Time Management for the New Mom

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I highly enjoyed managing my time from high school til I launched into the professional world. When I became a mom, time management became a whole different challenge. We haven't covered this topic in my mom & baby group yet but I decided to do my own research online. Here are advices I found: 

* Aim to accomplish one item in your list a day. Here is the whole article
It seems to me that when you have a newborn and you are learning as you go, this is very realistic. Having one thing accomplished instead of zero made me feel great this week!

*Have a plan, get organized, ask for help more
This one was my favorite of the two articles. We do keep a notebook and a pen in each room of the house. We also keep a notebook for the baby where we write feeding times as well as pee and poo (the doctor always asks about that and unless this sleep deprived mom writes it down my memory won't make me justice). Ideas as well as needs come in and out of our minds so unless we write it down we run the risk of remembering too late. Thank God we've been pretty organized as far as baby supplies go. I went the extra step to pack a diaper bag for the car, one for me to take out and one for church. The nursery is pretty organized as far as the needs of a newborn and we'll incorporate things such as toys as the baby grows.
We've been getting a lot of help and I want to help others in my situation as well when the occasion arises. It's amazing to see how God has blessed us with generous friends.

My time management plan needs to include exercising and food logging besides the mundane tough important tasks of life such as laundry and cleaning. Because God blessed us with someone to come and clean for us for a month, I've been tackling organization projects as I can while I don't have to take over the whole cleaning myself. I still believe I'll have a housekeeper one day. 

This whole organization thing reminds me of what's important: making sure my husband and son are well. Other things in life can't take the place of the most important relationships I have in life. We manage our time well so that relationships will continue to be the priority.

Does anyone out there have any time management tips they care to share? Have a great week everyone!