Practical solutions for busy families

As a working mom, I know firsthand how overwhelming it can be to balance extracurricular schedules, family life, and everything in between. But with a few simple strategies, we can set ourselves (and our kids) up for success. Here are two tips to help make life a little easier.

​Meal Planning
Meals are often one of those things that can be forgotten about until everyone’s complaining about how hungry they are. Meal times don’t need to be stressful, even during busy weeks of running kids to activities. Here’s how you can stay on top of it:

1. Plan Ahead: Take 30 minutes each weekend to plan your meals for the week. Keep them simple—think theme nights like pasta Monday or taco Tuesday. Then make sure you have all of the ingredients on hand to make them.I have found it helpful to have a list of family-favorites I can pull from. This helps cut down on the time it takes to plan and helps ensure most of the family will eat it!
2. Double Up: Double your favorite recipes and freeze half for those hectic evenings when you need something quick. Lasagna, soups, and casseroles are great options that freeze well. (Just make sure you pull them out the night before you plan to make them so they can thaw completely.)
3. Assign Dinner to Older Kids: If you’ve got older kids, this is a great opportunity to teach them some life skills. Let them take over dinner one night a week. Give them an easy recipe or guide them through a simple meal—like waffles, pancakes, spaghetti or stir fry. Younger kids can help wash veggies, measure ingredients, or set the table. 
   
   

Carpooling
I can’t emphasize enough how helpful carpools can be in reducing the number of trips and making your life easier. During the busiest seasons in our family, I was taking kids to and picking them up from school (1 hour each day), running kids to mountain biking club (30 minutes), swimming (40 minutes) and to youth group (40 minutes). Add in doctor appointments, or visits to the orthodontist and you can see that our schedule was hectic. I knew I needed help, so I tried to limit the amount of time I was in the car running kids.
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First, since school driving took up the most time, I tried to think of families we could carpool with. There was another family not too far away that attended the same school, so I talked to them to see if they wanted to work together. They were game, so I drove in the mornings, and they picked everyone up in the afternoons. I did the same thing with swimming and youth group. Sometimes it may be outside of your comfort zone to approach someone about carpooling, but chances are, they are running as much as you are and would welcome the break. I’ve also had seasons where I’ve paid a college student to drive my kids to their practices, and others where my older kids, who can drive, run the younger kids to their commitments.

I would love to challenge you to try one or both of these in the next couple of weeks. Maybe the thought of planning a whole week of meals is too intimidating; start with 3 and go from there. Then try to see if there’s a way you can take at least one trip off your calendar each week by carpooling. My guess is that your kids will enjoy carpooling as much as you! Please reach out if you'd like to talk specifically about your situation!