Mom Tip Monday

I know that my Mom Tips are usually all about some off the wall something that my children have taught me. I thought maybe I would shake it up a little and give you something you could really use. Some real live tips for Mom's (and Dad's too!) from a Mom who somehow manages to function in this whole world of parenthood.

Let's start with our morning. I know a lot of families face some serious challenges getting out the door in the morning with minimal crying, wailing and gnashing of teeth - and that's just Mom! So here are a few little tricks that we pull that help get us out the door.

#1. Do as much the night before as you can.
And you know it would help if you could just do this one thing every night. Pick out/layout clothes the night before as part of your bed time routine. Down to the shoes! That way there is no scramble looking for the missing lefty in the morning.

#2. Pack lunches and prep your coffee pot while you clean up dinner.

There are two reasons I do this. A) it's done the night before (see #1). And B) I only have to clean up once.

#3. Focus on the task at hand.

Too many times I try to start laundry, make beds, get everyone out of the house, clean up breakfast, empty the dishwasher....well, you get my point! If you can empty the dishwasher while everyone is having breakfast, yay for you! Go for it. But remember if it's a hectic morning there are things that can wait.

Start there. Try those little tips out this next week (and really focus on them!) and let me know how it works for you. Next week we'll try to tackle some Housekeeping 101. I'm a stay home mom but I'll try to share tips that work for both or offer suggestions on how to tweak the tips to fit a working parent's life too.

If you have a housekeeping challenge that you would like to hear a Zookeeper's take on just drop me a line at ineedthezoo(at)yahoo(dot)com. I'll give it my best shot!