As busy moms, there never seems to be enough time in the day. How do we find the time to workout, stock our kitchens' with healthy foods, work, do chores, take care of our families and cherish each moment before our kids are adults?
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| Fit Mom Time Saving Tips |
I wanted to share some time savers I use that help me add more time to my day. These shave off hours from my week and allow me to enjoy more meaningful moments during the day.
1. Email and Voice Mail
Whether you are a working mom or stay at home working mom, you most likely get alot of emails. At Kiana Fitness we get over 500-1000 emails per day. I try to answer all emails, but it is very overwhelming.
I limit the mornings and late afternoon to checking email. Not throughout the day. It is a time waster to get bogged down with the non-urgent emails, SPAM and sales offers.
Voice Mail:
I check voice mails 3 times per day. If I am busy I let voice mail pick it up.
On the other hand, my dear mother answers every call all of the time. This is good and bad. It's good when I need to talk to her. lol. It's bad when it disrupts special events or conversations.
I feel that it's to my advantage to pick and chose and focus on what I'm doing so it gets done and I don't get side tracked.
2. Organize Paper work
My grand mother who passed away at 98 told me "Touch each paper work ONCE."
To me this means either file it, pay it or toss it. Don't stack it up on the desk. When you open the mail, keep the trash nearby and TOUCH IT ONCE.
3. Charity bag
I keep a Good Will or Salvation Army designated bag in the laundry room. As I wash and fold my kids clothing, I can see what is too small or too worn and put it in the Charity bag right away.
4. Phone calls
I block out 2 hours per day for business calls. This way I can work uninterrupted during the rest of the day without getting interrupted.
5. Just say NO
This was a hard one for me. I like to say YES. I realized early on while juggling hosting 5 ESPN television shows that I cannot do everything.
Now with kids I feel even more busy. There are the endless opps for sports, birthday parties, volunteering at the school, etc. NO is a the first word out of my mouth. Just kidding. But I am selective and try to be realistic.
An opportunity may sound fun, but I visualize the reality of I can really drive the kids to 5 places at once, make cupcakes, lead the Brownie Troop, volunteer at Church, attend business meetings, get the chores done, errands, meet my Mom for lunch, etc. Ummm NO.
6. Delegate
I read an article in one of the Parenting magazines suggesting that 8 years is an ideal time for kids to pack their own lunch or help with chores such as separating laundry. Uh, my daughter has been helping with that since she started kindergarten.
I believe we are a household and all family members need to help out. Sorting laundry is easy and even fun for kids.
Lunch: The night before school, the kids pack their own lunch. To make it easy and control what goes in their lunch boxes, I keep all easy-pack lunch items: Cutie tangerines, bananas, plums, peaches, pre packaged apple sauce and mangerine oranges, crackers, string cheese, flavored water, pre packaged trail mix, etc. in one area of the pantry and frig, so my kids can pick one of each for their lunch. I add the sandwich, check their lunch and it's done.
To make the week fun, we make special meals on certain days. It gives my family things to look forward to. We all got to pick the meals for certain days. My husband LOVES mexican food so he picked Taco Tuesdays. Here is an easy recipe I make if I am pressed for time.
