Women in the workplace can be a daily challenge, whether you work for yourself or work for someone, however, it doesn’t have to be. If you are a woman reading this, I may have a solution for you to have some sanity in your busy life:-). We, as Women, want the perfect home, perfect meal, perfect smelling laundry, perfect garden, perfectly folded towels, well you have the idea what I am talking about. Since nothing is perfect in this world, we do strive to get as close to perfection as possible, after all, don’t we know we have the most beautiful family in the world? Of course, we do!
For the past 27 years, I have, for the most part, been a “Stay-At-Home Mom” and I wouldn’t change it for anything [not even a villa in the hills of Tuscany on a vineyard ]. For some time in the early ’90s, I did own a retail shop with my Parents but made my hours and did a good part of my responsibilities to the business out of my home. During that period, I had to adjust my Family life around the business which took some creative thinking. Once I pretty much mastered this plan, it was for the most part a smooth sailing household. The following simple changes are what I put together that honestly put harmony back into my Family. My exact plan may or may not work for you but it’s a start on where you can harmonize your household:
- once a week I would spend the day cooking, put on my favorite music, and dance/sing my way through the kitchen:
a. make a BIG pot of sauce with meatballs and divide it up into containers and freeze
b. make a few meat loafs and freeze them
c. make a BIG pot of a family favorite soup and divide it up into containers and freeze
d. make a bunch of cupcakes and freeze them (not with frosting though)
e. make a few quiches and freeze
f. make a batch of pancakes, french toast, and freeze
g. make a bagel or English muffin pizzas and freeze in Ziploc bags
This plan not only saved a lot of money by not having to resort to taking out or fast food drive-thrus, there was ALWAYS a healthy, homemade meal that anyone in the Family could heat up either for breakfast, lunch, or dinner:-)
Why is delegating chores such an issue with us Women? I can honestly say, I liked things done my way, but got over that when I realized not everything has to be perfect. So start delegating, believe me, your Family will not shrivel up and wither away if they have to:
- vacuum
- fold some laundry
- empty and or fill the dishwasher
- garden work
- wash the car
- set the table
- dust their bedroom furniture
- if they are old enough, do their laundry
The list goes on of what can be delegated to your Family so you can have a LIFE!
At first, they may be combative, whine, cry, call you the meanest Mom in the universe, blah, blah, blah, but once they see that YOU are not a frustrated Mom/Wife and realize they WILL have more quality time with you, they will get with the program. Stick to your newly FAMILY-created plan, do NOT cower down and give in just to shut them up, always remember, a happy Mom/Wife has a very, very happy Family!
Putting together a whiteboard of delegated chores with incentives was a charm for me. There were some times when get this, the Children would argue over NOT getting enough chores because they knew the incentives got greater when they did more.
So, do yourself a favor, make meal plans and create a list of DELEGATED chores, it WILL create a sense of normalcy and happiness in your life and most importantly, your Family.