This post is for the moms who want to overcome alll the mom burnout in order to create more margin in their life as a new mom! I’m talking like 1-2 more hours per week…nothing crazy! This post is not for the moms who have it all figured out and have plenty of time on their schedule to do whatever they want (I can’t even imagine this… sorry!)
As many of you know I have 3 kids – 5, 3, and 9 months. But I also have many hobbies and goals too (re: blogging, running, photography, church volunteering, etc.)
So how do I find margin in my life to do the things I LOVE rather than just the things I have to do? I wanted to share some of my tips and tricks to find more margin below!
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6 Secrets to Create More Margin in Your Life as a New Mom
If you’re a stay-at-home-mom with kids at the house like me, I’m going to let you in on a little secret!
The best time to get “you” time is while the kids are sleeping aka either before they wake up, during nap, or after they go to sleep at night.
So these tips will focus on how to create more YOU time to do things you LOVE instead of things you HAVE to do.
Related Post: How to make an effective to do list [for moms]
Clean with your kids
Okay, I’m really not one of those moms that likes to clean or has OCD when it comes to cleaning (which is why I shared my last 30 minute checklist for cleaning right before guests).
But, I do love cleaning with my kids. I don’t worry about them touching all the chemicals because we use these cloths to clean plus spray water bottles, and the kids love it. I mean, seriously, they beg me to clean when I’m not even in the mood with these cloths. Probably because they love using these mitts too… But anyway…
I used to save cleaning or doing laundry for nap time, but since I wanted to save nap time for ME TIME I had to change it up.
I do the following home management tasks with my kids awake to create more margin:
- Fold laundry
- Hang up clean clothes
- Vacuum
- Wipe down counters
- Dust
- Declutter
Those are just ideas to get you started! If you want a free chore chart that you can print out to encourage good habits for your kids, you can grab one in the Freebies Library! You can either laminate it or print off multiple copies for each week.
My kids love to check mark off that they helped with stuff around the house!
Pre-plan your grocery shopping
Since we’re talking about food, might as well talk about menu planning! This is one of the best ways to save time at the grocery store and when deciding what to eat for the week.
Here’s how to quickly meal plan:
Figure out your menu. I like to take ideas from people who have pre-made weekly meal plans already (like Skinny Taste).
Write out your grocery list. I brain dump all the groceries onto one list or when copying ingredients from recipes.
Then rearrange your grocery list based on type. Imagine yourself walking through the grocery store and rearrange your grocery shopping list in order. For example produce, bread, pastas, canned goods, meats, dairy, frozen section.
There you go. Follow that three-step process and you’ll be ready to tackle the grocery store quickly and efficiently! Plus, you might even save a little bit on your budget.
Make a double-batch of food and freeze for another meal later
I don’t know about you but finding the time to make healthy meals that my kids like is like the worst.
So lately I’ve been making double batches of all our favorite family recipes. Then I freeze half of the cooked meal to put in the freezer to nom, nom another day when I’m either unmotivated or short on time (which is at least once a week… haha!)
Some meals I’ve frozen before to save me time later are:
- Mexican crockpot meal – and then add to tortillas and freeze
- Ham and bean soup
- Spaghetti sauce
- Baked pork chops
- Garbage soup
Typically with the soups I serve rice and chicken nuggets on the side for the kids that way they have something I KNOW they’ll like. But I still serve the soup to them so they can try at least two bites!
(We do a two bite rule for all food, and it’s been awesome because my kids are no longer picky! I got the idea from this book that a daycare provider recommended to me to read to the kids).
Find a gym with included daycare
Working out is a priority for me! But I don’t like to use my valuable morning time to work out. And I often want to get blogging stuff done during nap time too (or take a nap myself!). And i’m way too tired at the end of the day. I rarely have the motivation for working out after we wrangle the kids to bed.
So, I typically do a couple of things to squeeze in my workout to protect my free time:
- push our double jogger and the kids
- workout in the living room post breakfast with YouTube yoga or BeachBody on Demand
- go to the gym at the local rec center which also has daycare for the kids!
In other words, mama gets a break and a workout too!
Be strict on your schedule
It always amazes me when moms tell me they have no time in their schedules even after bedtime. And then I find out, it’s because their kids go to bed at 9 PM!
I don’t want to sound judgy, but I just appreciate our kids early bedtime soooo much, it shocks me when I hear that other moms don’t have the same luxury as I do! And I yearrrrnnn to share it with them. I wish I could just be a fly on the wall sometimes in people’s homes to learn how they do things!
Our kids go to bed no later than 7:30. And they always have…even when I worked full time.
There have been studies that show that a disciplined sleep and eating schedule throughout the day can really help kids be prepared to go to sleep earlier at night…and that’s it’s better for their circadian rhythm.
Earlier bedtime is a win for the kids because their brain can develop and a win for mom/dad because you have more time to relax and do things you LOVE to do and not just the things you have to do.
Are you sensing a theme here?
Take social media off your phone
I started doing this in 2017 when I did my first social media fast and it was amazzzzingggg. Facebook and even Instagram are such time sucks. I talk about the benefits of doing a digital detox here!
I really only use social media apps now for my business or posting a few pics of my kids.
To help me break the habit of always getting lost in social media, I tried just turning off the notifications but it wasn’t enough. It’s like my brain craved going to social media without me thinking! It was super frustrating.
So I deleted the app and I felt so much freedom.
