7 life hacks for busy working parents

It’s hard work juggling a family and a business. Especially if you work from home! You have to be so disciplined.  I’ve always intended this blog to be a source of useful information for mums in business and those working from home, but I don’t know everything so I’ve enlisted some help from mums in the know! Give them a try and let me know how successful you were.

Charlie Moo's in DisneyLand Paris

7 life hacks : 

  1. Slow cookers are your best friend : Home cooked, wholesome meals everyday and all it took was 10 minutes of chopping veg, last nights left over vino, splash of herbs and a meat of your choice. Leave all day add pasta, rice or potatoes and enjoy! Nichola, Nichola’s Cards also suggests writing a food list and Samantha, Dorset Hill Jewellery recommends filling your chest freezer. Caroline, Personal Trainer adds planning & preparation and online shopping! All ways to save yourself some time (and money) feeding a hungry family!
    Further Reading : A week of slow cooker dinners
  2. Take regular breaks and exercise : I use the Pomodoro technique for work a lot, 25 minute timed bursts with 5 minute breaks. Working from home means the 5 minute breaks are well suited to loading the dishwasher or folding some washing, and it keeps me active too. But I still delegate lots to the rest of the family too, just because you work at home, doesn’t mean you do the housework! Penny, from ParentShaped.  If you are like everyone else in the world you will be very busy, making time for the gym can be quite difficult. Time management is essential when you want to get fit, check out discovery personal training so you have a specific personal trainer to help you with just this.
  3. Housework : A ‘one and done‘ approach is the only way that seems to work for me, says Rebecca from The Beesley Buzz. “As soon as something needs doing just do it quickly instead of thinking about it / putting it off / or writing it on a list. So all the small jobs get done as soon as possible.” Great tips which are echo’d by Kara, ChelseaMamma who cleans as she goes, stack / unstack the dishwasher whilst making the kids breakfast / lunch boxes – clean the bath / shower after you’ve used it etc etc.
  4. Kill two birds with one stone : Jackie Richmond, Lemur Landings, suggests if you have an errand to run and friend to see do it in same place. Use waiting time at kid’s activities to fit in run/walk or quick shopping trip or use as planning time / learn something new.  I can so concur with this! I use Monday’s swimming lessons to clearout my inbox and write notes for my book.
  5. Be mobile friendly :  A mobile phone that can hold all your work apps so while you wait to pick up kids etc, you can carry on doing work on your phone, in the car! Great tip from Illana, Hari Hari
  6. Organisation : How often have you gone to a meeting only to discover you have no change for parking or no petrol in the car! Or you have a great idea and nowhere to write it down or no pen!!!
  7. Child Labour : Every small business mum should be doing this right now! “I try to get the kids involved in my work, simple things like sticking labels on catalogues or helping me sort stock. It helps make them feel a part of it and one less job to do for me, yay!” Alexia, Made By Me Parties.  Charlie has been manning my Instagram feed and hopefully I can get him sewing soon *insert appropriate emoji here*

A little plea : 

I have been writing this blog now for 6 years. My main aim has always been to inform and inspire mums in business and people working from home.  Recently I received an email to say I had been shortlisted to the voting round for the MumsandWorking Awards Best Parent Blogger and I needed to write a post that provided information about why I should win. Ekkk! I seriously didn’t know what to write so I decided to use a couple of the little motivational posts I have knocking around in a file, they keep me going when I’m feeling a bit isolated or deflated.

heather smith

*cough* if you haven’t signed up to my newsletter then you don’t know what you are missing! *cough*

melissa

Thanks to everyone who voted for me. I didn’t make the final few but I did write this super handy blog post! #winning Enjoy!

life hacks for busy working parents | working from home | mums in business

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15 Comments

  1. May 12, 2016 / 9:44 am

    Your advice has been essential to me and I have managed to get my head around facebook and wordpress thanks to you. Good luck in the awards and I have voted for you x
    Kara Guppy recently posted..Mr Frosty is back!!My Profile

  2. Chelle
    May 12, 2016 / 12:19 pm

    I can always count on your blog when I have a Facebook question (which is pretty often). Good luck with the award! 🙂

  3. May 13, 2016 / 5:32 am

    These are brilliant hacks and I can confirm that they work well too. I tend to do a quick housework run after the school run, then a workout and then I do like you- quick bursts of work ( I use a timer on my phone) then up to stretch my legs on a little chore or something. And I have serious love for my slow cooker too- fab tips xx

  4. May 13, 2016 / 1:49 pm

    Slow cooker and child labour are my favourites 😉 I’m sure my three year old would love to man my instagram and she might actually be more successful than I am! #thelist

  5. May 16, 2016 / 5:07 pm

    How exciting! I’ll vote! (And good tips, too! I have a hard time setting boundaries working from home).

    • May 16, 2016 / 6:52 pm

      Thank you! It can be quite a chore when working from home!

  6. May 17, 2016 / 8:37 pm

    Really useful tips! I’m trying to take more of a ‘one and done’ approach to little jobs, otherwise I put them off and they niggle away at me! And I love my slow cooker! x #TheList

  7. June 6, 2016 / 11:51 am

    Thanks, Joanne! I love reading your blog. It always has something to think about and to implement in life. Being a mom of 3 is a disaster, if you have to work (especially full time). It’s exactly about me, though I don’t have to work full time. I just write something every day. But how much time it takes! I can’t keep up with the pace my daughters have!:)
    Mobile friendly isn’t about me at all:) I should thing about it for sure. It can make it easy for me to get in touch with my editor and publisher. Thanks a lot for inspirational tips!
    Hugs,
    Samantha (busy working mom, cookies lover, writer)

  8. August 16, 2016 / 9:43 pm

    Great tips! I use a slow cooker, but I am vegetarian and my children are refusing to eat “proper” food at the moment. My temporary fix is to fill the fridge with more healthy options like yoghurts and cheese that they can help themselves to, and they seem to like hard boiled eggs and carrot/cucumber sticks so I leave these on their table while they play. Then I can work while they graze 😉

    https://spookymrsgreen.com/2016/01/13/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-pagan-housewife/

  9. Nikki
    March 8, 2017 / 9:55 am

    Brilliant post just gutted I broke my slow cooker while emptying the dishwasher on Monday… I need to delegate some jobs I think lol
    Nikki recently posted..Is a Craft Fair Viable?My Profile

    • March 8, 2017 / 12:12 pm

      I couldn’t do without my slow cooker! We had spag bol last night and are having lasagna tonight with the left over sauce.
      I think this makes me some kind of genius.