Being a mother is a lot of work. You have to take care of kids and keep the house clean, it’s a full-time job. What’s more, if you want to be an entrepreneur? Both are so time-consuming that mompreneurs often have little time to themselves if they try to do it all. Mompreneurs have to be successful in business and raising kids. It’s tough. If you are one, I understand how time-consuming it is. Here are some major tips I found that are helpful when juggling everything:
Prepare for the week
Planning out your week is important. This lets you know what you have to do ahead of time. Whether it’s a weekly meeting or it’s a piano recital, it’s a good idea to know ahead of time. The saying “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” comes to mind. Here’s a list of things that is a good idea to prepare and how to go about it:
- Food – Prepare this on Sunday so all you need to do is do the cooking at night
- Clothes – Do the laundry every week because you don’t want the bathroom or your house to smell like dirty laundry. Also, you have to look professional on the weekday, so this is especially important!
- Big Projects – If you have time, you may want to start on it early, because you’ll want to have a bit of leeway just in case something unexpected happens.
Planning and preparing are skills we as humans have honed for a very long time. We’ve used it as hunters and gatherers in the distant past and we’ll use it to get a head start on the week. To help with all of the planning, it’s a good idea to download a productivity app like Paras on your smartphone. A to-do list app will help you plan things out ahead of time and give you a good idea what your week will look like. On top of all of the planning, you should also include a budget for the household so you know how much you’re spending.
Plan out your budget
Planning out your budget is a good idea. You have to know how much money is coming in and out of your bank account each time. Here are a couple of reasons why:
- Identity fraud – Cybercrimes and data breaches are all the rage today. According to Experian, there were 1579 data breaches in 2017, which is up by almost 50% since 2016. This means a lot of credit cards were stolen. To help prevent this, you should review your bank statements every month or so. Any expenses out of the ordinary no matter how small could mean that your card information has been stolen and you should get it replaced at once.
- Have money in reserve – planning expenses can help you have a rainy day fund. You can cut out any unnecessary expenditures so you can have a bigger reserve because unplanned expenditures happen.
Not many plan their household budget. In fact, according to a survey done by Gallup, only 1 in 3 households. If you do plan your budget, you are definitely in the minority, but don’t let that discourage you because it’s always a good thing to know exactly how much you are spending. Knowing that you have a balanced set of books lets you sleep peacefully in the night.
Get your 8 hours of sleep
You should always get your 8 hours of sleep. Period. You’d probably think that sleeping is a waste of time, but really, it is not. Sleep helps you be more productive at work and lets you focus in the day. According to NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information), sleep deprivation results in cognitive impairment and decreased motor skills equivalent to intoxication (being drunk). What this means that lack of sleep makes you so much less effective at work that you’d make mistakes on simple routine tasks (which won’t look good on you). If you’re still learning about your job in the workplace, then sleep is especially important. This is because while you are in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, your brain helps you condense what you have learned during the day.
Being prepared for the week, while getting adequate sleep gives you enough energy to work and play with the kids. Planning out your budget means that you can save for unplanned expenditures. It’s smart to be ready and have the energy for whatever life throws at you, whether it’s kids or that pesky quarterly meeting.
