Delegate and eliminate
If you have children who are old enough, then delegate a few chores and tasks to them. They will benefit from the responsibility and you will benefit from a couple of your jobs being taken off your hands. You will then want to take a moment to consider whether there are any tasks that you can eliminate. Think through everything that you do and we can assure you that there will be one or two things there that you can either drop entirely, or do less often. Yes, in an ideal world everything would get done perfectly all of the time, but really, who has time for that?
Get the professionals in
Wherever you can afford to, get professionals in to ease the burden. They are going to get the job done much more effectively and efficiently than you are and it is one less thing for you to manage. So whether you are looking for professional oven cleaners, tv aerial fitters, tree surgeons or carpet cleaners, get them booked in and tick them off that list. You might then want to take on regular help and support, whether it be cleaners, gardeners, ironing companies, just do what you need to do and whatever works best for your family.
Make lists
This might seem a strange one as surely the lists are going to be of things that tie up your time, not free it up, but bear with us. By making lists of tasks that need completing, whether day to day to-do lists or bigger projects, you will actually find yourself being more productive. Take the time to think about all of those jobs that really need doing and write them down at the start of your day, or even better, the evening before. You will then find yourself consulting your list and whizzing through it rather than wasting time trying to recall everything that you were hoping to get done that day. Once you have ticked that last item off, you know that you are done, you have achieved plenty that day and can now unwind or go play with the kids. If you don’t have the list written down, you will never see the end of a to-do list in your head as you will always think of something else that you can get done.
Give these ideas a try and before you know it, you will be sitting down with that magazine and a cup of coffee, wondering why you were ever panicking!
This is a collaborative post.
