Day light savings time just ended and now we have lost a hour of time.  Every women specially mothers have a certain time of day that is just craziness. For me it’s the mornings when I have to get the kids ready for school, breakfast etc before the bus comes.  HealthyWomen.org knows how crazy it can get, so they have compiled some tips to help you.

HealthyWomen conducted a survey of over 1000 women to uncover their busiest hours as well as tips to help cope with the crunch.  Their survey revealed that most women feel most pressed for time in the early morning hours of their day, from 6am to 9am and many report the biggest time pressures during early evening, from 5pm to 8pm., when many families are preparing for and eating dinner, as well as finishing up tasks from the day.

Here are some tips they have provided:

• Make Fridays left over night – you will clean out the fridge and save time and money.
•   We know you want to be watching TV, but how about making that personal time a bit more productive? Use commercial breaks to squeeze in some of the end-of-day chores – sort laundry, start the washer, vacuum a room, unload the dishwasher, organize the kitchen counter.
•   Sign up for free automatic bill-paying services for all recurring bills such as utility bills, etc. Then set up an online bank account for free, one-click payment of all other bills – saves time, postage, and gas!
•  Combine as many errands as you can into one outing – grouping them by location and reducing travel time.
•   Ask for help!  Keep a list of your errands and an ear open in case your spouse, relative or friend is headed to the same place.
•   Ride your bike, walk or run to run local errands – eliminating the need to take time to exercise later.
•  Set a schedule and establish boundaries throughout the day. For example, at the beginning of each conversation, tell others how much time you have available.  It’s as easy as saying, “I’m glad you called, but I’ve only got about 10 minutes to chat…”
•   Make email more efficient – spending the time to unsubscribe for all the junk emails will give you an inbox with just the information you want, and less time deleting the stuff you don’t.
•   Take public transportation to work, and use that time to read, update your to-do list, or answer personal emails
• 10.  Reconsider your definition of clean and don’t shampoo every day – your hair will be healthier and shinier and your shower will be shorter.
•  11.   Keep your period light – at least packing for it.  Wear a menstrual cup all day and save time packing up other protection.
• 12.   Tried and true – set your clothes out the night before. Women who don’t can waste time trying on different outfits or having to iron at the busiest time of the day.

For me as I said before I struggle the most in the morning and in the evening. My husband is in graduate school so when it comes to housework and everything else i’m almost always on my own.   So in the mornings, I have truble getting all 3 kids up and dressed , fed, washed, etc. before the bus comes. Then in the evening I struggle with cooking, cleaning up after, dishes, kids baths, pajamas and bedtime before I crash myself.

Some tips I use are:

• make simple things like a frozen pizza for dinner, when things are really tight
• try giving the kids a shower rather than a bath, my kids love it.
• have everything set out and prepared for school the night before

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of HealthyWomen and Softcup and received a  gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.”