We all know that babies are incredibly time
consuming little creatures, and we all know that better organization is
the order of the day. This has never been a particularly strong point
of mine but here are a few pointers I have learned in my trial by fire as
a new mom.
Accept all offers of help from
family, friends, neighbors, husbands and older siblings (the latter
will probably have to be more cajoled but you can at least kill 2 birds
with this one too and teach older kids responsibility). Delegation
becomes a key skill when you have a baby.
Cook in large batches where possible and freeze dinners for
future use (I like to keep these for when I know my husband is traveling for business or going to be late home). If you don’t have a
large freezer, you may want to invest in a separate one for the garage.
I put this off for a long while but wouldn’t be without it now.
Keep a well stocked diaper bag at
hand to grab and go (see my blog on what to pack in the diaper bag), as
well as emergency supplies of diaper, wipes, spare clothes and toys
in each car. There is nothing more annoying than having to make six
trips back into the house to collect forgotten items (she says having
just come back from a trip having forgotten the stroller – whoops!).
Write lists – for everything! I
have lists on my computer that I print out if necessary. These include
emergency phone numbers (including all doctors, hospital, poison
control, babysitters, take outs etc), ongoing grocery store lists for
places like Costco, Target etc, a packing list for trips away, lists
of collected birthday/Christmas presents for people, you name it, I
keep a list for it!
Storage. I got this idea from a
mommy website and have since adopted as my own. Keep a chest in the
lounge or any room in the house for that matter, where you can dump all
the clutter and clobber In a last minute tidy up - when you’re too
tired to find real homes for things, or when someone comes around
unannounced!
Wear hats, big sunglasses, ponytails and carry big bags! For
those days when you don’t have time to wash, blow dry or even brush
your hair, put on make-up, cover up bags from a sleepless night and
hide away all the baby clobber, the above items cover up a multitude of
sins!
Shop online. Of course we can’t
do this for everything but I now seem to use Amazon more than I ever did
before. A couple of other baby specific websites I love to shop with
include Zuliliy and Totsy (member sites that have changing deals on
super cute clothes and other baby and mom related items) .
iPads and other tablets. I know I
already wrote an ode to my iPad, sorry blog. But really, this gift
for having my daughter has been my number one time saver. I keep it
with me on my other hip and do little jobs as I go along and before baby
brain makes me forget. Tap out email replies, pay the amex bill,
renew my library book, oh yes, and shop online.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. Ok,
so the dusting doesn’t get done quite so often, and maybe you become
slightly less discerning with what clothes really need ironing. Maybe
baby even stays in her onesie or sleeper suit on certain days. Three
little words. Lower your standards!
Get an Au Pair from AuPairCare!
Let me know if you have any great time saving tips you would like to share. I would love to hear them…!
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