mom-on-books.png Oh how I remember the days when I was working full-time, going to school and trying to have a social life while raising four children. (Whew, I get tired just thinking about it.)

Today I’m sharing tips to help you stay sane and come out on top of it all.

Get organized, because clutter = chaos.

  • Buy a wall calendar, something that’s easily viewed by you and your children so everyone stays on schedule. Set aside one day each week to do laundry, one day to go grocery shopping, one day to iron clothes, one day to pay bills… These things are great time wasters if you do them every day.

  • Get an in-tray for your children to put papers and permission slips that need your signature in, and an out-tray to put them after you’re done.

  • Everything should have a place. Clothes should be in the closet or drawers, not all over the floor. Shoes should be lined up somewhere where they can be easily found. Put a key hook by the door. Better yet, get a mail holder with key hooks. That way you’ll put your keys in the same place and not waste time looking for them when it’s time to go.

    If your kids get the mail out the box when they get home from school, have them put it in the mail holder, instead of their backpack or under their beds.

  • Buy the same kind of socks. Yeah, you may think it’s cute to mix and match it up but, trust me, it’s a whole lot easier to wash and mate them if they’re all the same.

  • If you’re in school, have a set time that you’ll study. Make the kids respect those boundaries by making yourself off limit. If you have smaller kids, you can do this after they go to sleep at night or during nap time on the weekend. If you have older children, tell them mama isn’t available.

  • Take your clothes out at night. Since you’ve already washed and ironed the clothes on laundry day, it’s really easy now to just take everything out at night (including panties, socks, pantyhose…everything) instead of rummaging through drawers or ironing clothes in the morning.

  • Make quick and easy meals. My kids ate a lot of spaghetti and chili when they were growing up, because I could make a big pot and it would last a couple days.

  • Make TV watching off limits in the morning. You and your kids need to be focused on getting out the door, and not what’s happening on Arthur.

  • Keep a clean house. It’s hard to focus in a dirty house. It doesn’t have to look like you have maid service, but it should certainly look like humans live there.

  • Make lists. I love lists. They’re visual reminders of what I need to do.

  • Introduce your children to the art of earning their keep. Give them chores, as age appropriate. Younger children can mate socks (especially since they’re all the same, remember). Older children can do much, much more.

  • Make time for you. If that means waking up before your kids get up, or finding a babysitter on the weekends, do take time to celebrate womanhood in the midst of motherhood. That can mean doing anything from working out, reading a book or going out on a date. It’s imperative that you have some “me” time.

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