Mom Tips and Tricks – How Systems Can Be a Huge Time Saver

Choose one day out of the week to plan for the whole week, like Sunday for Meal Planning. Break the week down by day and specify what you want to have each day of the week – definitely plan your dinners, and don’t forget to add meal ideas for lunch and breakfast.

Take the list of meals you will need and break it down further into the ingredients you will need. Compare this list of ingredients with what you have on hand already in your pantry, fridge, and freezer

You can then use this list of ingredients needed to shop online with an app for Walmart or Kroger (or whatever you use). Then, you need to decide to either have the items delivered or pick them up at the store. You can also go old school and actually go to the store and shop for them (but, this takes more time).

Once you have the items back home, you now have a week’s work of meals preplanned and pre-bought. Congrats! You have eliminated the hardest work of figuring out what to eat each day, which saves you time, energy and stress. Because hearing “What’s for dinner?” when you have no idea is very stressful.

When all eyes are on you for dinner at the end of a long day, it can make the best day go bad quickly. In addition, eating out every day is not healthy for you, your family, or your wallet. You have also saved yourself the time and money of going to purchase the food daily if you went the fast food route. All you need to do now is cook it.

Third – Combine the Dates and Steps Into Your Schedule

For our meal plan example, you would take the list of meals you have for the week and write them in your weekly calendar as one big list of meals you will pick from for each day below. You are going to reference the appointments and obligations you wrote down in step one, so you know what makes sense or not.

For example, you don’t want to plan an elaborate meal for the evening you have a swim meet or ball game you have to be at because you won’t have the time to make it. You would be better off to pick something that can be made ahead or comes together really quickly.

Fourth – Lay Out Your Plan

Using the meal plan as our example again, slot the meals into the best time slot – trying to alternate so you don’t have the same thing back to back.

For example, you could lay your meal ideas like this:

• Monday – Chili
• Tuesday – Chicken Enchiladas
• Wednesday – Stir Fry
• Thursday – Cheese Tortellini
• Friday – Out
• Saturday – Meatloaf
• Sunday – Leftovers.

You can plan one evening to be take out or something fast and easy on the weekend. I like to have Friday as my evening to grab pizza or whatever, so I know I don’t have to cook that day. Remember, you can also have a leftovers night or even a leftover buffet!

Fifth – Post the Plan for Anyone Who Needs It

If your family only cares that they get to eat, then you don’t need to post if for them. If you have someone else helping you make the dinners, then you can share it with them.

Sixth – Implement Your Plan

Of course, try to make it easy on yourself wherever you can. If you are going to cook every night, you have the food, you have the plan, now you just need to implement.

Using our meal plan example, let’s assume you chose some easy 30 minute meals. Look at your calendar for the day and book time prior to when you want to eat to prep the meal and let it cook.

Seventh – Set Your Environment Up for Success

You need to have the items and ingredients you need out and available. Also, make sure the dishes you need are clean.

If you can get in the habit now of doing your dishes every night, you will thank yourself later when you have a clean slate the next day. As you cook, also go ahead and put things away you are done with and rinse/pre-load the dishwasher.

Your goal when you are done is to just have the items on the stove/oven. When everyone is done eating, dishes go in the dishwasher or get washed.

In this way, you are ready for the next day. You can then put away and package any leftovers for another meal or lunches.

Eighth – Make This Plan Even More Satisfying

Use a habit tracker or calendar to keep track of what you made/cross it off. Any meals you have made, you can check off and circle the ones you didn’t use.

If you previously ate out all the time, estimate how much you would have spent versus what you actually spent on meals this way. Any money saved can be saved or you can also spend some and save some – whatever feels the most like a reward to you. Some people are motivated by money saved in the bank, some people want new shoes – it is totally up to you.

Finally – The Best Mom Tip – Include the Family

Also, know you can also take some of the drudgery out of cooking by (a) enlisting help – family, teens, spouse, etc. (b) adding something you like to do – listen to music, podcasts, watch TV, talk on the phone, etc. while cooking – to make the time fly by.

After you do this for a while, you will now have a system of meal planning for your family that will virtually be on autopilot taking the majority of this work off your shoulders. Make it even easier by using a meal planning service (like Emeals) if you desire. Realize there will be days your plan/system may not work, just try again the next day.

Now -Apply these Mom Hacks to Any Tasks in Your House

You can apply this same process to any system you want to implement to make your life easier. To get your ideas flowing on where else you can implement systems in your house, think about takes the second most amount of time after meals. Is it laundry or cleaning? Something else?

In general, you want to think of your home as a separate entity. What are the systems and routines you could use to help you run your household with ease? You want to make sure you create a system that is easy and something you enjoy by building in the rewards in the last step.

And, you want to create a system that has a daily schedule that won’t ruin your day. Seriously, choose routines and habits that support you and your household – not one that you won’t use or doesn’t work for you.

Here are some ideas for where systems can be applied to make your life easier:

• Cleaning
• Laundry
• Budgeting
• Projects for the house
• Clothing for the family using capsule wardrobes

Are you interested in learning more Mom Tips and Tricks for your home? Here are some articles to check out to incorporate even more systems into your life to make your life easier.

Because at the end of the day being able to save yourself time, means more time you can spend doing the things you love – whatever that may be. Whether you want to spend quality time with your family and friends or devote time to some well deserved self-care, just know you are worth it. Enjoy!