1. Take a zen moment before you start your day. Before you can get your household in check, you must commit to some calm and some ‘ME time.’ Every morning I use an amazing yoga meditation APP called Headspace. It keeps me grounded as I start the craziness of my working day; leading a double life as a wife and mom to three growing boys. All you need is 10 minutes.
2. Meal Planning saves time, sanity and money. I basically decide on my meals and at the same time order my groceries online. But I take meal planning one step further in order to stay organized and maximize my time. Once I have decided that, let’s say, I will be making a lasagna on Monday, beef stew on Tuesday and chicken curry on Wednesday (etc.), I insert the meal plan of the day with corresponding recipe into my calendar. I send it to my husband as well. On days where I am working late, my hubby is able to stay organized and save time by looking at the meal plan and ingredients list so that he can get dinner cooked quickly for our 3 hungry boys. There is no guess work on what to make. We are all planned out for the week.
3. Ordering groceries online is a huge time saver. And time is well – money. I will either use Loblaws or Grocery Gateway depending on which grocer has the better deals that week. Every Sunday morning before my kids wake up, I plant myself at the kitchen table armed with my cookbooks and a huge mug of coffee. I decide on which meals I will prepare for the week and order accordingly. Ordering groceries online also goes hand and hand with meal planning.
4. Manage your budget online. I just recently started using MySpend by TD Bank. It is this awesome APP that I highly recommend. After you input all of your budget information, the APP will send you immediate alerts about spending habits. For example, you will receive a text message if you have spent more than your allotted grocery budget. It keeps spending in check. Budgets and expenses are key to managing any household.
5. Stay connected to your kids’ teachers with Facebook. If your kids’ teachers will allow it, a great way to communicate is through Facebook. It is so much easier to get updates on how my kids our doing via Facebook rather than the phone. My sons’ teachers will often reach out on their lunch breaks via social media. It’s great for me because I can multitask. I can be on a conference call and at the same time talk to teachers online through Facebook Messenger. I highly recommend doing this if you are comfortable and your children’s teachers are OK with this communication method. It’s the way of today and definitely of the future.
6. Keep track of play dates by handing out business cards. Similar to scheduling a doctor or dentist appointment, I too hand out business cards when we have booked a play date for the kids. I created a business card template that includes all of my pertinent contact information including social media handles. Parents then can reach out to me on social media to update me about play date anytime they choose.
I hope some of these tips will help you and please feel free to share some of the ways tech helps you keep things together in your family!
Kate Nash is Urban Suburban Mommy’s Tech and Biz Expert. She is a successful digital strategist and senior sales manager by day. By night, she manages a house consisting of her awesome husband and 3 growing boys. She juggles meal planning and prepping, hockey games and play dates all with a smile on her face.