Time Management Tips for New Parents
As a new parent, managing your time can be difficult. You're sleep deprived, trying to keep a little baby pleased, and still doing everything else that's on your plate. But don't despair! We're here to help with a few terrific time management tips that anyone can use.
Cooking Time Management Tips
Cooking is one of those things that can take up a lot of time. The time I spent shopping for the right ingredients, preparing the food, and cooking meals can add up pretty quickly.
Below are four strategies for reducing the amount of time spent cooking so you can have more cuddle time with your family.
Cook & Freeze
When cooking dinner, make double portions and freeze half. Don’t forget to label. It takes almost as much time to bake four chicken breasts as it does to bake two. And who doesn't like re-heated spaghetti? Mmm... spaghetti leftovers always taste better!
Make Use of Online Ordering and Curbside Services
While you should always eat as healthy as possible, especially with the stresses that come with the change of lifestyle, lack of sleep, and near-constant worry for your new baby, grabbing your Applebee’s favorites once in a while won’t hurt. Everything in moderation, right?
With that in mind, curbside delivery services are a great way to get restaurant food without the time and hassle of actually going inside to eat. Place a call and pick it up on your way home from work.
You can also use meal delivery services like Grub Hub.
Meal Kit Delivery Services
There's an evergrowing list of meal kit delivery services out there. Blue Apron and HelloFresh are two of the most popular options.
Grocery Delivery Services
Walmart and AmazonFresh are the two biggest corporate players in the grocery delivery game. However, there are quite a few other players out there that you should consider if you want to go this route. Instacart and Shipt (owned by Target) stand out among the smaller companies.
Break Down Your Todo List Into Smaller Chunks
Instead of cleaning the living room, break down into smaller pieces like picking up, dusting, and vacuuming. Remember to take time to rest, your body is healing and adjusting to post pregnancy so don’t wear yourself out.
Accomplishing small tasks will let you feel like you’re getting things done with putting too much stress on your recovering body.
Make Use of the Pharmacy Drive-thru
Everyone gets sick. But your household’s exposure to colds grows exponentially with each child you have. The drive-through window at your pharmacy saves you from unstrapping baby from the car seat, packing baby around, and strapping baby back in.
If you have a toddler in tow you won’t need to worry about them wanting something on every other isle you pass. Just get the meds and get home so you and baby can rest.
There are also a growing number of online pharmacies available, however, we usually want our meds right away.
Stay Focused When Shopping Online
Shopping online saves us a huge amount of time. You spend less time driving to the store, wandering the mall, and navigating large big-box stores. However, shopping online can also become a big time suck. The Internet is a big black hole where free time goes to die.
Stick to looking for the item you’re shopping for and try not to get distracted with all of the other cool things Amazon is suggesting.
Plan for Everything to Take Longer
Keep in mind that even the most routine tasks will take longer than they used to. Don’t let this frustrate you. Plan for it and know that this is the new norm, especially for the first few months.
Time will fly by faster than you think. Enjoy the time right after delivery when you can get away with letting life go by a little more slowly.
Get Into a Routine
You’ll soon be getting much less sleep. Well, at least more sporadic sleep. It’s not as bad as you probably think it will be. Something internal and parental kicks in, allowing you to still function. That's the good news. The bad news is that it won't end at month 12... or 24... or 36. At 2 months they'll wake you up crying. At 2 years they'll wake you up wanting to cuddle in your bed.
So, to make all that lack of sleep easier, get your family into a routine as soon as possible. Just figure out what works for your family and go with it!
Prepare Your Other Children for Baby’s Arrival
Children are understandably needy when it comes to parental attention. Preparing your other kids ahead of time will make a big difference in how they react to receiving less of your time.
We’ve written an entire post on preparing toddlers for a new baby. If you have young children, it’s definitely worth a read!