How do we manage it all?

As working mom's, we sometimes ask ourselves, "How do we manage it all?" With laundry piling up in all corners of the house, the children's hairbrush missing in action, walking the dog, reading bedtime stories, an impending stomach virus from daycare and preparing a wholesome meal for our family, how do we, as working moms, manage to survive? By no means am I an expert, but I have found some useful tips to help survive the week, simply by trial and error:

1. If you can, get up one hour earlier. I know that this seems difficult, as sleep is a hot commodity; however, getting that 20-minute exercise in before work, enjoying a morning devotion while sipping a cup of coffee, reading a chapter of The Lovely Bones and/or simply loading and unloading the dishwasher can add much-needed "alone" time to your already hectic schedule.

2. Prepare your weeknight meals on Sunday. Often, I pat out the meatloaf, make the spaghetti sauce and double check the grocery list to make life as simple as possible during the week. Big time saver, as well as budget-friendly and efficient because you are not running to the grocery store on a whim!

3. Lay out everyone's clothes the night before, including your husband's. So many times, I have been walking out the door and my husband yells, "I need some khaki pants ironed!" To save everyone a headache, lay out the clothes the night before, cutting down on the time potentially lost in the morning...causing you to get behind the school bus on the way to work!

Again, by no means am I an expert, but as a working mom, any helpful advice to make the lives of our children the fullest and as nutrient-rich as they can be, is well worth the sharing!

- God Bless