Housework Tips For The Time-Poor Mum

Keeping up with the house work can be tricky.. Here are my survival tips to doing housework with little ones running around..

- Cleaning rosters are great. I update mine every now and then to suit the changing needs of the family.  The most important thing is not to let yourself be upset if you don't get around to some things. I am notorious for beating myself up for not achieving what I 'should'. It's not there to be rigid, but rather to help you remember what needs to be done and not fall behind in an area because of baby brain!!
Here is my roster at the moment to show you what I mean..

- Tubs for toys makes tidying easy. I am trying to teach the kids to tidy up each activity before getting the next one, but a lot of our toys are in reach and it's difficult to keep up with all three of them! By having tubs, at the end of the day I can race around and have the place tidy in a minute or two rather than having to go back and forth 100 times. 

I also believe that by having the toys out on display like this means that there is less mess overall, as they aren't rummaging through a big toy basket to find something. 

- Use natural products where possible. This means that the kids are not being exposed to a cocktail of chemicals at home and they can even help with cleaning! My favourites are lavender oil spray (5 drops to 1l water) and eucalyptus oil spray ( 5 drops to 1l water) and vinegar (either straight or half vinegar and half water). These are natural cleaners and disinfectants and smell lovely and fresh. 

- Have a few extra baskets in the laundry so that you don't have to sort the clothes when you do the washing. 

I have three up on a shelf - kids clothes, lights and darks. The clothes get thrown in to each basket every day as we go and makes putting a wash on so very quick and easy. 

Babies on a Budget

Having three babies so close together while still learning how to run a household, budget, kitchen and be a wife can be a very interesting and stressful time.. Somewhere along the way Josh and I decided to let me run the books.. I am much more enthusiastic about budgeting and as you may know, I love lists. I organise my budget (and whole life really!) with lists. I like how empowered and organised I feel having everything written out from weekly expenses to shopping lists.

Although I understand that babies are much cheaper to provide for than teenagers, when you have babies you are often learning how to live off one income for the first time and it actually matters if you run out of money.. Before it just meant that you couldn’t go out drinking on Friday night and now it means that you may not have money for formula, nappies, baby panadol or food. Budgeting takes on a whole new meaning when you become a family.

I will admit that I absolutely have not got this perfect, but here is what I have learnt budgeting for three babies and two adults on one income…

1. Huggies Nappies are really not the bees knees. Unless your child has a reaction to the cheaper nappies do not feel like you need to buy expensive brands. Aldi nappies work perfectly fine. As do most of the others on the market! I shop the sales, I mostly buy BabyLove nappies, they work well and have been on sale quite often down at woolies and I stockpile with sales.. As I side note, I do not agree when it comes to wipes. There is NOTHING I dislike more when changing nappies than for the contents to end up all over me or my hands. Even though the other brands are cheaper, I end up using lots more per change. Huggies win in the wipes department.

2. Don’t be afraid of the cheaper cuts at the butcher. You generally need to slow cook these cuts, but if you do your research and find recipes that you can handle, this can make a big difference to your weekly shop. Also when you babies are learning to eat, slow cooked foods are nice and soft for finger foods, mashing and pureeing.

3. Make a thorough list for groceries and stick to it! I found shopping online makes this easier and you can also review your trolley and how much you’ve spent before submitting. If you don’t want to pay the delivery fee, you can just order to pick up in store and it is completely free!

3. Make a meal plan for the week. I know I have said this before, but it is a big one! Check it every morning so your meat has time to thaw and you can keep in mind your time management to cook throughout the day. This prevents any need to do a take away night, which adds up very quickly. As those days are always bound to come where you simply haven’t had the chance to get dinner ready, I like to keep a couple of cheat meals in the freezer. (My gorgeous Aunt brings me quiches, these freeze and thaw well as well as quite quickly) I also make homemade vegetable and sausage rolls, chicken pies, and any casseroles to freeze.

4. Homebrand and Aldi are really quite good. I have tried most things that I buy from the supermarket in homebrand and love shopping at Aldi. The only things I stick to brands are garbage bags, toilet paper, baby wipes and tissues. I save so much money this way, and honestly no one has complained about it!

5. Bill Smoothing is a wonderful thing. As hard as I try to budget, when the big bills come, there is rarely enough there.. Gas and electricity can be huge in our house! I have bill smoothing in place which means I pay a set amount every week and never have to come up with money for the quarterly bill. It’s easy to set up, you just have to find the time to talk to your provider.

Hope this helps those who are learning to budget too!

How To Survive Sleep Deprivation

When you have your first baby, advice is to sleep when baby sleeps and to let the housework take a back seat. 

So, what about when you have a toddler and a newborn?

Or children who haven't let you sleep for a week?

Here are my tips for functioning with sleep deprivation and a toddler or three.. 

Make lists. 

All rational brain function is non existent when sleep deprived. Make lists of what needs to be done so that you can tick it off as you go through the day. It may seem silly to write down that you need to change baby's nappy after a nap or what times everyone needs to be fed. But if you are anything like me - without it, you may be wondering why everyone is screaming at you only to realise that it's 2pm and you forgot to feed anyone lunch. 

Let the tears wash over you and the cuddles fill your heart. 

When everyone is tired there are plenty of tears, tantrums and lots of little people who need you to fill their love banks. If you let their crying drain your own emotional tank, it's not long until you are on the floor crying with them. 

I do my best to let their tears wash over me and use the cuddles that they need to help fill my heart and give me the strength to keep going.

Get some fresh air.
If you can, get out of the house. Go for a walk and breathe some fresh air. A bit of sunshine and being out of the confines of the four walls can help everyone. Especially Mum - if nothing else, at least the crying sounds quieter out in the open air!

Eat well and drink water. 

This one is harder than it sounds. Today for example, I have had a whole block of chocolate because I am having a hard day on the end of a hard week and I am suffering for it. 

Try to choose foods with slow releasing energy so that you don't have to experience the blood sugar crash that forces you onto the couch. Reach for some nuts over the chocolate if you can! Same goes for drinking water. Keeping well hydrated will help get through each day and by choosing water over sugary drinks, you won't have that crash that can flatten you when you least need it.