Tips for Automating and Multitasking to Balance Work and Home Life

This article was written by problogger Danelle Barbi Ice. She is the founder/editor of Homemaker Barbi, a Home & How-To magazine with free resources specializing in homemaking, frugal living, printable checklists, and more.  She is also a wife, business owner, and working mother of 2.

Being a working mother means you juggle a lot of different responsibilities all at the same time.  Balancing your home "mom" life and professional life can be tricky to accomplish, unless you have systems in place to help finding this balance easier. 

It may seem as if some working moms have it all together, you know- the ones that make it look so easy.  They're never late dropping off the kids at daycare, never miss deadlines at work, make homemade dinners every night, and still manage to volunteer for the PTA at school.  These moms aren't really superwomen, and they don't have more hours in the day than we do.  However, they do know certain tips that make balancing their work and home lives easier.

If you could use help achieving this balance, then this article is a great place to start.  And really, who doesn't want to streamline their lives to be more productive and have less stress?  Automating and multitasking will leave you more time to spend with your family and with a more peaceful mindset.

Making the best use of all available resources is something that many working moms forget to do.  Today, we'll be looking at convenient ways to automate and multitask some common mom duties.

Automate Your Shopping 

When identifying tasks which take up large amounts of working women's time, a common offender that emerges is shopping..  Automating your systems for shopping can drastically cut the time you spend on this necessary, but time consuming, task.

Many stores are willing to do the work for you, just to earn your business.  Let them save you time! 

•·        Sam's Club Click n Pull.  Shopping for bulk items can be a lifesaver on your household budget, and the Click n Pull service is a huge time saver as well.  This free program allows you to do your shopping online, and the staff will go pull everything off the shelves and take it to the customer service desk for you.  You drive to the store, pick up your entire order which is waiting, pay, and go.  If you're already a Sam's Club member anyway, it costs you nothing extra to have their employees do your shopping for you.  An hour-long shopping trip just turned into a 10 minute pickup! 

•·       Amazon's Subscribe & Save program gives you 15% off and free shipping, plus automatic delivery on things you use all the time.  This is a huge benefit for working parents, as it saves you money and time (you don't have to go a store to shop, items are sent to you instead).  This handy program also saves you from having to remember to buy or even think about shopping for staples like diapers, wipes, toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, cake mixes, and more, since they'll come on a regular schedule that you set.

Convenient Health Care

In-Store Clinics.  Many stores are now offering in-store clinics that you can use for family health care, and one cannot help but think these were designed with working parents in mind.  This service comes in handy as you'll have to make one less trip to the doctor's office, and you can get shopping done at the same location before or after your medical visit.  Also, you'll be able to fulfill any necessary prescriptions at the same store, eliminating extra driving to a pharmacy.  Many in-store clinics are now offering physicals, urgent care, well-child visits, as well as vaccinations.  Here are a few in-store clinics that may be in your area:

•·          Walmart In-Store Clinics

•·         Target In-Store Clinics

•·         Walgreen's Take Care Clinic

4 Surefire Time Savers

1.  Use waiting time effectively.  You may frequently find yourself spending precious minutes waiting at the doctor's office, in line at the post office, or sitting at the DMV.  Always carry something in your purse or bag that you can work on in small time-slices:  a document that needs proofreading, an article to read, or a stack of thank you cards to write out.  Having a cell phone makes it easy to go through phone messages and return calls while waiting for an appointment.  Blackberry and iPhone users can reply quickly to emails as necessary during wait time that might otherwise be wasted.

2.  Switch movie rentals to an automated service, like Netflix. This movie program allows you to choose movies to rent online without ever having to drive to the store to pick them up or return them.  They are delivered by mail quickly and efficiently, saving you significant driving time.

3.  Cook all weeknight meals in a crockpot.  Crockpot cooking is truly one of the best old-fashioned tips for a modern woman to use.  Assemble your dinner in a crockpot before bed, then refrigerate overnight.  Here's more information on how to prepare a crockpot meal the night before.  Before work in the morning, turn on the crockpot and go.  Having a hot, healthy homemade dinner waiting when you get home from work saves you both time and stress.

4.  Consolidate routine appointments into 1 day.  Schedule one day of vacation time off work each quarter, and book all routine medical, dental, parent-teacher conferences, and other appointments for all family members to fill the day.  Make sure dental cleanings, vaccinations, physicals, vehicle oil changes, etc. are all booked in advance.  Having one routine appointment day not only saves you from taking frequent time off work to go to scattered appointments, but also makes it easy to share the tasks with your spouse.

Automating and multitasking can become second nature if you start observing ways to do your everyday tasks by working smarter instead of harder.  Always take advantage of times you can do 2 things at once.  Remember to use seemingly wasted time (like waiting in line) to do small quick tasks.  Allow stores to earn your business by doing things automatically for you.  These tips will do wonders for helping to maintain balance between your professional life and your home life, so that you can enjoy your free time and say goodbye to working mom stress!