Household Tips For The Single Mom
When you become a single parent, this means that every single thing that needs to get done falls upon you. You are now responsible for the cleanliness of your home, paying the bills, and raising your children, and every errand that needs to get done is done by you. If your children are very young, this is even more difficult as there is absolutely no one to help you. And to make things even harder, whenever you need to go out you will always need a babysitter.
In this new reality, looking after the home becomes more difficult. You are trying to make ends meet, and whether you work in or out of the home, you will find that you will have a lot less time to tidy the house. When you are at home, you will spend your time with your children and you will often find that you are too tired to start cleaning and washing.
So how can you keep your home from falling apart while you try to hold everything together?
Here are a few tips to help you:
- Institute a few personal “household” rules for yourself. For example, never go to bed leaving out any dirty dishes – not even a coffee cup. Even if the rest of the house looks a mess, the dishes must be clean. This saves a lot of mess and keeps your kitchen hygienic.
- Try to get up at least fifteen minutes earlier than your children and put on a load of laundry. That way, at least one load will get done every day.
- You might not get time to wash the dishes before you leave for the office. But at least pile them up in the sink. That will make things a lot easier when you come home feeling tired from work.
- Clear as you go. Whenever you cook, wash up the saucepans and other utensils as soon as you have used them rather than leaving everything till the end of the evening and put away the spices, packets, and other ingredients. It will make clearing up so much easier.
- Find time to de-clutter your home. If you get some time off at some point, go through your cupboards and throw out anything that you don’t really need. The less things that you have in your home, the less things that you will need to keep tidy. Be ruthless. Throw out all of those unnecessary items that serve absolutely no purpose and have no value.
- Make sure that everything has a home. That will make tidying up much easier. Items left out on shelves or tables because you are not sure where to put them always pile up and will eventually get unmanageable.
- You might not be able to afford too many accessories, but you would be surprised how something small like a new area rug can cheer up the look of your home. So treat yourself to a nice natural flokati rug to give a touch of luxury to your Spartan existence.
These few simple ideas will make your life a lot easier and manageable in the long run.
Beating the Heat: Indoor Play Ideas for your Creative Kid
The dog days of summer have arrived! After spending long, cold winter months dreaming of outdoor fun, your heat-weary kids may now be begging for indoor playtime. Check out these Mom-tested ideas for keeping creative kids cool and engaged at the same time:
It’s Showtime!
I swear my kids could watch DVD’s all day if I let them. If your kids are also movie fans, try this best-of-both-worlds compromise:
Encourage your film-loving kids to write, direct, and star in their own show! Depending on the number of children in your family, you might want to invite some neighborhood friends to join in. After all, what’s a show without an all-star cast and crew? Provide basic materials for script writing and costuming, but most of all, let your kids’ imaginations run wild. My kids have been known to spend hours a day, for several days, planning, rehearsing, compromising, revising, and dreaming of their Opening Night. I make it worth their while, allowing each one to invite a few neighbors over for the show and host a real event!
If movies happen not to be their thing, or if your kids are too young yet for such a complex production, simply scale it back a bit. Putting on mini dance recitals, displaying art galleries, and hosting craft shows are all great ways for young kids to showcase their creativity and gain a sense of accomplishment at the same time.
Walk the Red Carpet
Here’s another idea for the movie-buffs out there. Kid-focused networks plan several made-for-TV movie premieres for the summer months when kids are out of school. If your child is really looking forward to a film debut, why not help her turn it into a red carpet event? Let the kids don their most fabulous sunglasses, dig out the fanciest gowns, tutus, and even flowered hats from their dress-up bin, and make sure they wear their long white gloves. Life gets boring if every day follows the same routine; turn your family’s next regular-old TV Movie Night into a memorable Hollywood scene!
String ‘Em Along
For your crafty kids, beads provide endless possibilities for projects and presents. They are the kind of craft that can be started, stopped, and picked back up again without missing a beat (or a bead!) A beading project can be as simple or as involved as your little artist chooses. A small investment in a multi-pack of beads and string goes a long way towards gift-making for the holiday season (which is only six months away!), the next birthday party (scheduled within days), and creating friendship bracelets, anklets, necklaces and keychains for everyday giving.
The possibilities for summer fun are endless, though in the heat of a July/August moment, your creative kids may be sapped for ideas. Encourage them to build on their interests in TV, film, dance, art, crafts, and other creative endeavors to spice up their already-hot summer days.
Signe Whitson’s great advice is brought to you by a baby clothes boutique. She co-authored The Angry Smile: The Psychology of Passive Aggressive Behavior in Families, Schools and Workplaces. She is also a licensed social worker and mother to two young daughters. You can find more information about passive aggressive behavior on her blog.
Dressing Up The Guest Room
Even if you are a busy mom and working very hard, you will hopefully still have time to invite guests. During the summer vacation, you may find that you have even more visitors than during the rest of the year as your friends and family may want to spend their free time with you. To host your visitors, you need a pleasant guest room.
Not everyone has a spare room in their home. Sometimes, the spare room may double as a storage room or an office. Occasionally, a child may be asked to vacate their bedroom for a night or two. But even in these circumstances there are things that can be done to make your visitors’ stay more pleasant.
For instance, whichever room you are using to host your guests must be tidy and clean. Even if you don’t have the most comfortable bed or fancy furniture, a clean room is an absolute must. Any guest would not feel welcome if the room they are sleeping in is dirty or untidy. If you don’t have time to clean over the entire room, at the very least there must be clean bedding and the floor must be free from clutter, dust, and dirt.
If the room you are using is an office, put away as much of your work as possible. Apart from the fact that you would not necessarily want your guests to see any sensitive material that you are working on, you want your guests to feel that they are in a bedroom, not a workroom. So cover up the computer and hide away all files and papers.
Put nice homelike touches in the room, such as a vase of flowers on the table and an area rug. Something luxurious like a flokati wool rug or pretty like a floral rug would be in order. Pretty curtains that match the color of the rug are also a nice touch. Leave out a potpourri to add a pleasant fragrance to the room.
Try not to have plain white walls. Put up some pretty pictures and wall designs. Country scenes are always pleasant and relaxing, and again, they make the room feel more homelike.
Make sure that there is at least one free cupboard and some drawers so that your guest can spread out and hang up their clothing if they want to.
If your guest room has an attached bathroom, provide soap and shampoo to make your guests feel very welcome. Once again, it is imperative that this room is very clean.
Some people have a custom of leaving a small gift on the bed, such as cube of chocolate or some sugar almonds, wrapped with a ribbon and a note attached welcoming their visitors. This is a pleasant custom to follow that will make any guest feel at home.
If you live in a hot country, remember to leave a fan available in the room, and if it is the winter it is also a good idea to put out extra blankets for your visitors’ convenience.
None of these ideas takes too much time, yet these few simple things can make all the difference to your guests’ stay in your home.
