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Work and Family: Practical Tips for Moms to Balance the Two

As a mom, you love your family and work hard to give them a great place to live and a…

Work and Family: Practical Tips for Moms to Balance the Two

29th June 2021

Working mum

As a mom, you love your family and work hard to give them a great place to live and a better quality of life. However, you also have a high-pressure job that often overflows into your personal time. At the end of each day, you’re just short of sheer exhaustion. Below are a few tips to help you manage them easier. 

 

Too Much on Your Plate

No one person can handle it all. Don’t feel like you’re a failure if you don’t complete everything on your to-do list each day. If you own your own small business, you know what it takes to perform all the jobs at hand. When possible, it’s beneficial to outsource things like your taxes, payroll, and IT. 

If you’re an e-commerce business, outsourcing with a company that uses the latest UPS audit software will ensure accurate results. Along with freeing up valuable time, outsourcing these types of services will also cost less than hiring several employees year-round. If you don’t own the business but are the manager, learn how to delegate duties.

And don’t overlook the practicality of off-the-shelf technology. Here are a few more tips:

  • Manage business expenses with apps like Expensify or Mint. 
  • Keep track of accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll with Quickbooks or PayPal. 
  • Skip the headaches of juggling domain purchases, setting up web hosting accounts, hiring a web designer, and figuring out who is qualified to update timely information on your website with an all-in-one, user-friendly solution like Squarespace or Wix. 
  • Instead of hiring someone to manage your IT department, harness the cloud with a service like Google Workspace. You’ll have word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, file management, email, and chat communication at your fingertips.

 

No Need for Guilt 

Unfortunately, there’s still a double standard between the sexes when it comes to parents with careers. Dads are free to resume the workplace almost immediately after the birth of their child. Society still expects moms to remain at home with the children. When family, friends and neighbors feel that a mom returned too soon, they are judged and charged with abandonment. Don’t let others make you feel ashamed or guilt you into putting a hold on your career. Your job is essential to preserving your family’s quality of life.  

Try these books to give you inspiration:

  • A Uterus Is a Feature, Not a Bug: The Working Woman’s Guide to Overthrowing the Patriarchy by Sarah Lacy
  • The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby by Lauren Smith Brody

 

Then, download an app like Care.com to help you find a babysitter or the Cozi Family Organizer to stay sane amidst practices, recitals, late work meetings, and school schedules.

 

Save Time

Working moms need to get as much done as possible in a short amount of time. Thankfully, there are a number of things you can do to shave minutes from each day. No time for food shopping, thanks to COVID-19, most grocery stores now allow you to create an order online and have it delivered to your door within the hour. Lunchtime at the office provides a wonderful opportunity to take care of small errands. After the kids go to bed, lay out their clothes and shoes, and pack a lunch for the following morning. Weekends give you extra time to create meals for the upcoming week. Find recipes that you can freeze and reheat during the week such as a casserole. At the office make a conscious effort to avoid lengthy gossip sessions at the water cooler in order to get more accomplished per day. 

Here are a few technology-based tips to help you save time:

  • Try a meal-planning app like Paprika, Mealime, or MealPrepPro to make feeding your family a more efficient–and hopefully more enjoyable–job.
  • Get your kids more engaged in chores with reward-based apps like Homey or S’moresUp.

 

Family Time

There’s a lot of hustle and bustle during the week. When the weekend arrives it’s important to clear your calendar on Saturday or Sunday and dedicate it to quality family time. Bonding now while your children are young will make the teen years much easier and more memorable. In many cases it doesn’t require you to leave the home. Share the cooking, creating foods that they desire. Break out the board games or a family movie, gather the troops and congregate in the same room for the evening. During the warm summer months backyards can become an outdoor movie theater or the perfect place to pitch a tent, roast marshmallows and gaze at the stars. 


Technology isn’t just to help you be more productive. Try these:

  • Impress your family by knowing all the newest content that’s on Netflix without having to turn on the TV. “New on Netflix” is a free app for the iPhone that tells you exactly that.
  • Start an online multiplayer version of a game your family loves to play. Monopoly and Clue are just two games you could be playing with your family on devices.



Open Communication

Working moms will need to leave the office or even miss a day or two due to a sick child. The problem lies when you disregard the need to speak to a manager in advance of a new child or when starting a job. Every mom makes an effort regarding child care. When kids get sick, it’s usually mom that misses work to tend to them. A flexible schedule is ideal, allowing you to make the hours up during lunch or at home. Many companies today offer these types of work arrangements. Having open communication with your superiors will make it easier to get time off when necessary. 

You won’t need an app or website to help you with that. Just know that there are organizations out there to help support moms who work, such as the National Women’s Law Center.

You can improve your work and family balance, allowing you to feel better and get the most out of living. 

Categories: Advice, Articles

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