Simple Living Ideas for Working Moms
I don’t know about you, but in my search for simple living ideas, I feel like a lot of them preclude people who work full-time. I cannot spend my time baking sourdough bread from scratch or growing a full-fledged garden right now. But simple living is a huge part of my spiritual practice. So here are some thoughts on ways you can live more simply as a full-time, work-outside-the-home parent. Not all of these will apply to everyone, obviously, but maybe some will spark an idea.
Eat bagged salad. I know, I know, the packaging. But if it’s a choice between eating a vegetable and maintaining your sanity or… not, eat the bagged salad.
Standardize your lunches. The three days after grocery day are always that bagged salad for me, then the next two work days are a frozen meal. My salad never goes bad because I eat them the first three days, and I never have to think about lunch. Just grab and go.
Reduce your commitments.
Reduce your kids’ commitments. Seriously, ask them if there’s something they don’t want to do anymore. You might be surprised.
If you are salaried, don’t work over your hours. If more hours don’t equal more pay, don’t do it. You’re replaceable at work. You’re not replaceable at home. I bet with some planning, you could still do as a good a job at work with fewer hours. I say this as a teacher who has left on time 99% of the time for the last ten years.
Robot vacuum. Seriously, life.changing.
Hire out what you can. For me that’s the lawn care.
If your kids are old enough to do something, they should be doing it for themselves. I do my kids’ laundry at the same time as mine for efficiency, but they are old enough to sort the clean pile and put it away. They are old enough to clean up after dinner, so I don’t do that anymore. Have them do what they are capable of. It teaches them responsibility, and it takes some things off your plate.
Speaking of laundry, an indoor clothes rack is great if you have the space. I know it seems like it would take more time, but since I’m straightening them out as I hang them, and often putting them on the rack right on their hangers, it really doesn’t add much time to my day to hang dry my clothing, and they last so much longer.
Cut back on social media usage. You don’t have to use the time for something productive. Just open up that space in your brain. Here’s a list of things to do instead of using social media.
There you have it. Ten ways to simplify your life as a working mom. Working mamas, please leave a comment with your own simple living tips! We can all learn from each other.