Tuesday 5 February 2013

Organise your home! (Mommy myth #7)

I spend a fair amount of time on Pinterest. I feed the wee one lying down more often than not, so it's easy to set the iPad up and read while he drinks. That's my excuse, anyway. Man, there are a lot of uses for Nutella in cooking, and vinegar in cleaning. And bucket loads from SAHMs (stay at home 'moms') on how to organise your house, finances, family, faith, marriage... Here are my top tips from the internet on how to stay super on top of things when you are sleep deprived and every moment of your time is spend either interacting with your baby or drinking coffee while they sleep for 40 minutes, and how we have incorporated them into our lives.

Advice: Organise your pantry so that the least used items are on the top shelf, the most used items in the middle shelves, and bulk items on the lowest shelf. Make sure all of your packaged foods are in matching, clear containers that are labelled. 

Close enough: Our appliances are on the top shelf (stock pot, rice cooker and such). In the middle shelves is a wonderful mix of canned goods, pasta of all shapes and sizes, rice, tinned soup that has salt as the main ingredient, and an alarming number of half full (I'm an optimist) packets of crackers. The bottom shelf contains empty, matching, clear containers, ready-to-go, as well as an alarming number of canned tomatoes (my husband can't resist them when they're on special. Mock us now, but when the Zombpocolyps hits, we'll be happily chowing down on cold tinned tomatoes, waiting for the military to rescue us).

Advice: When you cook your evening meal, try to cook extra so you can freeze it and have it on a night when you're too busy to cook. This will stop you from ordering unhealthy take-away meals, saving you money and calories.

Close enough: When people come over, ask them to bring food so you can stock your freezer. When you can't be bothered reheating anything or cooking toast, press one on your speed dial, ask for the usual, and - hang the expense - get it delivered (the cost of going out after 4pm is too high).

Advice: It's important to maintain your hobbies when you have children, so you don't lose your identity, and can have some much-needed "me time". Use pretty boxes to organise your hobby items, and clearly label them. Have a designated room or nook where you can comfortably work and store your things.

Close enough: Stuff things haphazardly into the pretty boxes you bought from Ikea when you went in just to buy a whisk, labeling them as "craft" and place in the spare cupboard. Anything that comes in the post for one of six of your new hobbies you decided on at 3am after reading Pinterest, shove into a new box and experience the joy (and slight shame) of rediscovering it, unopened, 12 months from now. Yay! New hobby!

Advice: Set aside time with your spouse and show him how much you love him by cooking a special meal, presenting him with a home made card, or working on a hobby together, such as scrap booking.

Close enough: Greet your spouse when s/he walks in the door with more than a grunt. Organise baby sitting so you can go out for a few hours, then cancel it at the last minute because a) bubs is sick/whingey/wired, b) bubs is asleep and you want to enjoy the quiet in the comfort of your PJs, or c) sitting on the couch, staring at the same TV set at the same time after spending 3 hours getting your baby to sleep is quality time enough.

Advice: Make time to exercise. Try to do it as a family.

Close enough: When you can't settle your baby, pop him in the pram, pull on some shoes and stagger down the road. This is a good time to talk to each other about your day, the news, and how much you love your child despite having to walk him in your PJs at 1130pm to get him to sleep (after trying for 3 hours). In all honesty, those have been some really enjoyable moments :)

Advice: Love Jesus. Go to church.

Close enough: I have a hand knitted St Anthony doll that helps me find stuff after I've lost it. Works every time. Can I get a "Hallelujah!"?

Advice: Write down everything you spend, then write a budget and stick to it. Include fortnightly, monthly and yearly columns, and make sure you are saving 10% of your earnings.

Close enough: Select 'savings' over 'credit' when at the checkout. Pay your bills before the angry red letter.

I forgot to mention, you really must blog about every little thing you do. Make sure you sound like you are completely on top of things, and never forget to emphasise that, without your loving husband, beautiful children, sweet puppy and love for Jesus, you'd never get anything done. And none of your binders would match.

No comments:

Post a Comment