It's 8:15pm. I just tucked my toddlers into bed, and I can finally finish cleaning up the kitchen from dinner, put the groceries away, and fold a load of laundry, but somehow I crawl into bed a couple hours later with the dirty dishes still in the sink and the laundry still in the dryer.
I wrote this two years ago and somehow it still seems familiar. With five little ones under six, it is SO hard to follow my own advice. I'm revisiting this post because, well, I need it. I'm planning to retake the Money Saving Mom class starting tonight. Tonight.
I wrote this two years ago and somehow it still seems familiar. With five little ones under six, it is SO hard to follow my own advice. I'm revisiting this post because, well, I need it. I'm planning to retake the Money Saving Mom class starting tonight. Tonight.
Does this sound familiar?
If you're like me, you probably have the best of intentions in making the most of the evening by tidying up and getting prepped for tomorrow.
BUT if you're like me, you might get your kids tucked into bed and think, "It's been a long day, and I can finally sit down and relax for a few minutes."
The next thing you know, it's time to get to bed, so that you can be rested when your alarm goes off at 6 AM the next morning.
Where did the evening go?
I've identified three reasons that I consistently ruin my evenings.
Do you sit down to check your email, just to find yourself still scrolling through Facebook half an hour later?
I certainly do. And we are not alone. 86% of moms are members of at least one social network. And mothers with children under five spend 37 hours each month on their smartphones using apps or browsing the web.
Nevertheless, social media can suck time away from all of the important things we need to get done.
Social media can wait. This is just one reason why you might be ruining your evenings.
Do you ever think, "I'll just do that in the morning"?
I do. Somehow I think that if I put off the things I need to do in lieu of the things I want to do (i.e. social media), that I'll be able to easily catch up later.
And then life laughs in my face when I hit the snooze button three, maybe four, times the next morning.
The dishes in the sink just grow and grow. The laundry pile seems to triple in size each day that I don't wash a load. These chores-that-never-end (they just go on and on my friend), should not be delayed until tomorrow.
And this is reason #2 that you might be ruining your evenings. (I do.)
Once the kids are in bed, and I can finally get back to those things around the house I need to finish before bed, I tend to 1) get overwhelmed and sleepy and 2) forget to delegate.
Why should I need to finish clearing the table or washing the dishes at all when I have a wonderfully capable and willing husband and a wonderfully capable (though admittedly less willing) tween who can help with the dishes and such?
The answer is that I shouldn't.
Not that I won't have things to do after tucking the toddlers in bed, but I need to learn to delegate better.
I'm working on a cleaning schedule that clearly delegates tasks to each member of the family, including my oldest toddler, but the first few days of it haven't gone smoothly. It's a work in progress, right?
Do you delegate efficiently?
This is yet another reason that you might be ruining your evening (like me).
#4. Bonus! Justifying Watching Just One (okay, maybe two) Episodes of That Show You Don't Even Care About
"I worked all day for everyone else in my family, so I deserve 45 minutes to myself to watch the latest fad on Hulu (or Amazon Prime or Netflix)"
Do you ever find yourself saying that to yourself?
I can't tell you how many different shows I've watched in the last year alone. I'm in no way attached to them, they are just mindless entertainment.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's complete fine to watch mindless entertainment, but not to the extent that it ends up ruining your evening.
. . .
But what can we do to make our evenings run smoothly and prepare us for the next morning?
I have what I hope will be the answer for me.
One of my very favorite bloggers, Crystal Paine from MoneySavingMom.com, is hosting a course called, Make Over Your Evenings.
I'm SO excited to take part in the course, and if you are anything like me, you should be excited to take this course, too!
The Make Over Your Evenings class requires just 15 minutes once a day for two weeks. I bet you can handle that!
So hurry to MakeOverYourEvenings.com to get more details and SIGN UP!
Let's Make Over Our Evenings together, so that we can stop Ruining Our Evenings.
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