Suma Ramachandran is a 34-year-old
writer, editor, and trainer
living and working in India. She returned to full-time work two
years ago after working from home for three years. She is
fortunate to have her mother take care of her son when she's at
work.
I'm a very organized person at work, but I used to be just the
opposite at home. I gave up working full time after my son was
born. It was a conscious decision made without any regrets. When
my son was about three years old, I began working from home.
During this time, I somehow managed to muddle through the
everyday housework.
When I went back to work, I didn't transition into the new
routine very well. The full load of housework and all the
shopping, in addition to nine hours or more at the office, left
me dead on my feet. Worse, I wasn't spending any exclusive time
with my son! Indian cooking - particularly northern Indian
cooking - is labor intensive, which meant I was spending at
least an hour in the kitchen every morning and another hour in
the evening. So when my five year old wanted me to come and see
how his new toy airplane worked ("It's awesome, Mom! You have to
see this"), I couldn't because I was slaving over a stove. Just
as bad was the fact that I had no "me" time.
One evening, I caught sight of myself in a mirror at a grocery
store and gasped. Literally gasped. That reflection in the
mirror - an exhausted, sleep deprived, miserable looking,
overweight woman was me? I promised myself right then and there
that things would change. I needed to deploy my workplace
organizational skills at home, pronto! I realized that I had to
organize the everyday stuff to save time and do what I wanted
and needed to do.
I started to create more detailed to-do lists and decided to
plan weekly menus. On Fridays, I made a list of everything I
needed for cooking the next 12 meals and made sure that on
Saturday, I bought everything I needed down to the last bit of
seasoning. Breakfast was a different story altogether because my
son won't eat the same thing every day. So I surfed the net and
found a dozen recipes - both Indian and Western - that were
healthy and could be made without much fuss, or could be made
and stored in advance - whole wheat muffins, for instance.
On Sundays, I hang up five-to-six outfits with accessories
dumped in the pockets or on the clothes hanger to ease the
morning rush. They're not always ironed. Yet, not having to
decide, hunt, match and co-ordinate an outfit saves me a lot of
time. I'm still not too good at adhering to this, but I try.
After all, clothes make the working mom, too!
To keep things uncluttered and orderly, we decided as a family
that if we bought anything, we'd have to give something away. So
if we buy new clothes or a pair of shoes, we make sure we give
away something old. Where this really works is with my son's
toys. I think he has too many - extended family is giving him
stuff all the time. So now, when he gets a new toy, he has to
pick one to give away. He got used to that pretty quickly (and
it is a great lesson in generosity).
These three things helped me save, on average, around 6-8 hours
a week. Now, every day, I have more time to spend with my son -
whether it's watching him take an hour to set up a maze of race
car tracks in his room, or bake his favorite cake together, or
simply talk to him about his day. Equally important, I have time
for myself. I can take a late evening walk, chat with my
neighbors (without worrying about what to make for dinner),
organize potluck lunches, or take a hobby class. And I still
manage to get 'free' time to curl up with a book or indulge in
some messy finger painting with my son.
About the author:
Laura Lowell is the executive editor and author of "42 Rules for
Working Moms." She has gathered practical advice and information
from working moms all over the world to share with others. She
lives and works in Silicon Valley with her husband and two
girls.
http://www.42rules.com/working_moms/index
Hand Poured Soy
Candles Give your home a
powerful first impression with highly scented candles with hundreds
of scents to choose from! We also have many varieties of
vanilla scented candles. Made from soy these candles burn better
and cleaner! All hand poured.
