Fresh Idea Friday - Time Savers

I've missed the last 2 Fresh Idea Friday's that my friend Lisa posted on her blog so I'm trying to play some catchup! This past week's discussion was ideas for saving time throughout your week, especially with little ones running around needing so much of your time and energy. I feel like I'm drawing a blank on this one but here are some of the ones I can come up with:

~Routines - I'm definitely a Type A person and like to have everything planned out way in advance and have it go just as I planned. Now I've realized with kids that no matter how hard you plan, it rarely goes according to schedule, but nevertheless I still like to stick to flexible routines throughout our days and weeks. This helps me save time because I know what to expect and can get things done as quickly as possible using the least amount of time. It also helps me because I feel so much less stressed and the boys seem more calm since they also know what to expect. So pretty much until about 10AM all our mornings look exactly the same. The boys get up around 7:30 and I get them dressed and we come down to play until 8:30 when we eat breakfast. Then right after breakfast we do morning prayer and then I let them play for a little bit while I finish cleaning up. Then it's back upstairs for quiet playtime or possibly a nap for Noah. I usually try to maximize the 45 min I know I have then to get as much done as possible like calling people back or returning emails. Then 10-12 we run errands or go to the park or playdates and then home for lunch and naps. Recently both boys have been sleeping 1-3:30ish so I build that in as my time to get as much done as possible as well but also relax a little bit so I'm not totally wiped out when they wake up. Then it's on to snack and craft time and at 5 is their movie time while I make dinner. So there you have it...that's our day in a nutshell and although it definitely varies depending on what we have planned, I can pretty much know when I can get done whatever it is I need to do that day.

~Maximizing time - I guess I kind of hit on this in the last paragraph but especially since having Noah I've tried to learn to do things as quickly as I can while yet being as thorough as possible. So for instance I clean only 1 day a week and I can usually get it all done by 10ish. I take the vacuum up in the morning and quick sweep while the boys are still in their pjs or playing before the hunger sets in. After breakfast while they play, actually Caleb likes to sweep along with me, I can usually get the downstairs swept and dusted and then in their quiet playtimes I do the bathroom and mop. I know I'm not cleaning as well as I maybe did before but it gets the job done without stressing any of us out. I also used to drive farther to grocery shop but recently have mostly been just going to the closest store since it doesn't eat up as much time.

~Plan for free time and use it well - I've said this in previous posts, but my friend Laura and I swap kids every Friday so every other week one of us has 2 hours of free time. I definitely try to maximize that time as best I can since every mom knows how amazing it is to see what you can accomplish kid-free. I've also started hitting up stores after the kids are in bed because Mitch loves having some quiet free time here at home too so that's been a more recent thing I've started to do on occasion. Also on Saturdays when Mitch is home and the boys are napping I will run out and do some errands.

Hope this helps and hopefully I didn't ramble too long! Check out Lisa's blog for more ideas!