas clean. The basement often gets neglected for a couple of weeks at a time. I try to stay focused on the areas I actually see on a daily basis (and the areas that cause me great anxiety when it is an absolute mess!) They do bathrooms, laundry, and vaccuuming. They 3 older ones are also responsible for cleaning the living areas and playroom nightly before bed (meaning straightning up). My husband DOES do most of the cooking and grocery shopping.

I also make fruit pancakes and freeze- kids can heat and go in the microwave in the morning- makes it a little easier and they just grab some cheese or yogurt with it for some protein. All clothes, bookbags, etc. are set out the night before. My *plan* is for the older 2 to start packing their own lunches this year....

The biggest thing is routine...routine...routine.

 

[aprilchem]

Another working mom here - I'm a college professor and DH is and engineer. We have 3 kids (1st, 3rd, and 4th grades).

I concur with everything everyone's said about meal planning - I cook entirely from scratch, so meal planning is a must. I meal plan about 10 days at a time and try to only get groceries every 10 days or so (except for milk and eggs). I cook a hot breakfast each morning, but it's usually something make-ahead - pancakes that I've cooked on the weekend and frozen, overnight casserole, steel cut oats in the slow cooker, etc. And I do a lot of prep on the weekends when I have a little time.

I have a housekeeper who comes in once a week to do deep cleaning, and I've worked hard to get everyone in the house used to picking things up on a daily basis. DH helps with laundry, and the older kids walk and feed the dogs. Another thing that really helps is to make sure everything possible is done the night before - backpacks packed, lunches packed, everything signed, etc. And finally, recently I've been able to get the kids off the bus 3 days a week, which is really helpful. It gives me a few hours before DH gets home to hang out with the kids!

 

[barkley]

when both dh and I were both working we would-

1. print out the school menu the month prior (our school's comes available on-line about a week or two prior to the next month). kids would indicate which days they would have hot lunch (different color sharpie for each kid) so I knew which days to make cold lunch. lunches were prepped the night before and put into lunch boxes which were set inside fridge ready to go.

2. have a basket (I used a plastic laundry) that was kept at the point everyone entered and exited the house. the night before school nights EVERYTHING that had to leave with us went into the basket inside backpacks (except lunches). shoes for the next day were put there as well. we have a hall tree so their jackets were already in a designated place. in the morning the lunches went into the backpacks and the whole basket went to the car. when we dropped off at school or the bus stop the kids got their backpacks out of the basket, at pickup they put them back in. when we got home I would clean out the backpacks to get the lunchboxes and any paperwork sent home to us (when kids did homework it went right back into backpacks). made it much easier getting out of the house w/o someone panicking they had forgotten something.

3. I still use an old school paper calendar (on the fridge so everyone can see what's going on), so I print out the academic calendar when it comes out (our district does the following years in the prior spring). I write down all holidays and minimum days-this was tremendously helpful in knowing what days dh or I would have to have vacation requests submitted for.

4. ADVANCE plan regular medical and dental appointments around your kid's school schedule-these appointments can fill up FAST so I try to get their 6 month dentals and healthy kid medicals scheduled as soon as the providers will allow so that I could get my sick leave requests in early.

5. we also meal planned-and did big cooking's on the weekends so we could freeze to cook during the week. if I was making something like lasagna, enchiladas or meatloaf-I made at least 3 so that I had extras for the coming weeks. I often cooked something large like a turkey or a roast on the weekend so we had leftovers for lunches. bought meat in large packages at Costco and broke them into freezer bags with the exact amount needed for most recipes (I do mine in 1# batches). used the crock pot and bread maker allot during the winter months-prepped the food the night before to toss in and start up when we lift, set the bread timer to be done when it was dinner time. took some of the bulk meat and precooked it-like ground beef. i would brown it and put it into 1 or 2# bags that could be quickly defrosted. if we wanted Mexican food one night i had only to add seasoning and warm it, Italian-the same, add seasoning and put into a pot of either defrosted homemade sauce or in a pinch-jarred.

6. signed up for any school notifications that had the option of electronic notification on both the home and cell phone. i get calls to both if there's an early release/late start due to weather, i get an email that notifies when the money in their lunch account gets down to a certain level.

 

[MomToOne]

Single Mom here. Adopted DD when she was 16 months old, had to be back at work when she was 17 months old. She's now 15, so I've been doing this awhile!

I have one piece of advice that is different than what others are posting: Embrace the word "No". Will you be room mother this year? No. Can you bake 2 dozen cupcakes? No. Can you organize a party for so-and-so at work? No. Can you chaperone the field trip? No. Can I have a really big birthday party this year? No.

You need to protect your time, no one else will for you. The first few times it's hard - women are raised to think we need to make everyone else happy so you feel guilty. But after awhile, it becomes much easier LOL You have to realize you can't do it all, and you need to prioritize what is important for you. Use the "No" to eliminate what really isn't important.

Oh - and one more thing - those roasted chickens in the stores! Lifesavers. I can get 3 meals out of one

 

[HM]

We did Instant Breakfast. School started earlier than the kids get hungry, but they needed something in their tummies to get them going until lunch.

The crockpot is your friend.

Don't worry if you house looks 'lived in'.

 

[havaneselover]

Here's one more someone made me think of. I have a weekly and a monthly dry erase calendar on my fridge. I write activities, tests, quizzes, dinner, etc. on it. It helps me plan out the week and helps the kids keep track of what's going on. I have calendars on my phone and iPad and a shared calendar app with my ex and the kids, but seeing something written out when I'm grabbing oj in the morning keeps me on top of things.