The Cardiologist's Wife

Getting Organized For New Moms

[ Post by Lisa Tedder ][ Post on June 20, 2012 ][ In For new Mom's ]

Some of my regular readers may have noticed that I’ve been adding posts for new Moms.  Having your first baby changes everything dramatically and preparing any kind of food seems like one more unmanageable task.  Moms need to eat right so they will be healthy, feel good, and lose that baby weight.  Last time I mentioned that having an organized kitchen will help tremendously.  If being organized doesn’t come naturally to you, it is definitely a skill you need to acquire as it means the difference between feeling in control and feeling overwhelmed.

 

 

Once I had children, I found I really needed a schedule so I could accomplish tasks like paying bills, grocery shopping and laundry.  If you plan to go back to work, a schedule is even more useful.  When there are just two people, you can be much more relaxed but now your baby consumes any free time plus much of your sleep time as well!  I know many people will say “She’s so anal”, when they read this but hey, my bills are paid on time, everyone has clean clothes and no one goes hungry at my house.  If you can live with chaos, fine.  If you are feeling a loss of control over your life, read on.  First, you and your spouse need to divide chores.  I didn’t work (for pay, anyway) after we had children so that meant most of our household chores fell to me.  My husband does do things like take care of the cars, the lawn and generally our investments.  He also helps out with the kids in every way possible when not at work.  That included diapers, baths, feeding and incidental cleaning, driving kids around and animal care but of course, our teens no longer wear diapers and can bathe themselves.  I always take care of bills and the check book, plus cooking (we’d eat take out if left to my husband!), grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning and anything else you can think of.

 

I like to have major chores done on certain days of the week.  I wash all our clothes on Monday (sheets and towels get done as needed) and pay bills every Wednesday.  This means less stress for me as no one ever comes along on a school morning and says, “I don’t have any clean jeans!”  I also like knowing there won’t be any late charges because someone forgot to pay a bill.  I also know how much money we have in the bank and my tax file is pretty organized come tax prep time.  I keep a grocery list going by writing down things when they are used up and then shop on the same days twice a week.  Of course, I plan the meals in advance so I know what we are eating each night.  So if my method sounds like too much work, consider how much extra work you do staying up late to wash clothes because no one has clean underwear for the next day or how aggravating it is in August to find the electricity shut off, or how awful it is to drag hungry, crying children through the store at 5 p.m. because there is nothing to eat for dinner.  And remember, this is an equal opportunity situation – Moms don’t have to do all these things, Dad can do his share.  Divide them up by who is better suited to do them.

For more tips on organizing your kitchen to make meal prep easier, read my posts titled, “Start The New Year Right – Get Organized” and “Getting Organized, What To Have In Your Pantry”, written in January of 2010.

 

Upadated on June 20, 2012