‘This post is sponsored by Ingo Money. All opinions are my own”
My 24/7 MOM days can be crazy. I am sure they are similar to yours – laundry to fold, lunches to pack, beds to make, errands to run, floors to be mopped, meetings to attend, dinner to cook, children to be taxied, and the list goes on and on… never a dull moment. I realized early on in my mom journey that if I was going to survive I better find some Time Saving solutions to avoid my Time Wasters. Today I want to share with you five of my mom time savers.
Time Saver #1 Family Files
Time Waster: Do you find yourself searching for your child’s birth certificate, ID cards, passport, Social Security number, savings account register or other important info? How about those gift cards or tickets to an upcoming event or other important items that seem to disappear?
Time Saver: Create a file for each member of your family… Use these files to hold all those items you are constantly searching for. You can even keep up-to-date health records, emergency information, etc. in them. I then place them in a desktop file system so they are quickly accessible. Now with teenagers they, too, can find what they are in need of by going to their own family file.
Time Saver #2 Surfing and Chatting
Time Waster: If I were to choose one area that I waste some of my precious time – it would have to be surfing the internet. I am sure I could justify all of my clicking from blog to blog and website to website but in all reality it can SUCK my time up if I am not careful. What is your TIME WASTER? Chatting on the phone for endless amounts of time, those weekly even daily TV shows you can’t pull yourself away from or maybe it’s reading junk mail and skimming through catalogs that you will never even order out of.
We can easily get caught up in our time waster habit not even realizing how much time we have actually lost.
Time Saver: I have TWO ideas of how to capture back the wasted time we are losing.
1. Set a Timer and limit the amount of time you use on your habit
2. Do TWO things at once – Such as wear a head set while chatting on the phone so you can fold laundry, clean out a drawer or cupboard, cook dinner etc. while on the phone. Or while watching TV fold laundry, organize your receipts, clean out your purse etc. – I always think what else could I be doing.
Time Saver #3 Lists, Lists, Lists
Time Waster: Are you filling your brain trying to remember all the TO DO’s, TO GO’s and TO CALL’s? ONLY to have get hit with the forgetful MOM Syndrome?
Time Saver: Become addicted to WRITING it down. – Create MASTER To Do, To Go and To Call lists for all areas of your life.
Keep a note pad in your bathroom drawer. Often when I am getting ready in the morning I think of so many things I need to do, so I quickly jot them down, then take it to my desk and transfer to my master lists.
– Keep a note pad in your car. While being the MOM taxi or running my errands it seems I always think of things I need to remember. So, I can easily write them down on my pad of paper, then tear it off and take it to my desk to be placed on my master lists.
Teach/ask your family members to leave notes for you on your desk or kitchen counter or create a hanging message center. If they need you to make an appointment for them, pick up a new bottle of shampoo, sign them up for an activity, etc. have them write it down for you. These notes will assist the MOM memory.
Time Saver #4 Phone Messages
Time Waster: You just know you wrote that phone number somewhere, but you just can’t seem to find it… Did you write it on a napkin, scrap of paper, front of the phone book…???
Oh where, oh where did you write it down? Now your only hope is that they will call back again SOON or you can still trace it back on your caller ID.
Time Saver: Purchase a spiral notebook to use as your phone journal. Write down the messages and cross them off as you return the calls. This gives you a written journal/record so you know where to find your phone messages and an organized system allowing you to quickly see if you have taken care of your calls.
Time Saver #5 End the Morning Madness
Time Waster: Do your mornings consist of craziness, running around like a chicken with your head cut off, scrambling to beat the clock, HOPING just once you will be on time?? Or you wake up and you cannot remember where you need to be today or what needs to get done?
Time Saver: Plan ahead the night before. Think about your mornings – what are you doing each morning that you could have done the night before?
First: Look at your calendar and see where you or your children need to be tomorrow. Look at your to-do list or make one so you know what things you need to accomplish the next day.
Second: Lay out everyone’s clothes. Pack backpacks, diaper bags, sport bags and lunches. Put out the cereal bowls. Find the library books. Fill out the school field trip forms. Place everything (jackets, shoes, bags) that needs to leave with you or your children in the morning by the front door.
It is amazing how much less chaotic your morning and day will be with simple planning and preparation the night before.
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I am blogging on behalf of Ingo Money and received compensation for my time from Ingo Money for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Ingo’s. Learn more about the Ingo Money mobile app at http://www.IngoMoney.com, or connect with the Ingo community at https://www.facebook.com/ingomoney.