As a mum, ensuring your parenting life runs smoothly takes a lot of effort.  From cooking meals, helping with homework, doing laundry, and entertaining the kids with toys, the list goes on and on. 

Being a mum is a challenging role on its own. That’s why it’s wise to have reliable strategies to keep your family life in check. Read on to learn the 10 best hacks for busy mums looking to fulfil their parenting roles.

1. Plan What To Wear for the Entire Week

We’ve all had the early morning headache of looking for misplaced shoes and socks. Or, perhaps you’ve faced the problem of persuading your child to wear an outfit she thinks is not her style. It’s stress you don’t need on top of a mounting list of other tasks, right? 

You can avoid such headaches by planning all your family's outfits ahead of time. This way, you sort out any disagreements on what to wear early and avoid those stressful starts to your day.

2. Make a Chore Plan

The importance of having a chore plan can’t be overstated.  Organising chores sets the pace by showing all members of your family what they have to do and when they need to do it.  This makes it easy to enforce your kids' duties and create responsibility. 

From doing the dishes, taking out the rubbish and cleaning bedrooms, your chore plan will make tasks clear and improve efficiency. It’s easy to create one with a whiteboard and multi-coloured magnets. 

You’ll find that a chore plan motivates your children to complete their tasks and check them off, saving time, encouraging responsibility, and learning important life skills.

3. Invest in a Bag With Multiple Compartments and Pouches

This hack is a stress-saver for busy mums with toddlers. How often do you find yourself fumbling through bags looking for a nappy or your keys, all while juggling extra items or trying to coordinate other activities? 

One method of reducing this stress is to invest in a quality bag with multiple compartments and pouches. Keep nappies, wipes, snacks and keys in their designated compartments where you can easily reach them. 

4. Be Creative to Encourage Picky Eaters

Feeding is an uphill battle with most kids, especially in the morning when they’re tired. They’re either picky or just don’t want to eat at all. At the same time, this fussiness is making them late for school. 

Therefore, looking for ways to help them eat well is essential. Be creative with meals so they can eat faster and more adequately. Adding new food varieties, cutting fruits and vegetables into interesting shapes, and making colourful arrangements on the plate can encourage kids to eat. Also look for simple solutions, such as a yoghurt pouch instead of a bowl of yoghurt.  Nutrition and efficiency are the goals at this time of the day.  There are plenty of reusable silicone pouches available to support you with this.

5. Set up a Family Calendar

Morning schedules can be hectic for busy mums. You must ensure your kids have completed their assignments, prepare their bags for school, manage appointments, track groceries, and balance this by supervising your kids as they play with their toys. One of the simplest ways to manage and sync everyone’s activities is to set a family calendar. 

You can use a manual scheduling tool or a digital one, such as Google Calendar, which can be accessed via smartphones. Colour code all the essential events and set the calendar with the capability to update for all family members.

6. Have a Weekly Meal Plan

One of the most troubling questions for busy mums is “What’s for dinner?”. Or, worse still, coming home from work to find your fridge almost empty.  Luckily, you can avoid all this stress by creating a meal plan. Of course, you’ll involve your kids in your planning as this helps to nurture creativity in their developing minds. 

Planning your meals in advance streamlines your entire routine for the week and avoids mealtime panic. Additionally, you improve your diet and health, save time, and spend your grocery budget wisely. You can easily create a meal plan manually or digitally. Draft it on paper and post it in the kitchen, or use an app that’s accessible on mobile phones.

7. Use Automation Tools

Physically managing all the activities at home can be overwhelming. Automate some of your tasks using technology to save time and avoid burnout. 

Take modern home devices, like smart thermostats, that automatically adjust the temperature in your home. You don’t have to worry about waking up in a freezing house or enduring sleepless hot nights during Summer. 

Other examples include programmable coffeemakers and robotic vacuum cleaners.  Investing in automation can be a great time saver for your morning routines.

8. Practice Self-Care

At the expense of their own wellbeing, busy mums often get lost in the relentless role of caring for others.  Avoid working continuously without a break as this is a fast-track to burn-out.  Find time for yourself as a busy mum to refill your physical, spiritual and mental energies. 

Read a book, practice yoga, or join the kids for some mindful colouring to help recharge. Remember, to get enough sleep, eat healthy meals, or even have a bubble bath. Doing all this refuels your energy reservoirs for a more enjoyable parenting role.

9. Outsource Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping can be fun, but not when you’re travelling with kids who demand your attention. Instead of dealing with meltdowns in shopping malls, why not shop online?  Use an app to create a shopping list, then simply submit your order. 

You can choose to have your groceries delivered to your door or collect them from a store.  All this prevents the hassle of physical shopping and cuts out impulse buying too, saving you time and money.

10. Setting up Routine Alarms

Starting your day without a solid plan can inhibit productivity and waste precious time.  Everyone may seem busy, yet little gets accomplished. This is because it’s hard to enforce roles and keep time without a plan to rely upon. 

Setting a reminder alarm can solve this problem since it ensures everyone knows what to do at certain times. Have an alarm for waking up, finishing breakfast, leaving the house, etc.  Eventually, everyone learns to work independently and responsibly.

Simplify Your Parenting Life With Easy Hacks

Parenting is tough, especially for a busy mum.  However, embracing a few hacks can go a long way towards enjoying a stress-free daily routine. 

Having a chore plan, using automation tools, outsourcing grocery shopping, and setting alarms are just a few easy-to-implement examples that can reduce some of your mental load. These simple solutions will work wonders in improving the quality of your life and strengthening your family.