I’m swamped.  All these kids have me hopping all day long and when the last kiddos go home, my second job begins!  We all know this job too well: Make dinner, force kids to eat dinner, bathe kids, bedtime routine, yell at kids to go to sleep after 30 minutes of stalling and then housework… Lately I feel like this whole Mom gig is just another name for slave labour.  I gotta get it together before I end up on the news or on one of those TLC shows.

I envy those Moms who seem to have it all together.  Want to know the funny thing though? I’ve had other Moms tell me that I seem to have it all together. My conclusion? None of us are perfect parents and we all struggle with our own issues.

There just isn’t enough time in the day, period.  I always plan to get so much done in a day, and then feel bad for not even coming close.  I love reading other Mom’s blogs and seeing the pictures of their perfect homes or all the wonderful crafts they make. I do get envious though.  How could they possibly be so perfect? Well, truth be told, the Mom with the perfect home probably doesn’t have 6 kids and the Mom who always creates such beautiful crafts probably doesn’t have a perfect home.  No one can do everything. We need to pick and choose what is really important to us, and just let the rest go!

I’m learning this...slowly. I’m planning my daughters birthday party..in my mind.  I envision the amazing zoo themed cakes I’ll make and decorate with fondant.  I imagine all the beautiful zoo themed games and decorations I’ll make.  I planned on having a huge buffet of salads and sandwiches that I would lovingly make the night before.  Don’t forget the homemade invitations…gotta have homemade invitations!  The reality is that I did make invitations, but got too busy and forgot to mail them.  I won’t have time to decorate cakes, let only make decorations or 15 different salads.  Balloons and cupcakes it is.  I’m realizing that I am expecting WAY too much of myself and I need to just chill out.  So their party won’t be featured on tipjunkie.org…. I know they will love it and that is all that matters.

So, here are a few Busy Mom Tips I wanted to share with you.  I’d love to hear your tips too!

• Have a 30 minute nightly cleaning schedule. Doing a little bit every night means you’ll never have to really scrub or sweat keeping a clean house.
• Make 2 meals at a time. When I cook meat, I try to make enough for two meals.  Roasting a chicken? Why not roast two and have the second for wraps or stir fry. Frying ground beef? Fry twice as much for spaghetti or chili another day.
• Make a grocery night. I use to run out to the store WAY too much. By picking one day a week for shopping and planning your meals, I can save hours each week and save money too!
• Turn off the screens. I have given up television…well, at least before 9:00 p.m.!  Television is a huge time sucker.  You can sit for a quick show and before you know it, hours have gone by and you’ve been sitting there staring at a screen like some kind of zombie.  It was hard at first, but now I don’t even miss it! Now if I could only force myself to turn off the other screens…like my computer, laptop and iphone!

I’m looking for more time saving tips! How do you keep all the balls in the air? Clean house, happy kids, happy marriage, healthy meals, exercising, hobbies and all the other stuff that we need to find time for.  How do you do it?