"Six months ago, I found myself in a not so great place. I was stressed, overwhelmed, and constantly overstimulated. The life of a Chief Home Officer is not what I’d like to call easy. Between coordinating childcare, activities, birthdays, doctors appointments, and scheduling all of the other activities in our life, school prep is just one more thing to add to an incredibly long list. With both of my boys starting school this fall, I knew it was only going to get more stressful. Something had to give me the time I so desperately wanted back in the evenings to enjoy my kids, so I decided to make some changes.
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Here are five simple ways my family is embracing a sense of ease this back-to-school season.
1. Meal delivery for the kids
One of my least favorite questions to be asked is, “What’s for dinner?” Not only have I worked a full day, but signing off and then immediately hopping into cooking and cleaning can be so mentally draining. I can think of at least 10 other ways I’d rather spend both my mental and physical energy. As a family of four, we prioritize sitting down together to enjoy family dinner so how to best balance my time is often a question that is top of mind.
The answer for me and my family: Little Spoon. You might ask, how did signing up for a meal delivery service for my kids simplify my mental load? Well, when my oldest son was 6 months old I signed him up for Little Spoon’s Babyblends, and we all loved them. Fresh food, full of flavor, and packed with nutrition, all delivered automatically to my door. We then upgraded to Plates while my second son was a baby and then somewhere along the way, we paused our service—big mistake.
Source: Steph Alleva Cornell
The first delivery after we signed up again I was truly kicking myself thinking, “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!” I was able to finish work and immediately start playing with my kids. No one was asking what was for dinner and I wasn’t rushing around trying to make it happen. I was present with my kids because I knew I could simply pop their meal in the microwave once dinnertime rolled around.
Plus no need for pesky mom guilt because they’re eating meals filled with veggies and superfoods. They never argue when I serve Little Spoon Plates and they are big fans of some of the picky eater favorites like Spinach & Cheese Ravioli and Whole Wheat Penne and Kale Turkey Meatballs.
If you also desperately need to offload dinnertime from your full to-do list, I highly suggest signing up for Little Spoon’s meal subscription. Plus, you can use code EVERY35MOM for 35% off your first order!
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2. Prepping the night before
While it can be a pain to add steps to the nighttime routine, we all feel better knowing our mornings will be less hectic. Everyone picks out their clothes the evening before and my husband and I pack lunches and backpacks after the kids go to bed. With everything lined up by the front door, we don’t forget as much and we reduce grumpy attitudes in the mornings.
To make evening prep feel like less of a nuisance, my husband and I try to use this time to reconnect and chat about our days. I also suggest playing music or listening to an audiobook to make those mundane tasks feel a little more fun. We gotta squeeze in any form of self-care however possible during this hectic phase of life.
3. Pre-planning breakfasts
In the same vein as getting school stuff ready the night before, meal prepping breakfast during the weekend can also help set you up for the craziness ahead. I am not usually a major meal prepper but pre-planning and batching breakfasts makes our week so much easier. We like to make a big batch of egg muffins and hard-boiled eggs on Sunday to have available all week for kids and adults.
Another hack is making a giant batch of pancakes, packaging fresh ingredients for smoothies, and freezing it all. It makes it that much easier to get everyone out the door after a healthy and homemade breakfast with minimal prep and virtually zero clean-up.
Source: Nicola Barts | Pexels
4. Subscriptions for recurring household items
Automate what you can! We set up monthly/bi-monthly deliveries with Amazon Subscribe & Save for the vast majority of our household items from detergent to shampoo so that is one less thing on our weekly to-do list. You also can customize and skip delivery dates making the feature flexible for every budget and circumstance. The benefit of knowing we’ll never run out of key supplies is unmatched. No more late-night runs to the grocery store because there’s only one roll of toilet paper left and far more dirty butts to clean.
5. Chore charts and visual family schedules
My dream morning routine for school days is if it’s peaceful, orderly, and efficient. Adding visual reminders to our kitchen is a great way for our whole family to share the mental load of our daily/weekly schedule. We have a large monthly calendar up in the kitchen as well as a magnetic chore chart.
This allows each member of our family (including the kids) to actively participate in keeping our house running smoothly. My 3 and 5-year-olds love adding magnets for their favorite chores like feeding our two dogs and watering the plants (with parental assistance of course).
Keep everyone on the same page with a customizable family calendar.
Chore charts are great for giving kids responsibilities around the house in a fun way.
