Time Management Tips for Parents 

Life is unpredictable at the best of times. Throwing kids into the mix multiplies everything by 10! But while you can’t avoid chaos totally, you can learn how to make the best use of the 24 hours in your day.

Ask for Help 

You don’t have to be a superhero, getting everything perfectly done all by yourself. Allow yourself to call on your support system if you start running out of time and sanity! You could barter with another parent, for instance, with them running errands for you one day and you trading off and returning the favour on another.

Assess Your Time 

Start analysing how you’re spending your time. Research suggests the many of us waste as much as 60 minutes every day on tasks that can be postponed, done quickly online, or even totally eliminated from our schedules.

Be Ready to Go 

Keep a To-Go bag packed with essentials near the door. Fill it with baby gear, colouring books, healthy snacks, napkins, and the like and enjoy less stress when you’re on your way out.

Delegate 

Whether it’s sorting laundry, collecting the mail, picking things up and tidying them away, or loading the dishwasher, there’s chores for everyone in the household.

Multitask 

Find ways to consolidate jobs and get more things done during downtime. Pay your bills or check homework while you’re killing time in the doctor’s waiting room, for example, and get a headset so you can take calls while you’re doing what needs to be done! You can even schedule in some relaxation this way and have fun playing some online slots NZ while you’re waiting for dinner.

Organise, Organise, Organise 

Get a filing cabinet and keep copies of all your important documents inside it. Keep a separate folder for everyone in your household so you can find information like school reports, doctor’s notes, and extra-mural activities quickly. Make copies of important phone numbers and class lists and keep one at home and take one to work.

Pick Your Battles 

Decide what you can live with at a push and what’s a deal breaker. Maybe you can’t leave unwashed dishes overnight, but a less than perfectly made bed doesn’t ruin your entire day?

Prioritise 

The key to good organisation is prioritising. We recommend that you divide your To-Do List into three sections and sort tasks into things that need to get done immediately, those that can be accomplished over the next seven days, and those that are long-term or ongoing.

Think Ahead 

Try and find ways to remove steps from a chore or cut the amount of time an errand takes. You could speed dinner along by prepping before you go to work for example or washing dishes as you use them when you’re cooking food.

Use the Internet

Pay your bills online and have them debited from your bank account as they become due. Shop for gifts on the internet and save yourself the hassle of crowds and waiting in line. And if you do need to go to a store, do your research before you leave the house. That way you’re 100% prepared!