Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Time Management Guidelines for Working Mothers

By Carla Whiting

Many mothers juggle a full-time job while trying to maintain the home for their spouse and children. While it is easy to become overwhelmed, there are a few practical steps that busy mothers can take to save time and cut down on their stress levels.

1. Preplanned Menus- Make weekly menus and grocery items needed; pre-make dishes you will use throughout the week. This alleviate some of the pressure at mealtime.

2. Pre-cook Ready-to-eat Meals - When cooking your meat, go ahead and cook some extra that can be refrigerated or frozen for use later on. The same goes for Spaghetti sauce; make a double portion and then later you can thaw it for more spaghetti or lasagna.

3. Get your neighbors involved: Take turns in cooking the evening meals with other friends and neighbors. Although this involves cooking for more people this has the advantage that you may be cooking only for one night a week - and its fun.

4. Errand planning: Plan your errands in such a way that you can do them on your way to and from work or while in route to some other place. This will save time and fuel and leave you less stressed.

5. Car-pooling with neighborhood moms and alternating rides to after-school events is another great time-saver.

6. Get the family involved! In order to be successful at managing your time you will need to enlist the help of everyone in your household. Draft your children's help in keeping their own rooms cleaned for rewards of some type.

7. Split the housecleaning chores into small tasks that can be managed on a day-to-day basis so that it doesn't overwhelm you. You will find that by doing this you have more time for other things.

8. Be Realistic - There is no such thing as supermom or perfect mom. Learn to say 'no' or you will never find a way to manage your time. - 16463

About the Author: