Being A SAHM: Staying Sane

I'm a Stay-At-Home Mum and it's not an easy job. Despite what some people think...

Seemingly easy tasks can be made more difficult simply because of the children. But when it comes down to it, you are the parent - you are the one who has to be in charge of everyone and everything. It's a hell of a lot of responsibility and some days it seems like everything is on top of you at once.

How do you juggle everything - maintaining the house, cooking, spending time with your partner, spending time with kids? And then, what about time for yourself?

There's no easy answer to that and I definitely couldn't explain it all in one blog post. (When it comes to the topics which are close to my heart I could ramble on for ages!) But anyway. I thought i’d share just some of the things I do that keep me going. And sane.

- Multitask

Try to do more than one thing at a time. I know sometimes this isn't possible, but once you put it into practice you soon get used to it. Here's a typical example of how I do this: Plonk the dirty laundry into the washing machine, switch it onto Delay, turn on the radio and do a little dance and sing-a-long with the girls while I hoover the front room at the same time.

That’s four things happening in one go!

- Let the kids watch TV

I let my girls actually sit and watch TV for a total of about two hours spread throughout the day, because it gives me time to catch up on my housework and other stuff undisturbed.

- When it comes to the housework - Take it easy!

We don't all have maids like the celebrity mums do, so don’t stress too much over the house being neat and tidy all the time. Remember your house isn't a show home, it's actually lived in. And don’t expect yourself to completely finish every task or chore, everyday. I hoover the floor (carpets etc) every day, and I clean the hard floors once every few days. But i’m relaxed over stuff like ironing. So when the pile of ironing gets pretty high, but I have other things I need to do, I leave it till later and don't worry about it. There are of course, so many more things you can do other than what i've listed above.

What about you, are you a stay at home parent?

If so, please share your tips and tricks with us :)