A Mother, A Wife and A Worker

I have four kids, some blogs I maintain and a household with no helper.. How do I managed it all? The answer is easy, time management. I am no super hero and I have my downfalls too 🙂 but yes, the key is time management.

Before, I used to dwell so much on getting everything done on a given time. I have to keep the house clean, wash the clothes, fold the laundry (in a department store kind of  fold, in short pantay pantay dapat!), wash the dishes, make sure there is enough food, clean the kids, update my blogs, finish my online task.. argh! it’s endless and I only have two hands and one body! Then I learned to let go.. to let go of the things I cannot do and focus more on things that I can.

Take for example, maintaining my sink clean, I want that but I cannot do that. so what should I do? stress myself on cleaning every plate, every glass and every spoon and fork that lands on the sink? I used to do that.. then I realized there is nothing wrong in having a not so clean kitchen, I can do the dishes once every meal and not every minute!

Another example is the effort I put on folding clothes, I always make sure that the clothes are neatly fold. It will take an hour or more just to fold our clothes, it’s taking up too much of my time and I feel so stressed out if I can’t fold it right. Then I realized, neatly folded clothes is not a requirement to have a happy and stress free life.

I guess in time management, that’s the first thing you need to do, accept the things you cannot and make time on things that you NEED to do. And with that, I was able to manage my time effectively and I live with these simple rules:

• Kids and husband first
• household second
• me time for third
• work is last

Having 4 kids is another thing. I also have to manage the time I spent with each of them. And as you know, I always make sure that fun is incorporated in our activity. Bonding with my two younger kids is not that hard. Both are still not going to school and we have the whole morning for ourselves, reading, writing, learning and singing. As with my two older boys, it’s kinda hard to keep up with their life. I feel old already! They have school, friends and games and more.

Haay my boys.. and so to keep up with them, I play some of the games they play.. Dragon City as an example, and what, I was rewarded with You’re the best mom phrase! How cool is that huh? Of course, aside from “playing” with them, I am also the one helping them with their school projects and homework. To make it more fun, I would incorporate play while studying, tickling or changing my voice to a funny one. We have dates too!

As I have mentioned earlier, I am not a super hero so there were times that I feel like I have so much to do but so little time. Blog posts, tasks pending, assignments and not to mention sleep. I just stop and take a rest, helps a lot on clearing my mind and make me realize what are the things that should be done first.

Oh, I forgot to mention, always have a to do list and a schedule, helps a lot in reminding me what I have missed so far 🙂

Most of us tends to over analyze and stress ourselves, learn to let go and be a more fun mom.. head on to Seriously Fun Moms  for more tips on time management, parenting and child care tips.