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!

A full time working mother of 3 active young kids, Amie loves to express her views and feelings through writing and therefore created Mamamie’s Thots to note down her feelings, the growing phases of her 3 beautiful kiddos and she rambles about any interesting stuff that revolves around her family.

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As a full time working mother, my day starts as early as 5.30am in the morning. Every morning is like fighting a battle at home, from trying to force myself to wake up, preparing all the necessary stuff for the children and hubby, slowly waking them up one by one and finally rushing to the bathroom to get myself ready for work. Yes…I am always in a mad rush every morning and I managed to stay that way for many years too. 

My mum stays with me so she helps me by doing some of the household chores everyday. When all the kids are asleep at night, I will stay up late to finish my part of the chores occasionally. Since we had bad experiences with live-in helper, we decided to manage everything by ourselves for as long as possible. At the same time, the older kiddos are told to learn how to help out when necessary. At times, I feel frustrated and think why I have to slog so hard every day. I did consider about getting back the live-in helper but the thought of giving myself extra mental burden deter me from getting one in the end.

To keep myself sane from the hectic lifestyle, I have learnt how to:

#Multi-task

From being a mother of just 1 to now a mother of 3, I have been trained to be a good multi-tasker. I have learnt how to use the limited time given to maximise what I can do with the kids. For example, while coaching the oldest one with his school work, I will fold the clothing while overseeing the younger ones playing together.

#Rely On Mobile Calendar

I have a mobile phone calendar which I will use frequently to remind me on the go which I have to complete on that specific day. I even set an alarm to alert me when kiddos have no enrichment lesson so that I do not have to waste my time ferrying them around.

#Stick To My Schedule

Every week I will allocate at least 2 nights to do house chores when everyone is in their moo moo land. For example, I will iron the pile of clothings on every Friday night. No matter how tired I am, by hook or by crook I must finish all the ironing that day. I cannot give myself excuses to postpone it otherwise that pile of clothing will pile up like a mountain.

#Maintain Neatness

Always try to maintain the house as neat as possible.  For example, I always try to put things back to the original place after using it and the kiddos will be asked to do the same too. There will be lesser chances for me to clean up after their mess.

#Close one eye

When I’m too sick or tired to do anything, I will just close one eye and let my body rest for a day 🙂

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!

On Monday, we have Winnie who will share her tips for full-time-working moms who have a passion to home-teach!

Check out the tips for surviving the early years which Angeline, a full-time-working mom with no home support shared with us yesterday!