Where does the time go?

If you stop and think about it, you have just lost precious seconds or minutes that can never be recovered.  I do little to nothing all day and wonder how did things get done back in the day and realized that organization was my salvation.  I planned everything, it is in my nature and I was good at it.  So here are a few hints of things I did that allow me to get a trillion things done.  When the kids were little, I had three of the most amazing ‘baby sitters’, ‘nanny’ or what I called them ‘second Moms’. So to Ceci, Sandra and Marcela, thank you for all the help and a job well done.  These days all three have kids of their own and have done a fantastic job at raising their own.

After my father died, I decided that I needed to spend more time with the children and got a part time job, actually more like 6 hours at the office and sometimes 2 hours from home.  I would take the kids to school, go to the office and then pick them up at 2:30.  That is when the fun began since Michelle was involved in everything, girl scout, swimming, dance, at times soccer, cheerleading and softball and Michael tried T-Ball and soccer but stuck to boy scout, swimming and of course his favorite ‘Karate’. 

I would do one load of laundry every night while we ate dinner.  Monday was whites, Tuesday lights, Wednesday dark, Thursday sheets, Friday towels (which might be folded the next morning), Saturday white/lights, and Sunday darks.  To the best of my abilities, clothes would not stay in the dryer, it was wash, dry, fold and put away the one load each night and most of it took place while other things were getting done.  I had a container in my car that would hold the children uniforms for the after school events so that they could change in the car while going from one place to the next.

For cleaning I tried to have someone clean once a week but there were times when we could not afford it so we did it.  Cleaning would take ½ hour or less a night.  Monday bathrooms, Tuesday kitchen, Wednesday dust down stairs, Thursday change beds and dust upstairs, Friday was always party time, Saturday clean all the floors and Pat would vacuum and Sundays was cooking.

Now for cooking… for a while I had each person give me ideas of 2 meals, that way I had 6 meals planned.  On Sunday, I would go to the store, buy all ingredients and snacks for the week.  Once at home, I would cut up the fruit/vegetable for the lunch bags and place them in Ziploc bags, I would also have the lunch bags made with the drink and snack and the vitamins out for the week so all that needed to be done in the morning was the sandwich and complete assembling the lunch bags.  Keep in mind that every night before going to bed homework had to be done, school bag ready and uniforms for school and Pat and my clothes had to be laying out.  This process was a savings grace as in the morning everyone is always in a hurry and half asleep. 

I would precook on Sundays and freeze as needed.  If one picked pasta, I would make the sauce (enough for at least 4 dinners) and just worry about making the pasta later on.  Meatloaf could also be done ahead of time and only worry about the rice and peas.  The same goes for chili and many soups.  I have a spreadsheet with some of my easy/favorite meals that can be made in huge amounts and freeze so let me know, and I will be happy to forward on.  One rule on the meals was that everyone had to eat what the other had chosen or their particular meal would not be made. 

Gosh I am tired just writing this, now I know why my children said that I was the meanest Mom in town…  on the other hand, they still love me so I hope that some of my advice helps any and all my friends out there… 

FYI, I have open the comment section to anyone who wants to leave a message so no more having to log in to make a comment. 

Love y’all,

ME