A Tale of 2 WAHMs

It can’t go without saying we are not super women. We don’t have the power to magically poof the laundry done with a blink of an eye. We don’t have x-ray vision to see what’s in the fridge to plan supper while doing other chores. We can’t fly our kids to school and back to beat the traffic. Even WAHMs are HUMAN.

That said, balancing work and home is a skill we all have to learn. As I sit here and type, my kitchen sink is full of dishes and there’s a pile of laundry waiting for me. We won’t even discuss what my desks looks like. I’m not caught up. I’m not even close to having an organized life. Is it better than it use to be? Oh you bet.

When I first started working from home, this place was a disaster. You were lucky to see my youngest (still in diapers at the time) with clothes on. If you could walk through the house without stepping on toys and clothes…..well that meant I had just power cleaned top to bottom within the last 10 mins. Supper was usually something as quick as possible. My kids got so sick of pizza and pasta it wasn’t funny. They were well taken care of, but the house sure wasn’t.

Looking around now you won’t find perfection. I’m still quite far from that. Some family members like to joke I’m no housekeeper (Ha ha real funny, thanks for stating the obvious!) . The house DOES look tons better than it use it. And it’s not just because my kids are older either. In fact, life has gotten more busy in the last several years. It seems we always have somewhere to be or something to get done (snacks for school, practices, appointments, PTO involvement, etc). The responsibilities I had 4 years ago are still here….we just added on to it.

So how did I improve? Well, that’s not something I can really answer. In fact, you probably won’t find any one set of tips that works for you. It all comes down to finding the organization, scheduling, and balance that works for you. I use a dry erase board and set work hours (and certain hours to clean the house too). I also plan my projects and set my sites on goals so I’m not just doing “busy work” every day.

I set habits that are my “norm” every day so I get closer to the goal……and that works for all areas of life too. For example, when I get up in the morning I fold clothes from the dryer while the kids are eating breakfast. I check my email first thing and get those all answered, then set off to make blog posts on Idea Queen. After school I start planning supper and clean the kitchen. In the evening I spend time with the kids going over homework or reading assignments. They are all habits -  I’ve gotten so I don’t think twice about them.

Now I must say you really don’t want to take my “tips” above, because things are far from perfect. Some days I feel spread too thin and feel like I didn’t put in enough time into anything. Other days certain areas slip quite a bit because I’m so focused on one chore/assignment/errand. There’s also other things that should be done on a daily basis that don’t get done (cleaning off the table for example - there’s almost always papers or mail sitting on it).

What it all comes down to is finding YOUR balance and what works for you. Finding balance isn’t going to happen over night. Heck I’m STILL working on finding it…..but I’m getting closer every day. 

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