As a parent of a toddler and infant, there are a zillion things on my ideal To Do list every day and little time to get everything done! As such, I'm working on accepting that there will always be unchecked tasks and, instead, focusing my mind and body on those that will yield the biggest bang for the buck and doing these tasks efficiently.
In addition to table stakes items such as eating well, household chores, personal hygiene, etc., I've put together the following list of personal "big bang" daily To Dos. Many of these items take up very little time and/or can be combined with other activities. All of them, I feel, provide significant benefits on a short and/or long term basis.
Drink at least 6 glasses of water
Wear my mouth guard overnight
Take my supplements (multivitamin, iron, probiotic, fish oil) along with a protein shake
Give my (infant) son a vitamin D drop
Do my pelvic floor exercises (more on this in an upcoming post!)
Drink a tea to increase my milk supply
Get outside, at least for a little while (even on the coldest days!)
Y'know what I find empowering? Challenging myself to complete certain tasks in an insanely short period of time (and ideally succeeding)! I like to call this Warp Speed Mama Mode. :) Some mamas appear to be on warp speed 24/7, and that's just not my overall style - nor do I think it would be healthy! But I do like to employ this technique periodically, partcularly when I'm feeling sluggish and/or I need a reminder just how quickly I can get things done when I set my mind to it! It's definitely a confidence and energy builder!
I most commonly go into WSMM to tackle day-to-day housekeeping tasks. Dishes, laundry, that sort of thing. I give myself, say, 30 minutes and try to tick everything off on a task list (or x number of items) within that timeframe. This accomplishes two things: it lessens the drudgery of these repetitive tasks, and also reduces the time spent doing them, freeing up valuable minutes for more meaningful and gratifying activities. Earlier this afternoon my husband told me there was no way in H-E-double hockey sticks I could take a 7-minute shower (as this is something I normally spend a good 15 indulgent minutes on!) so I Showed Him. Not only did I shower in the allotted timeframe but I undressed and dressed within it too, for good measure. (Upon claiming victory, he tried to "get me" by pointing out my contact lenses weren't in, but this wasn't part of the agreement! :)
Now I feel all pumped to get other things done today at warp speed! It's 3:00 now; think I can publish this blog post, tidy the main floor, wash the dishes, fold and put away two loads of laundry, change a diaper, make a shopping list and go grocery shopping with the little guy before we pick up his sister at 4:15? Just watch me! :)
Do you like to go into warp speed mode and/or give yourself timed challenges? What types of tasks do you challenge yourself with?
As anyone with children would certainly agree, life changes....dramatically....the moment your first little bundle of joy enters the world. Raising a child is an amazing experience - but it's also (at times) frustrating and exhausting, and introduces so many new tasks and responsibilities that it often feels there aren't enough hours in the day (let alone neurons in your brain)!
While off on maternity leave with our daughter S, I said more than once that motherhood was a much tougher role than the one I'd left (as Project Manager at a software company). And then I went back to work a year later and found myself with two jobs - because the "Mommy" part, of course, doesn't just go away! Balancing "formal" work and personal life during the last 9 months has certainly been challenging for our family, however along the way we've learned some helpful lessons & tips. We don't always abide by these (for one reason or another) but life is a lot more rewarding and less stressful when we do!
Here are our Top 7 tips. Hope you find a helpful tidbit or two in here as well!
Keep work at work. My husband and I both work from home (for the same company, actually) which has a lot of perks but it's also particularly easy to let work bleed into personal/family time. This can be a slippery slope, so I've made it a personal policy to shut down my laptop when our daughter comes home from daycare so I can spend quality, non-distracted time with her. If necessary, the lappy can come back out later when she's sleeping. In the same vein, I strive to "keep home at home" during work hours, so that I feel accomplished at the end of the work day which makes it easier & more rewarding to flip the switch and enjoy family time that evening.
Use your sick days. Many people (myself included, in a previous life ;) opt to "suck it up" and push through when they are ill, with a common rationalization being that the work will just build up and require extra time later if they take the day off now. While this may be true to some extent, overdoing it when under the weather is likely to prolong the illness, compounding the problem anyway. And once you become a parent, I've realized, you're particularly prone to both getting sick in the first place (since small children are such germ factories) and running yourself ragged when you are (since when you're sick, your little one(s) often are too so they require extra care). Not to mention the fact that spreading nasty bugs to coworkers is Never a Good Thing. So use those sick days when appropriate - doing so benefits both you and your company!
Organize/simplify your morning routine. For us, this includes (among other things) re-stocking the diaper bag the night before, having numerous quick & healthy options available for breakfast (fresh fruit, various hot & cold cereals, eggs, etc.) and sticking to a standard schedule whenever possible. I also aim to complete my own personal care routine and get in a little "me time" while our daughter's still sleeping, as this helps me feel more alert and outwardly focused once she's up. In general, the fewer little organizational things we need to actively think about and/or tackle each morning, the more relaxed & present we are to enjoy quality family time and then shift gears easily into work mode. On a related note, if you're a chronic snoozer and want to break the habit, check out this excellent method on how to get up with your alarm clock. It works!
Make chores less of a "chore". First of all, find a division that works well between you and your partner. Since my husband and I are both working full time, we share chores pretty evenly and have naturally gravitated toward a division that caters to both our preferences and skill sets. For example, he finds dirty diapers gross and I wretch at the scent of decaying food, so I do poop spray-downs and he handles the composter bin. He has a green thumb so he keeps the plants alive, and I'm more sensitive to feng shui (slash neurotic about clutter - your pick) so I do most of the general tidying. Etc. With some chores (such as cooking and dishes) we take turns; whoever is more motivated or has more energy will take the reigns here. Speaking of dishes, we aim to wash (or at least rinse) them right away so we don't waste unnecessary time and resources soaking and scrubbing caked-on nastiness. Combining mindless, repetitive chores with more enjoyable activities (where possible) is also helpful - for example, folding laundry in front of a favourite show. Finally, it goes without saying that chores provide a great opportunity to teach children valuable life skills and reinforce positive traits - regardless of whether they're helping or "helping" (i.e. in the case of a toddler :).
Practice healthy habits. I'll reduce the plethora of possible preamble here to the simple fact that healthy habits lead to more energy and increased alertness, which is obviously vital for balancing the demands of work and family life. Of course what's considered healthy is often under debate and/or specific to an individual or group, so here are some things I've learned that are both "no brainers" (in that there is little to no research refuting them) and universally applicable.
Limit your intake of sugars, fake sugars and processed food. Or cut them out entirely if you have the discipline. (I don't. :) These foods may taste good, feel satisfying and even give you a burst of energy in the short term, but ultimately they'll make you feel like crap.
Eat copious quantities of The World's Healthiest Foods. To encourage both of these habits, keep food readily available around the house from the second list but not the first.
Listen to your body. If you need to rest, rest. If something feels wrong, get it checked out.
Consider seeing a naturopath. Long story short, these folks focus on the optimal health and wellbeing of people as individuals - because what's healthy for your Uncle Bob may not be for you. Many benefits plans include naturopathic coverage, so make sure to check into this.
Look for opportunities to reduce toxins in your environment. For example, eat organic when appropriate & possible; choose personal care products with safe ingredients and use "green" cleaning approaches/products. (I personally {heart} Norwex! And no, I'm not a consultant (yet :) so there isn't anything in it for me to promote it.)
Ensure you are getting high-quality sleep. There are many articles out there on sleep quantity, which is obviously super-important. That said, I feel obtaining quality sleep is just as vital. If you're regularly waking up feeling sluggish, there might be something you can adjust in your sleep routine which will help. A different pillow or a new mattress, perhaps. In my case, my dental hygienest suspected that I'm a night-time mouth breather (based on the pattern of plaque on my front teeth) so I started paying more attention to this when drifting off at night. Indeed, I'm usually unable to breathe through my nose 100% clearly. I started using nasal strips and found this helped tremendously! I woke up feeling more rested, even on fewer hours of sleep. This is something I might look into further for a more permanent solution, as nasal strips get expensive with regular use (for one thing), but I'm glad I've nailed down something at least shorter time that works well!
Make mealtimes manageable. I love food, and I (usually) love to cook. I'm into bold flavours & ingredients, world cuisines and, well, deliciousness (is that word?) in general. I got into a pretty consistent menu planning routine during my last maternity leave, and it worked out really well. But. Unfortunately these days, it's not as practical to do this because my husband and I commute regularly to our head office (~2 hour drive), and sometimes we're simply too short on time and/or exhausted to cook! As such, I've temporarily removed "advancing my culinary skillz" from the to do list and thrown in the towel on weekly meal planning in favour of quick & easy meal solutions which can be whipped together on the fly. Here are some tips we've learned for achieving this:
"The freezer is your friend" - When we do cook, we often make copious quantities so that one or more portions can be frozen for later meals. Soups, stews, chilis, cabbage rolls and rice dishes work nicely here. We also keep lots of frozen veggies and fruit on-hand for quick sides and smoothies (respectively). And, yes, we've been known to toss in the occasional store bought lasagna or pizza, and have learned not to feel (too) guilty about this! :) Finally, I recently tried out "freezer cooking" at SupperWorks and so far we're loving the meals - easily, healthy and tasty! I might do this again to feed the freezer before Little Man arrives, or if I can manage several hours of uninterrupted time I'll plan out a freezer cooking bonanza at home
Sometimes a "non-meal meal" is OK - For example, on a given night we might steam some beans from the garden, finish a leftover pasta salad and eat a bunch of fruit and nuts. And heck, we often feel better after these "meals" because they aren't nearly as heavy!
If we want gourmet, we go out and get it - Satisfying that craving for dim sum or hand-crafted ravioli is best left to the experts these days. Which leads nicely into the next point...
Spend quality time with your partner. With work, children, events, chores and so many other little things competing for attention, nurturing a romantic relationship can easily fall to the bottom of the pile! Making a dedicated effort to prevent this is important not only to keep those wonderful sparks, common interests and all that other good shtuff that brought you together in the first place alive, but also to guard against empty nest syndrome. Quality time together could be in the form of an "official" date night, an engaging discussion, relaxing on the couch together in front of a good show, or good ol' "marital congress". :) The important thing is that you are alone together, enjoying yourselves and focusing on something outside of day-to-day responsibilities. On the date night topic, my husband and I are very fortunate to have numerous family members and two trustworthy babysitters who are happy to spend time with our li'l monkey, so if we feel like dinner and a movie out on a particular Friday night, we can usually swing it. But when we can't (or when we prefer not to), chilling out at home with a bowl of popcorn can be just as relaxing!
What tips have you learned to help balance work and personal life (or life in general) with your own family?
Disclosure: I was selected as one of the Winter 2011 recipients for a Mom Central Canada Blogger Grant, and received compensation for the above post. I would like to thank Mom Central Canada for continuing to empower Canadian bloggers in the form of financial grants, opportunities to connect with great brands and many other helpful methods of support.
During my life update post a few weeks back, I mentioned how I'd like to start following a more organized and consistent daily schedule, especially on work days when quality family and personal time is at a premium.
Well, I haven't totally succeeded on this front just yet. Still hauling butt out of bed most mornings at the same time as S which throws the whole day off-kilter. But! I've convinced myself that I just need to write down my ideal vision of an average work day, and then everything will flow like silk. Right? :)
So here's what I have in mind:
6:30 AM: Wake up with my alarm clock. Stretch, walk around a bit, have a glass of water.
6:35 AM: Shower, get dressed, brush teeth, put in contacts, dry hair.
6:59 AM: Feel like a human already! Yay! :)
7:00 AM: Make tea/coffee and light breakfast (including protein). Catch up on emails, news, blogging stuffs.
7:45 AM: Tidy. Go upstairs to see if S is up. (She usually wakes between 7:45 amd 8:00.)
8:00 AM: QUALITY wake up time with S! Giggles, tickles, books, toys, etc. Diaper change. (Feeling awake & energetic at this time makes things SOOO much more enjoyable - for both of us!)
8:15 AM: Breakfast for S.
8:30 AM: A bit more play time, ready bag for day care (diaper stuffs, extra outfit, milk).
8:45 AM: S to daycare
9:00 AM: Work
11:30 AM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Walk - 10-15 mins around neighborhood
1:15 PM: Work
5:00 PM: S back from daycare
5:15 PM: Make dinner (ideally based on a menu plan); play with S. Play music in background.
6:30 PM: Eat dinner.
7:00 PM: Bath for S
7:15 PM: Quiet play in S' room. Toys & books.
7:45 PM: Milk for S (bottle / sippy)
8:00 PM: Brush S' teeth. Bed time!
8:05 PM: Clean kitchen, spray down diapers, get laundry in, other basic cleaning/tidying.
8:45 PM: Personal time - blogging, reading, etc.
10:00 PM: Relax with hubs - hang out, talk, watch a couple shows, etc.
11:00 PM: Go to sleep!
If you've been kicking around here awhile, you may recall that I wrote a post last Summer on this very same topic. I held off reading my old schedule until my new one was written, however both renditions ended up describing almost identical early morning and late evening times and activities (with dramatically different happenings in the middle, obviously - since I was on mat leave with S all day when I wrote the first one). So clearly I have a consistent vision of how I want to take advantage of personal time over an average day - now just a matter of following through with it!
Getting up daily at 6:30 AM has (frustratingly) proven to be the loftiest goal of all, but the most vital one so I'm going to achieve it this time around, dern it! My coworker told me today that 3 weeks is the threshold for successfully forming new habits, so that's the milestone I'm shooting for. Wish me luck!
What about you? Do you attempt to follow a schedule for all or part of your days? Or do you prefer to go with the flow?
I'm a perfectionist by nature. I often feel that if I don't do something right, there's no point to doing it at all.
Now that I'm a Mom, this mentality tends to rear its head when it comes to day-to-day tasks - dishes, laundry, sweeping, etc. If I don't keep things up regularly (and efficiently), I often feel that I'm falling behind and things are getting out of control. I watch Hoarders and wonder, what is the tipping point? Many of the so-called hoarders are really just people who have lost the desire and/or ability to keep the house in order.
Efficiency is a big thing for me these days. Doing more in shorter periods of time, doing two things concurrently, etc. I've made improvements in this area which I'm hapy about, but some days I'm slower, more forgetful, sluggish, etc. and then I have the tendency to berate myself for not being on-the-ball.
My Mom often reminds me that I don't have to be a perfect mom - that there's no such thing. But this is something I need to remind *myself* more often!
I woke up this morning with a foggy head and slight headache which progressed to a full-blown migraine by early afternoon. I had a zillion things I wanted to do during S's nap, but instead I actually followed the age-old advice and slept while baby slept. I woke up still feeling somewhat foggy, but significantly better. And then I allowed myself to take it easy the rest of the day. Sure, I still had S to take care of, dinner to make, dishes to do, etc. - but my wonderful and intuitive husband was right there by my side helping out, and I didn't set any stardards for myself in terms of how long each task should take and how many "extra things" I felt I needed to accomplish on top of the regular stuff.
I decided to go easy on myself. I don't do this often, but it feels good when I do. I know I'm not going to turn into a hoarder or lose my motivations overnight. Quite the opposite, in fact; this sort of downtime is important in order to recharge and continue to be better in the long run.
Oh, and I didn't (really) think too much about grammar and flow in this blog post. So if it's choppy or a little incoherent, that's why. And I'm not going to worry about that either. ;)
So what about you? Do you need to remind yourself to go easy as well? Is there any other advice you give yourself from time to time to help you stay balanced?
In my recent Norwex Fall Cleaning Pack giveaway, I asked you to submit a tip and/or idea for cleaning with Norwex products. Here are some of the great comments that were submitted. Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to trying some of these!
Tips:
The norwex and polishing cloth work amazingly well for that nasty road grime that coats the inside of your car windsheild. I've never been able to get it off until I borrowed a friends Norwex. Now I need a set of my own!
I'd love to try out the Envirocloth on my nasty long overdue for a good scrub shower. I love my dusting mitt and window buffer and know that the multipurpose cloth removes crayon (I borrowed my neighbours to try to remove crayon from a boardbook - I had scraped at it with various cloths and a fingernail with little luck, the norwex cloth wiped it off with littler effort.)
My cleaning tip: Norwex is great at chemical-free cleaning, but don't forget how effective it is at picking stuff up! (Due to it's tight microfiber). My story is this: Our dog vomited on the light coloured carpet, and after wiping it up there was still a stain. We tried our Norwex cloth with nothing but water and the stain was gone! Miraculous!
I have used one on my patio doors to rid it of my 4 children's little finger prints and tongue licks! works great !
I am a professional cleaner and I love the shine towels. Sometimes I have to clean stainless steel I wipe them down with a wet Norwex rag and dry witha shine towel. Works like a charm!
Ideas:
...clean my glasses!
I would love to use the mitt to clean my wood banister. I could never get all the dust on the first try!
I like the car care kit - my suv gets really dirty from our monthty visits to see my parents 5 hours aways. This kit would be perfect for cleaning up
Eager for the dusting mitt. I need to clean my shelves and photo frames
Oh, I would love to clean our computers with a Norwex cloth! Awesome!
I'd like to try the dusting mitt. It would be helpful in dusting electronics and large areas like tabletops
The dusting mitt - I'd love to have a clean computer screen, a clean tv screen, dust my fans and shelves. :)
My TV. It was expensive and I am scared to use any cleaner on it so it is VERY dirty, similar to your pic. That would be the first thing.
I'd love to use the dust mitt for all my knicknacks.
The ceiling fan in our bedroom...honestly, I am a little scared
LOL - Can I say our WHOLE house we are way behind on cleaning everything. Our mirrored closet doors and kitchen backsplash might be first
Looking to nab some of these great products for yourself? You can place an order with my giveaway sponsor Tasha Baldock, or with another consultant you may know. I just ordered some more products myself - can't wait to try the veggie & fruit scrub cloth in particular as I've heard great things about it!
During my 3rd trimester, we took the advice of many and stocked our deep freezer with MANY containers of home-made meals: soups, stews, cabbage rolls, casseroles and other goodies. We were so glad we did, as we basically ate out of the freezer for 3-4 weeks straight following S's birth. And ate well! Although we did bust out the occasional conventionally frozen dinner, these were few & far between.
Now that I'll be returning to work in about 3 weeks (insert stereotypical but oh-so-true statement lamenting the surprisingly expeditious passage of time here), we figured it makes sense to feed Mr. Freeze again. With S going to daycare 8 hours per day, M-F, something's telling me we're not going to want to spend the precious few hours we have with her each day slaving over frequent "from scratch" meals in the kitchen.
We've already begun the process. Here's what Mr. F has graciously accepted so far:
One small-ish container of turkey noodle soup (1 meal)
Two containers of cabbage rolls (8-10 rolls each)
Two containers of sausage, bean & potato soup (3-4 meals worth)
In addition to this, we're looking to make large batches of the following to add to the stockpile:
Yes I know, that's not exactly a news headline as I'm known for a few slightly neurotic obsessions (such as reading and re-reading my blog posts for grammar and flow prior to publishing. ;)
But to be obsessed with cleaning products? Surely I could find something less...mundane with which to preoccupy myself? Or perhaps not! I'll let you decide once I tell you a li'l more about Norwex, one of my latest & greatest brand discoveries!
Rewind a few weeks. If you were following me back then, you may remember a post I wrote about the Momstown KW Birthday Bash. Prior to this event, I'd heard of Norwex offhand but didn't really know what it was all about. Well, that certainly changed thanks to Tasha Baldock - a knowledgeable and enthusiastic Norwex consultant who presented at the bash. She convincingly demonstrated using raw chicken and a protein detection kit that you can clean AND sterilize, well, pretty much everything with a single cloth and a li'l water. That's it. How awesome is that?
So what is this little cloth and how the heck is it able to accomplish such a feat? Well, it's called an Enviro Cloth and it consists of a patented antibacterial microfiber which is 1/100th the size of a strand of human hair and knitted just right so that the cloth can hold up to seven times its weight in matter. In total, there are over 2.9 million meters of fiber in one of these bad boys! The antibacterial property comes from a silver-based agent that is actually embedded within the tiny microfiber. All in all, the cloth is able to pick up 99.9% of germs and bacteria (from washable surfaces) and inactivate them within a 24 hour period. In addition to the multipurpose Enviro Cloth, Norwex has a number of other microfiber products designed for specific purposes (e.g. kitchen cloths, face cloths, floor mops), however at the heart of each of these is the same "antibac" technology which smothers and deactivates germs and bacteria.
As a new mama who strives to run a chemical-free home, save money, simplify, de-clutter and gain efficiencies in my day-to-day tasks, these products appeared to be so up my alley it HURT. :D And the Norwex mission statement ("To improve quality of life by radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning") really resonated with me in the same light. (You can read more about the company's history and values here.) That said, I'm also blessed/cursed (your pick) with a healthy dose of skepticism, so I calmed down and did a li'l research. As I hoped for, every one of the independent reviews I checked out proclaimed that Norwex is, indeed, The Real Deal and their chemical-free cleaning products do work as advertised. Sweet!
At that point, I knew that I not only had to try some of these products for myself, but I also wanted to share my experiences here at Manager to Mom! And since Norwex is a direct selling company (similar to Avon and Thirty-One Gifts, which I featured in a review/giveaway this past Spring), I thought there could be a wonderful opportunity to team up directly with Tasha on a blog review/giveaway feature. I contacted her through her Norwex business page and was super-excited to hear that she was game! She generously offered a "Fall cleaning pack" consisting of the following three "antibac" items for me to review:
1) Enviro Cloth - The "everything" cloth that I raved about above! This cloth can theoretically be used to clean your toilets and then your kitchen shortly thereafter with no cross-contamination, though most people would prefer to have separate cloths for these purposes in practice. :)
2) Polish/Window Cloth - A cloth with a smoother weave that is meant to be used dry (or slightly damp). It is ideal for polishing windows, mirrors and other surfaces to a streak-free shine and is especially effective when used following the Enviro Cloth. Tasha mentioned that she keeps one in her bathroom to wipe down her mirror after a shower, allowing her to get to her hair & makeup right away!
3) Dusting Mitt - A "wearable" cloth with fibres woven into a higher pile for an increased static charge and greater surface area. This allows it to collect and hold even more dust and water than the Enviro Cloth. According to Tasha, the dusting mitt is excellent for dusting chandeliers, fans, vents, plants and vehicle dashboards, is great for difficult areas such as blinds and is amazing for washing screens right in their frame! When using the mitt for dusting you keep it dry, however to wash screens you'd want to wet it first.
I was impressed by the amount of detail and number of personal experience tips that Tasha provided to help me effectively use these products. This further demonstrated her passion and expertise with Norwex, and I felt like I definitely teamed up with the right consultant!
When my products arrived, I had to restrain myself from grabbing the Enviro Cloth and immediately wiping down all my counters. Pics first, I told myself! So here are all my products, untarnished. :) Dusting mitt (top left), polish cloth (top right) and Enviro Cloth (bottom).
Check out how the fibres compare. Notice that the polish cloth (left) has the finest weave, the Enviro Cloth is thicker and the dusting mitt is super-fluffy!
All three products have an extremely high-quality feel to them as well.
Pics taken, I got to my kitchen wipe-down and was immediately very impressed! My previous routine involved using damp dish cloths and towels for a basic wipe, with the occasional vinegar & paper towel de-streak treatment. I'm happy to report that the Enviro Cloth alone performed much better than all of my previous cleaning tools, and was much quicker to boot! It truly does grab and hold in everything it glides over, from pools of water to crumbs to grease spots. I was able to wipe down my whole kitchen without even rinsing my cloth; it's large enough that I simply refolded to get a clean section when I moved to a new area. And then when I did rinse it out following the wipe-down, the gunk flushed away nicely. AWESOME.
For our glass stove top, I busted out the polish cloth, gave'r a few wipes and indeed - it was left gleaming and perfectly streak-free.
Actual cleaning accomplished, I felt the urge to really put my two cloths to the test. So I conducted my own Norwex "butter demo" on our bathroom mirror. How'd it go? Well, you be the judge!
As for storing the cloths between uses, I started out just wringing them out and keeping them folded on the counter, but this was far from ideal. They took up space and got funky pretty quickly. I asked Tasha for tips here, and she mentioned that she hangs her cloths by their labels on her kitchen cupboard knobs. Great idea, though our cupboards don't have knob handles so this didn't work for us. Soooo my husband was sweet enough to install a rack above the sink for my Norwex! How awesome and convenient is this?
(Note - the green cloth on the left is my daughter's "gently used" face cloth, renting a li'l space on there as well. ;)
All in all, I love these two cloths. They have managed to meet, if not exceed, my expectations, which were lofty from the start!
Next up - the dusting mitt. I've never used a mitt-shaped duster before but it's a great concept. It allows you to "shape" the duster in order to best fit the surface you are cleaning. For example, you can keep it straight if you are dusting a flat surface like a shelf or blinds, and cup your hand to efficiently dust furniture edges, table legs, knobs, etc. I did find that the mitt fit my skinny li'l wrist pretty loosely, so I secured it with a hair elastic which worked well.
The first thing I dusted off was my laptop screen. Man, that thing needed a cleaning something fierce. Y'know when the sunlight comes in just so and every little speck of dust on your surfaces becomes visible? Well, get a load of this.
I know - disgusting. I was surprised not to see "CLEAN ME!!!" etched across the surface.
But after a few wipes with the dusting mitt:
Dust gonzo! Just a few remaining sticky bits which required a wet wipe.
Next, I tackled a bunch of areas (door and window edges, blinds, lights and other hiding spots) which hadn't been dusted in, well, I'm embarrassed to say. I'm happy to report that the holding power of the mitt was quite good! I only had to bang it out 2-3 times during the duration of my cleaning, and I dusted for close to an hour. Most of the dust got firmly trapped within the fibers, but after awhile it started to cake on the surface. At this point, it needed to be removed in order for the mitt to continue working effectively. I took this pic just before banging it out; quite a few nasties trapped in there!
I also just noticed that it was the "back" of the mitt I took the picture of! (I'm right handed so I usually wear it the other way, but since both sides are covered in the microfiber I'd flip it around after awhile and use the other side.) The front was probably even crustier, hehe.
All in all, I'm happy to give the dusting mitt two thumbs up as well. Altogether, these three products make up quite the powerful eco-friendly cleaning package!
Finally, a few words about care and maintenance. Slightly soiled cloths can be handwashed in warm water with a little dish or laundry soap and then rinsed well. Similarly, the dusting mitt can be vacuumed between uses. When it's time for a more thorough cleaning, all of these items can be machine washed at any temperature and machine dried at up to 90 degrees with lint-free laundry (or aired out). No fabric softener, bleach or dryer sheets should be use as these can damage the products. I have washed my cloths a few times now and my mitt once, and found it worked well to throw 'em in with my cloth diaper laundry. Zero lint, eco-friendly detergent and an extra rinse cycle to really get 'em clean and residue-free!
So how would you like to "improve your quality of life" and get your hands on some of these wonderful products? :)
Buy It!
You can purchase the Enviro Cloth, polish cloth, dusting mitt and many other great cleaning and personal care products directly from Tasha's Norwex site! Orders can be shipped to anywhere in Canada and the United States for the same flat rate of $4.95. To place an order, you will first need to fill out this quick & easy form to create an account. This also allows you to sign up for Tasha's personalized monthly newsletter which contains the latest Norwex specials and updates.
Feeling super-passionate? :)
Then why not host a party and spread the love! Norwex has a pretty sweet host/hostess reward program. Plus, if you live in the Waterloo, Halton, Peel, York or Durham regions of Ontario, Tasha is happy to travel and present at your party! I just might be hosting one myself over the next couple months; anyone interested in attending? ;) Norwex also offers flexible career opportunities, and Tasha mentioned that she would personally train and provide support for anyone who would like to join her team.
Win It!
One lucky Manager to Mom reader will receive the same "Fall cleaning pack" that I reviewed here - an Enviro Cloth, a polish cloth and a dusting mitt. (Total value: $54!) Open to Canada and the United States.
To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Comments do not count as entries, however feel free to add a comment to remind yourself that you entered or to share your product feedback with others!
Well, we're back from our fun & sun-filled cottage trip, and as usual it went way too fast! It's after 12:30 AM so I *should* be in bed, however I thought I'd quickly whip out the post that was percolating in my head during our drive back.
As those of you with kids would surely agree, travelling and vacationing with babies (and older kids too, I would certainly imagine!) is quite a bit different than with adults exclusively. While we got a taste of this during our weekend trip to Picton, it really hit home during our cottage vacation. As such, I thought I'd share some of the lessons we learned and helpful tips we discovered!
Scheduling travel time during baby's sleeping hours is ideal! We decided to leave the Bruce tonight after dinner and S slept the entire ride home. This was a stark contrast to our return trip from Picton during which we frantically rotated toys and busted out every song in the book in an attempt to coax her out of her "I hate being restained in this seat!" crying fit.
Stackable and sortable toys are the bomb. They take up less space, provide a versatile playing experience (so baby is probably less likely to get bored of them) and are sand (and other grime) resilient. S was content to independently play with her stacking cups and Fisher Price shape sorting box on many occasions during our trip!
Getting organized and establishing schedules/routines early on in your trip is super-helpful. For example, if your baby is on solids, find a convenient home for her food & accessories as soon as you can and institute an efficient cleaning routine. I brought along our kitchen wetbag which really came in handy for S's used bibs and wash cloths.
When packing your vehicle, order & accessibility of key items becomes much more important! Food & water, diaper bag and toys (in particular) need to be easily within reach.
Cloth diapering while traveling / cottaging is totally doable - particularly if you have access to a washer. (Otherwise I can see it being much more of a PITA.) I filled one entire suitcase with S's stash, laid out her portable change mat on the couch in our room, threw a pillow on the floor to cushion the knees and voila - accessible and at least moderately ergonomic changing station! :)
While on the topic of cloth diapers, disposable liners are a nice diapering accessory on the go. As my husband put it, a liner is basically a diaper sprayer in another form. :) Although they're not perfect (bunching & whatnot), they can definitely make poopy diaper changes less messy in lieu of said sprayer. (We learned this firsthand at the Timmy's north of Espanola.)
Don't expect to catch up on sleep during your trip! In our case, S nipped any desire for this in the bud by falling asleep later, waking up earlier and napping for shorter stretches. Kind of makes sense as she was exposed to so many exciting new sensations and experiences, but a little exhausting at the same time! Luckily we had many other family members eager to spend time with our li'l monkey which allowed us to get in some R&R!
Finally, if you're like me, vacationing can help you realize that babies are, indeed, quite robust and that a little dirt truly isn't a bad thing. S enjoyed a speedy motorboat ride, splashed away in quite frigid lake water and took advantage of the (decidedly non-pristine) area rugs at each cottage to work on her crawling (and associated face planting). But ehhh - through all that, she's just fine. :)
Anyone have any other helpful tips or lessons learned when it comes to travelling and vacation with little ones? Feel free to share!!
As I've written about on various occasions, one of the goals I've set for myself as a new mom is to become more organized and efficient. A few months back, I was feeling pretty out of control but I've made some key strides since then with the biggest being menu planning. (I'm proud of myself for (more or less) sticking to the process and it has *definitely* resulted in time and cost savings, healthier eating and a reduction in wasted food!)
My latest "conquest" has been to create and follow a fairly consistent daily schedule. In addition to the overarching goal as stated above, there are a couple main motivators for this. First of all, S has been a crapper. (A crappy napper. Yes, I just made that up, and yes you can feel free to use it yourself. :) She naps irregularly and for very short periods of time, and it's very difficult to settle her for a nap in the first place. Second, now that she's on solids, we want to feed her meals at regular-ish times which is quite a change from the demand feeding non-schedule we were on when she was EBF.
Some of my favourite mama bloggers have written great content on daily scheduling/flow which has motivated me and helped me build my own schedule. I encourage you to check out the following terrific posts if you're in the same boat as I am, looking to build some structure into your days:
So below what I've drummed up for our own li'l family. I'm not expecting nor wanting this to be an extremely rigid schedule (as this would be limiting in various ways) but rather a guideline for when basic events/tasks should happen over an "average" day. Of course, there will be those days when we essentially throw the schedule out the window - such as this Saturday when we're planning to attend 3, count'em, 3 birthday parties. Whew! And, obviously, the schedule will need to adjust accordingly as our daughter's needs change and other big life events take place (e.g. me returning to work, having additional children, etc.)
One more thing. Items with a * beside them are daily happenings which we cannot fully control (for example, S waking once to feed in the early morning - something she usually does, but not always), so we'll need to be able to adapt when one of these things does not happen as planned.
5:00 to 6:00 AM: S wakes up to feed; nurse her back to sleep. *
6:30 AM: Wake up, shower, coffee, "do my thing" for a bit (emails, news, tidy, etc.)
7:00 to 8:00: S wakes up for the day. * Change, play a little bit.
8:30: Make & eat breakfast (for Chris and me). Clean.
9:30ish: Nurse S
9:45: Play with S. Toys, books, etc. Go outside if it is nice out.
10:30 to 11:30: S morning nap. *
12:00: Make & eat lunch (for all of us). Clean.
1:00: Play with S. Big chunk of play time here so use some of it to do some easy/quick chores (e.g. fold laundry)
2:30ish: Nurse S
3:15: Take S for a walk. (She almost inevitably falls asleep during this.)
3:30: S afternoon nap. *
4:30: Play with S until Chris fnishes work.
5:00: Make dinner. Chris has time with S.
5:30: Chris feeds S dinner
6:00 to 6:30: Chris and I eat dinner
6:30: Chris spends more time with S; I clean up
7:15: S bath
7:30: Chris changes S into night dipe & PJs, reads her a couple books or other quiet play time (if she is in the mood)
7:45: Nurse S
8:00: S to bed *
8:15: Chris and I have separate "me time" (I blog, he plays games, watches sports, catches up on a little work (if necessary), etc.)
10:00 to 10:30: Head up to bed; Chris and I spend some time together (watch part of a movie, show episode, talk, "other" ;)
11:00 to 11:30: Chris and I go to sleep
Question for my readers - do you schedule your days as well? I would love to hear any scheduling or general organizational tips which you've found particularly helpful!
I have to admit something here. In order to find the time to host & enter giveaways, blog and otherwise "do my thing" online, something's gotta give. Usually it's sleep (I will often get up an hour or two before DD and DH to get some "me time"), but sometimes it's also household duties (the carpets really need to be vacuumed right now) and husband time (often in the evenings, we're both on our laptops rather than spending quality time together!) And we just have one child - and a healthy, happy, easygoing one at that!
As some of you may recall, I wrote a "Day in the Life" post a few weeks back documenting what I do over the course of an average day. The post had a good 60-70+ line items, so I was doing stuff over pretty much the whole day. Yet still I didn't even get around to making dinner and ultimately not too many other things "got done" either. "Where does the time go?" I ask myself day to day!
As such, I'm in awe of all you mamas out there who seem to do it all. Many of you have multiple children, host giveaways almost on a daily basis, blog & tweet frequently, spend quality time with the whole family and with friends AND cook & clean regularly. How do you do it? Do you find that you sacrifice sleep in order to get things done? Have you just gotten really darned efficient at everything? Have you surgically attached a couple extra hands to your body? :D I'd love to hear your experiences and any tips you might have!
On a related topic, a question for those of you who babywear: do you find you're able to get a lot done while you're wearing your baby? What types of activities and chores are you able to do and/or do you enjoy doing while babywearing?
And one more question: What do you tend to do while your child naps? Do you tend to use this for "me time" (for blogging or what have you) or for getting things done? Awhile back I tried the method of doing a half hour of chores at the beginning of each nap prior to me time, but then our daughter started having such short naps (only a 1/2 hour or so at a time) such that this wouldn't allow me *any* me time! So I've been tending toward jumping at this time while I can, and doing most chores while baby is awake. On the one hand, I feel a bit guilty about this (ahhh mother's guilt) but on the other hand, I frankly NEED some me time or I start feeling sluggish and/or resentful. Am I alone here or do others feel the same way?
Love to hear thoughts from other mamas (and papas too, of course) on all this! :)
S had her first swimming "lesson" on Friday morning! She is enrolled in the 11-week Starfish program at the Waterloo Rec Complex. Ange 'n' Sam and Liz 'n' Luke are also in the program - yay for Mommy and Baby playdates!
S seemed to enjoy the experience, though she was more curious and pensive about the whole thing than outright thrilled. Lots of new sensations for her!
Here's a shot of me dipping her in for the first time!
Aaaand here's Daddy and S emerging from the water at the end of the lesson:
The actual pool time was awesome, however I found the before and after overhead a bit intimidating. S hasn't even had a bath in the big tub yet, so trying to shower myself and her at the same time was sort of nerve-wracking. Plus, I had to rely on feel rather than our trusty li'l temperature turtle to make sure it wasn't too hot for her! I also learned that less is more when it comes to pool-time organization. Chris and I brought a cumulative total of 5 bags - my backpack, his backpack, my purse, the camera bag and S's diaper bag. Next time we're going to cut that down to 2 or 3. (We nabbed our requisite "first time in the pool" vids so that's out of the way, and as cute as her pink hooded terry "swim robe" from Nana and Papa is, it is more appropriate for a leisurely day at the beach!)
Does anyone out there have any tips to help activities with little ones such as swimming lessons go as smoothly as possible? I can only imagine how much more complicated things would get with 2 or more kids!
So The Mrs (a fellow frugal Canadian mommy blogger, who is awesome and hilarious I might add - go check her out!) inspired me to document "A Day in the Life of Manager to Mom" thanks to this guest DitL post on her own blog. What a cool idea, I thought. As one who revels in comprehensiveness, this little project seemed right up my alley! Plus, I thought it would be illuminating in a couple ways. First of all, these days tend to go by in such a blur that at the end of each one it's hard to remember what actually took place and got done! Secondly, it might help me identify bad habits or inefficiencies which could be improved upon. So without further ado, here are the nitty gritty details of my life on March 24, 2011!
(Note - unfortunately no pictures here to jazz things up. I'm not sure how Lannis managed this in her post amid all the activity in her day and written documentation of said activity, but I digress.)
- 3:45 - S crying. Get up to feed her. (Note - she had her 4-month shots yesterday which likely explains why she woke for a middle-of-the-night feed. Most nights lately she makes it until at least 6 AM.)
- 4:00 to 6:45 - Sleep. Weird dreams.
- 6:45 - S hungry again. Feed.
- 6:55 - Put S back to bed, head downstairs, grab a bowl of cereal.
- 6:59 - Realize internet isn't connected; go up and plug in router (we’ve been unplugging at night). Check on S again who’s fussing a bit. Head back downstairs to start “day in the life” logging.
- 7:04 - Check on/soothe S again (still fussing)
- 7:07 - Check email, respond to a couple
- 7:13 - S STILL fussing. Go up, change her diaper, put her back in her SleepSack and try one more time to get her to finish sleeping! (She almost always sleeps until 8-8:30 so don’t want to veer from the routine if possible.) Have my “morning constitutional” (as my Mom says).
- 7:25 - Finish (soggy) cereal. Scan through blogroll.
- 7:34 - Start giveaway tweets
- 7:48 - S crying; get her up. Rock her, read a few books, take her in to wake up Daddy!
- 8:21 - Put S in one of her chairs with a soft rattle. Finish giveaway tweets.
- 8:35 - S has fallen asleep. Enter some new giveaways.
- 9:28 - Feel a bit dirty from spending too long on giveaways. :/ S still sleeping. Reboot computer.
- 9:30 - Deal with paper items lying around - credit card activation, dormant account close, hospital donation & a couple others
- 9:55 - Clean out receipts and random paper bits out of purse
- 10:00 - S awake; change; bare bum time; “fly” her around the house a bit!
- 10:24 - S in jumper; put in cloth diaper laundry
- 10:30 - Make scrambled eggs w/ red onion & jalapeno havarti for brunch!
- 10:49 - Eat brunch; make funny faces at S
- 10:57 - Nurse S; give her a vitamin D drop; read blog posts while nursing.
- 10:59 - One of my giveaway wins arrives. New books for S! (Chris gets door).
- 11:17 - S in her gym. Open books, send email to giveaway host, show Chris, file in her bookshelf. Take pictures of books and my Driline baby prize pack which I received last week. (Plan to blog on this later.)
- 11:29 - 2nd cycle of CD laundry; feed fish and show S for a few minutes; fill up jugs to refill tank (water constantly evaporates 'cause it's super dry in the basement); take hanging dipes from last laundry day upstairs
- 11:37 - Change S; dress her; kisses & peekaboo; quick visit with Daddy!
- 11:52 - Quick twitter feed check
- 11:58 - Play with ring tower; S has learned to take off each ring one by one!
- 12:02 - Change S outfit (puke)
- 12:12 - Phone call w/ Mom
- 12:22 - 3rd cycle of CD laundry
- 12:25 - Put S down for nap. (Takes some time getting her down as we’re just starting to put her in her crib for naps.)
- 12:43 - Mix more cloth wipe solution; file paperwork; wash brunch dishes & wipe counters
- 1:04 - S awake. Let her chill in crib while I go through boxes of borrowed clothes to find onesies & sleepers a size up (she's quickly growing out of her current rotation!)
- 1:14 - Take her out of crib for tummy time
- 1:18 - Nurse S
- 1:32 - Load of baby laundry downstairs to wash; CD laundry in dryer; empty water jugs into fish tank
- 1:46 - Quick email/blog/twitter check. S goobing on my thumb.
- 1:56 - Call Diapers 'n' More to check if they have swim dipes in stock (they do!); call (great) Grandma Catherine to check if we can come visit
- 2:05 - Songs and airplanes w/ S
- 2:11 - Diaper change; take "official" 4-month photo of her for her monthly growth gallery
- 2:28 - Set S in chair with stuff to do; shower
- 2:42 - Out of shower; floss, brush teeth and comb hair. S sleeping in her chair so decide to wait until after her nap to head out on errands.
- 2:51 - Realize I haven’t eaten anything since brunch so grab a pickle, carrots and crackers. Plan to grab a snack wrap or sumpin from Tim’s on the way out. Another 15 minutes on dryer to finish CD laundry.
- 3:00 - Take the opportunity to trim S nails
- 3:05 - Accidentally clip her fingertip as I’m finishing her left hand. :(((( She wakes up crying but then goes back to sleep.
- 3:07 - Clip nails on her right hand. She wakes up again, this time for realsies - POOO!
- 3:14 - Do a bit more online-y stuff. DH comes down and makes a snack platter. Asks if I’m still planning to head out, noting that “It’s 3:30”. Yes I am, I reply. I'd been planning to make dinner but since the day's getting away from me we agree to rock the leftover chili instead and save cooking for tomorrow night. (Note - I'm sure there are organizational / time management efficiencies to be gained here!)
- 3:22 - Baby laundry in the dryer; cloth diapers finish. Fold CDs while playing peekaboo with S.
- 3:36 - Nurse s. Scan Twitter feed. Cuddle with S a bit, who is snoozing post-feed.
- 4:00 - More giveaway tweets; enter a couple more contests; comment on some blogs. Have to yank myself away in order to get ready to head out. (Note: my proclivity toward "online inertia" is definitely something to work on!)
- 4:37 - Call Grandma and Mom; Grandma's up for a visit but Mom won't be coming out as she needs to make cream cheese pinwheels. (?)
- 4:46 - S up. Change her, ready diaper bag, get her into carseat.
- 5:05 - On the road
- 5:12 - Timmy’s - pick up snack wraps, fritters and coffees for Grandma and me!
- 5:40 - Arrive at Grandma’s for visit. Grandma is happy to see her GGD. S tries icing sugar for the first time.
- 6:30 - Nurse. Grandma's seen my boob a few times now. She tells me I am a "good cow". :D
- 7:00 - Kisses to (Great) Grandma. Head out.
- 7:15 - Diapers N More. Let S pick out a Monkey Doodlez swim diaper; she chooses Lil Quacker!
- 7:35 - Starbucks drive-through. Get Random Act of Kindness’ed - customer ahead of us pays for Chris’ mocha!! *warm and fuzzy*
- 8:00 - Home. Guessing game with Chris while he changed a very wet S diaper: "Why was your mocha free?" (He needed a big hint.)
- 8:05 - Check online stuffs, post about RAoK incident.
- 8:17 - Head out for groceries, cash cheques at ATM, check mail (another UCCB cheque from the federal government. It pays to procreate!!!)
- 9:12 - Get home, change into comfies.
- 9:20 - Night diaper; feed; S to bed.
- 10:00 - Some online financial stuff; recharge camera batteries.
- 10:30 - Fold laundry; watch Jeopardy on time shift. (Chicky has won over 100K in three days - nice haul!)
- 11:00 - Put away boxes of borrowed clothes & clean CD laundry in nursery; S fussing so spend a few minutes soothing
- 11:10 - Back up recent photos/videos on external drive.
- 11:35 - Wash swim diaper
- 11:41 - Chill with Chris on the couch, The Office in the background and post-ize this “Day in the Life”!
- NOW (too late) - BED!!!!
Whew - there you have it! As it turns out, I definitely Do Stuff over an average day but there are also areas where productivity and organizational improvements are certainly possible. Now time to pass the baton to anotha blogga - who wants to do a DitL next?? I'd love to hear how you mamas with multiple kiddos manage to get things done AND rock out some excellent blogging and giveaway hostin'!
Here are a couple valuable tips I've discovered re: entering online giveaways:
TIP 1: Keeping your personal and giveaway action separate on Facebook
When liking a Facebook page, you MUST like with your profile rather than your page (if you have one) in order to increment the fan counter of the recipient page. If you like with your page, the recipient page merely shows up in the "Likes" section of your own page. If you think about it, this makes sense as otherwise a business could create a bunch of bogus pages in order to artificially inflate its fan count. That said, it's a bit of a pain if you're into entering giveaways (like I am) but don't want to clobber your personal news feed with updates from all these pages. So here's what I do to keep the two feeds separate:
Create a Friend List for all the pages and personal profiles related to entering giveaways. To create a Friend List, click Friends on the left side of your Home page, click the Edit Friends button (top right) and click the + Create a List button (top right). Label your list something appropriate (e.g. GIVEAWAYS / BLOGS). Then, add all of your giveaway-related pages and personal profiles to this list.
Create another Friend List for all your personal friends using the method in 1) above.
Click the dropdown list beside the Most Recent option in your news feed. This allows you to filter the feed via one of your two lists, so you can see personal and giveaway action separately!
When you add a new friend or page, don't forget to add it right away to the appropriate list!
In addition to the above, I wanted to ensure I wasn't spamming my friends' news feeds any more than necessary with giveaway-related comments and updates. So what I do here is use my Manager to Mom page to comment on photos and posts (for fan milestones and flash giveaways), give shout-outs and share giveaways. In doing this, however, I also make the point of mentioning that I've fan'd a page using my personal account as well so it can be verified that I helped increment the counter. Now one issue with this is that it's easy to mix up whether you're currently using Facebook as your profile or your page, since you'll need to switch back and forth. Easy solution - use two browsers! For example, use Firefox for your personal profile and Internet Explorer for your page. Done!
TIP 2: Entering blog comments more quickly
Do you ever find yourself wishing that you had a second paste shortcut on your keyboard to help submit blog comment entries more quickly? Prototypical situation - you have a tweet URL to paste, but then you also need to enter your email address. Sound familiar? Early on in my giveaway-entering, I kept my email address highlighted in a second document and I'd ALT-TAB over, re-copy it and paste it for every comment. That was a bit of a PITA, however, so I looked for an alternative. And voila - Clipomatic to the rescue! This handy dandy tool allows you to keep multiple pieces of text in a buffer accessible via CTRL-ALT-V. Much easier than constantly changing screens! Give it a try yourself - super easy to install and use!
So there y'go - I hope you found these tips useful as well!
As many of you know, for the past week and a half or so I've become somewhat markedly addicted to reading mama blogs and entering giveaways. And while this is certainly more productive than playing Zuma Blitz or watching Intervention (frivolous favourites I opted for previously in my spare time), it's not a substitute for a clean house, food on the table or folded laundry! Soooooo I've decided to enforce Mandatory Chore Timetm for myself. What is this, you ask? Well every time S goes down for a nap during the day, BEFORE applying to that brand spankin' new cloth diaper contest or checking the 57 new tweets in my feed, I will make myself do at least 30 minutes of chores. I think this will be effective for a few reasons: 1) Stuff will continuously get done, 2) It'll get done more quickly because I am efficient with my tasks when I'm on a schedule, 3) More time in the evenings will be freed up to spend with Chris and 4) I won't feel like a complete contest-cravin' degenerate. ;)
On that note, I just completed my 30 minutes during S's current nap and accomplished the following:
Trimmed her nails
Fitted the cover back on her bouncer chair
Added water to the fish tank (it's currently serving as a humidifier for our basement)
Swept the area around Lucy's litter box
Washed the dishes
Took out some recycling
Not bad, huh?
Now time to finish this post - got some giveaways to enter! :D
