Whether you are employed outside the home and carry the weight of household responsibilities as a mom on top of your 9 to 5 or you are a household manager mom, it can be exhausting and sometimes overwhelming just doing the day-to-day.
In the home, you’re homemaker, caretaker, chauffeur, nurse, dietician, scheduler, teacher, just to name a few of the roles you’re responsible for, but it doesn’t have to be complicated, mama.
I’m in year 3 of being a stay-at-home mom, and I have to say it’s getting easier… sometimes, haha. With these eight tips for simplifying motherhood, I think it can get easier for you too, so if you’re in the thick of it and overwhelmed, feeling underappreciated, or like it’s too much just know simplify where you can, mama.
1.) Daily essentials – the daily essentials in my house are my non-negotiables. For me, this includes running the dishwasher nightly and unloading in the morning, doing a load of laundry (from start to finish), make beds, and dust mop. These are the things that help me feel like the house is clean even if it isn’t totally clean. By staying on top of these things, it’s easier for me to give time to other bigger things more often too.
2.) Sunday reset – I’ve recently started taking this more seriously. Sundays aren’t days for big projects,but instead I like to get my mind right for the week ahead. During morning coffee I like to take a pen and notebook and brain dump. I dump all of my “goals” for the week onto paper no matter how big or small. Previously I used to do daily to-do lists and this left me feeling defeated because they were left incomplete regularly. With a weekly list of goals, I feel more accomplished because I can break things up into smaller tasks making them easier to get done. In addition to my goals, my Sunday reset includes resetting the house. I don’t do any deep cleaning, just use this time to catch up on any small tasks from the week that were left undone.
3.) Habit stacking – I’ve been trying this approach to getting things done for a while now and it’s proven super helpful. I used to be someone who rarely looked up at my ceiling fan, and I did it was a complete shock as to how filthy it had gotten. After seeing a tip on Pinterest for using a pillow case to dust your ceiling fan, I now think to dust ceiling fans anytime I change sheets. Another habit I’ve found helpful to stack is hauling recycling anytime I go to the grocery store. I used to, up until recently, chuck any plastic or cardboard down our basement stairs creating a hazard for the next person to go down them, and only hauling these off when we could no longer see the basement floor. I was embarrassed for anyone to see our basement! But about a month ago I thought “why don’t I move the recycling bins into the pantry and haul them off once they’re full?” We live in a rural area, so trash and recycling aren’t hauled away for us, but luckily I pass by the recycling center anytime I drive into town. Hauling recycling has paired great with going to the grocery store, because I grocery shop weekly, so now I haul recycling whichever day I choose to go to the grocery store as a sort of ‘out with the old, in with the new’ policy.
4.) Reevaluate your current systems – Like I did with recycling, start with a stressor and ask yourself “how can this be easier?” Then if you’re completely at a loss for how to change it, either crowd source ideas with friends and family or Google alternative solutions. For the longest time, I did laundry two days a week, about midweek and on the weekend. As our family grew, this system stopped working for us. A friend mentioned she did laundry daily and this really worked for her, so I tested it. It’s been working great for us for the past two years, so that’s what we do now.
5.) Implement a minute rule – Now, you define whether this is 2 minutes or ten minutes. I’ve seen both and everything in between. This rule is where if you see or touch something that needs attention and can be handled in the allotted time you’ve decided, then you take care of it right away. I am QUEEN of procrastination and I often convince myself something is “too hard” or will take “too much time”, but with this rule if I say, need a fork but they’re all in the clean dishwasher, then instead of simply reaching in, grabbing the fork and closing the dishwasher, I will take the 3ish minutes to completely unload the dishwasher while I have it open already.
6.) Think of your future self – Piggy-backing slightly here, similar to the minute rule, if there’s something you can do to help your future self out, just do it. I’m queen of not taking my own advice, here. This is so hard, and especially if you’re like me. I’m more of a morning person, though I need caffeine to feel human, than I am a night owl. In the evenings is when I’m more likely not to think of my future self. It really helps me out, to feel less chaotic in the morning, if in the evening I just do a quick tidy including loading and running the dishwasher, programming the coffee pot and a quick dust mop. This leaves me feeling refreshed and thankful the next morning as opposed to feeling like I’ve been thrown to the wolves as soon as my feet the floor. Do I always do this? No. But on the days I do, it feels so much better. Another way I do this is when I’m fixing a meal that I know freezes well, I double (sometimes triple!) it. Then, put half back in the freezer. This way, next time we’re in a dinner run/ busy season / sick etc (the list goes on…) you have something quick and easy to fall back on!
7.) Take time for you, mama – I know. You don’t want to hear anymore about self-care or pouring from an empty cup, but it’s true. Take back some sort of time for you during your day. For me, this used to be while my oldest was our only and was still asleep in the mornings and again during his nap, but now that we’re a family of 4, I find a small pocket of silence anywhere I can. Oldest at school, baby’s asleep in the car – turn on a podcast. Husband gets home from work early, hand him the kids – grab the longest shower of your life. Whatever this looks like for you, take it. Savor it, and promise yourself to somehow make it a habit. Make YOU a habit.
8.) Find your people. Village. Sisters. Whatever is available to you, hold your people close. For me, that’s my husband, my mom, my sister-in-law, and one of my best friends. These are the people I can count on, without judgment when my cup needs filling, I’m hangry and tired to speak words of wisdom or take the kids to give me a break. People are important. Find your people. We’re not meant to do this alone.
I hope you find these 8 tips helpful and encouraging, mama. What is something that you find makes juggling all of the tasks of motherhood easier for you?