Today we have Dominique Goh, (my blogging mentor!) who will be sharing with us her tips as a work-at-home-mom. She never fails to inspire me with her supermom ability to juggle work and family and still finds time to read for leisure.
Dominique is a Singaporean elementary school teacher, professional blogger and mom of three who is passionate about parenting and educating kids. In her free time you can see her dabbling in photography, cooking and cake decorating and blogging at Dominique’s Desk.
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Is this a common site in your household? Piles of clothes on the sofa to be folded and kept away?
This scene is commonly seen in our household but it doesn’t last for long. Every time we need to get the clothes done everyone chips in and helps out. We do not have any live in helpers or in-laws staying with us so the kids and I have to do most of the household chores by ourselves.
Juggling the kids’ schedules, housework and working at home can be a real hassle with getting precise time to do each item. I have a schedule drafted out weekly and also important dates all listed on the calendar in my hand phone.
It is not easy to slot in 4 different schedules on a given day. The kids start school at different timing and 3 meals a day have to be prepared for them 5 days a week on top of the normal housework,tutoring the kids and completing the freelance writing tasks for the campaigns that I am working on. My scheduling goes haywire when the kids are on holidays or are home sick. On certain days the kids are not as cooperative I as I would like them to be and the time allocated for the different activities on my schedule gets thrown out the window.
How then can I complete all that I have set out to do on a daily basis?
Being a WAHM I’m already having the best of both worlds as I’m able to be there for my kids and meet their needs while earning some side income at the same time.
Here are some tips which I use to be able to juggle my packed schedule.
1. Incorporate the kids in as many activities as possible.
I get the kids to help out in the housework ~ clearing up, cleaning, laundry and now the eldest is helping me in the kitchen with cutting the vegetables and cooking. I intend to teach him how to use the iron to iron his own school uniform.
2. Do not insist on a picture perfect house.
It is impossible to have a neat and tidy house with the kids around. I have given up the idea that my house can ever be neat and tidy when the kids are still staying with me. As long as the kids clean up after themselves and the floors and main areas are clutter free I will close an eye to other messes in the house.
3. Plan in advance as much as possible
On certain weeks whereby they will be a holiday I try to schedule in my posts on the blog in advance as I know that I will have limited access to my PC on those days. If that is not possible than I have to wait till all the kids are asleep at night to continue with my writing.
4. Reduce time wastage by grouping similar activities together.
We are very fortunate to be living in this day and age where there are many electronic gadgets which we can rely on to help us through the day at home. With the invention of timers for most of the gadgets that I have in the kitchen I can run a full load of laundry while preparing the food for dinner. I just have to pop the rice cooker into the microwave, put the pot on the stove with the vegetables in, turn on the slow cooker to boil the soup and the steamer for the fish or the oven and within 1 hr the laundry and 4 course dinner would all have been done.
5. Get the older kids to help out with the younger kids.
Sometimes you just need the 1-2 extra minutes to complete the tasks that you have at hand. I get the older boys to play with their sister or sit down and read to her so that I can finish up cooking or writing.
Do you have any other tips which you can add on to this list?
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Do you have tips you’d like to share? If you have, link up here for this series of Tips for Moms – by Moms, and stay tuned for more tips from other Singapore Mom Bloggers!
Tomorrow, we have Angeline, a full-time-working mom without any home support, who will share her tips for surviving the early years!
Check out the 8 ways of simplifying life for working parents Geraldine shared with us yesterday!
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