I’ve only been a mom for about 11 months now and a wife for over three years (though we’ve been together for seven years), but I’ve picked up cheats and hacks along the way that have made my life so much easier. Each life hack is a service that makes it almost effortless to take care of my family, even during the busiest and roughest of weeks.
eMeals
We started using eMeals back in February when I found myself returning to work part-time after only two months of maternity leave. Before having a baby, I would waste my time compiling recipes and grocery lists to properly accommodate our dietary preferences and be smart about spending. Then, we tried eMeals and quite literally never looked back.
eMeals has so many different dietary meal plans, they do all the work for you, and I spend no more than 30 minutes on any particular meal 9 times out of ten. eMeals plans seven dinners for me and 99% of them are recipes we would happily do again as they are very creative, flavorful, and filling. Plus, by sticking to a grocery list and shopping at either farmer’s markets like Sprouts or using Instacart (below), we actually can rein in our grocery budget quite nicely.
Instacart
I work part time night shifts as a nurse, full time mom, part time blogger, full time wife, etc, etc. I started finding running errands to be too much work, especially with a baby in tow, and filling up too much of my already limited schedule.
Instacart has people running my grocery errands for me! Right now, Instacart can shop at Publix, Kroger, Whole Foods, Costco, and Petco. I regularly use Kroger, Costco, and Petco and some days will schedule deliveries from all three stores while I’m at home playing with my daughter, doing laundry, and tidying up.
If you’re wondering how the pricing works, I’m not quite sure the exact details but I know that they upcharge on certain items (usually specialty items) but are pretty on par with other items (the more common items like fruits and vegetables). Yes, I may spend a wee more using Instacart than I would if I ran to the store myself, but I’m also no longer impulse shopping plus I find I can be using my freed up time putting some of my focus and energies elsewhere. It’s one of those cost-benefit analyses and Instacart is for the win!
You can use my referral link here to get $10 towards your order.
Freezing Food
I started detailing my Food Freezing tips here as I truly love doing this. Here are just two of the main reasons I highly recommend getting a deep freeze:
1. I have a good supply of staples already on hand.
If I need onions for a recipe in eMeals, I don’t worry about adding it to my Instacart: I already have an entire bag of red onions and an entire bag of yellow onions sliced up and in my deep freeze for my choosing. (I probably got a big bag of them from Costco on an Instacart run once and spent 15 minutes one day slicing them in my food processor.) If I’m making myself a protein shake, I have frozen strawberries that I froze myself from Sprouts Farmers Market, I have frozen blueberries from when we went blueberry picking, and frozen bananas from an Instacart shopping trip to Kroger or Costco. I have butter, cheeses, baked goods, sauces, meats, and more also ready for the taking in my deep freeze.
2. I have back up meals ready to go.
If it’s a busy day or even if it’s just a day where the last thing I want to do is think about cooking a meal, I go to my deep freeze and pull out a meal I had previously prepped and froze. I have discovered quite a few different meals that store nicely in the deep freeze. I will go into more detail on that in another post, but it is just such a relief knowing I have these back up options ready to go when I need them and don’t have to resort to ordering pizza every time.
Hire a Housekeeper
Oh my goodness, deep cleaning a house with a needy baby, whether she’s 2 months or 11 months, does not sound like a task I want to manage. I turn my back for a few minutes to try to tidy up and she’s already doing something she’s not supposed to. Don’t even get me started on figuring out how I do the laundry — this task rarely sees completion.
We decided to budget for a housekeeper to come in once a month and just do an excellent job deep cleaning the entire house. This way we can just do the light housekeeping the rest of the month and that is a little more manageable in the day-to-day.
Amazon
Ah, Amazon – What would I do without thee?
Just a few hours ago, husband and I ordered the following: a refill on Diaper Genie bags, mayonnaise, almond butter, baby food, and protein powder. I work all weekend which means husband is single parenting all weekend. Since we are near out of baby food and diaper genie trash bags, we are saving us both a trip I don’t have time to make nor want to put him through that ordeal.
Amazon Prime means I can two-day ship the diaper genie bags and baby food for free (though we were able to snag one-day free shipping on the latter!). We added the other three items because we were running low and, hey, what the heck?
Amazon Pantry is pretty convenient and it’s actually not the first time I’ve order mayonnaise from Amazon! And anyone with kids will attest, particularly young ones in carseats, that it really can be a hassle to drive to the store even for one little item. I avoid quick shopping trips like the plague if it’s just me with our daughter.
More Reasons to Use Amazon
I have no shame in my Amazon game. And we all know Amazon can have some pretty competitive pricing on items and the two-day free shipping is a major selling point in and of itself.
Amazon Prime membership at $99 a year provides more than just two-day free shipping: I enjoy unlimited music streaming, unlimited video streaming, the Kindle Lending Library, Prime Pantry and Subscribe and Save discounts on items like deodorant, and Amazon Mom where you have Subscribe and Save discounts on a lot of baby items, like diapers and wipes.
#TreatYoSelf
(And a reflection on my journey as a new mother so far and moving forward)
Becoming a mom is an incredibly beautiful experience but it obviously goes without saying that it is an enormously major life change. Mr. Charming and I got so blessed with our daughter and in many ways she is easy peasy and we are lucky she is healthy — but it’s still a huge adjustment. This is not even adding all the extra stressors that have been weighing and tugging on me this year. It’s been a year for the books and if it wasn’t for my baby girl I don’t know if I would be quite as sane.
New parenthood does come with challenges and, I don’t know about you, but I’ve had quite a lot of internal conflicts as I try to decide who I want to be now that I’m a mom. But I’m more than just a mom. I’m a wife to an amazingly supportive and wonderful man. I am a daughter to two dedicated parents, both of whom are struggling right now as my dad continues to fight advanced cancer. I have passions and dreams. I yearn for connecting with some girl friends sans baby, deep conversations with my husband over coffee, travels to far off places, building my side business into something meaningful, and one day moving into a bigger picture position as an oncology nurse.
Today, I’m finally okay — for the first time in my life — with staying put and dealing with my future when it comes; but now, in this life stage more than ever, is “me” time just so vital to me being a super-whatever. I encourage all of you to not lose sight of who you are, where you want to go, and what is going to get you there, whether it’s a bubble bath, taking a class, or planning a getaway. Our children are truly gifts from God and our spouses are the co-captains in our journey on Earth but we must remember to put ourselves first when we can in order to reground ourselves to another.
Feel like I missed something?
What do you use that makes your life better
(or more manageable) despite a busy schedule?
The post Become Supermom and Superwife + Increase Productivity appeared first on The Charming.
