Automating Your Home [Part 2]

Mommy's Home Office

Ok, so I’m not gonna lie. This is an area that I struggle with and it wasn’t until I had kids that I finally was able to delegate it. I always felt bad for the women that had clean other people's houses because growing up my mom was one of those women. She would do it on the side to make extra money for our family.

It took me a really long time to change my mindset around it. I finally realized that because of these wonderful families paying my mom for her services that we were able to do and buy the things that we needed.

So after years of trying to handle it myself, I finally have my house cleaned every 2 weeks by this amazing sister team. They are angels to our family. They give us back so much time. It takes the 2 of them 4 hours to clean our house so that’s eight hours it would take me by myself and I know how valuable that is.

Plus, I have four boys in the house so keeping bathrooms clean is a disgusting never-ending battle. Pretty much daily, I wipe down everything in the bathrooms with disinfecting wipes for the stuff I can see and I also use scrubbing bubbles gel things so it helps keep the toilets clean. But at least I know that every 2 weeks Angeles comes in and deep cleans them and gets everything I can’t see [yuck].

I also do a daily quick tidy after everyone is out of the house. I set a timer for 30 minutes and I speed through tidying up the kitchen, kids rooms (they’re still a little too young to do it themselves) and living area. I find that when I can complete this that my day is so much more productive because I’m not constantly reminded of everything else I need to do while I’m trying to get work done.

I used to and sometimes still do, wait until the last minute to do this and rush around like a crazy person right before my husband gets home. Not that he expects a pristine clutter free house.

But because I have this nagging thought in my head that I’m at home all day, kids are at school and he’s at work all day long (he takes the kids to school at 7:15 and comes home around 7 PM) and he works in a stressful setting. So for him to come home after his long and probably stressful day to a chaotic house, with dishes and clutter staring at him is the last thing I want. He would totally take it on and help out but I don’t want that for him.

And he’s the one that makes the most money to support our family (even though I’m working). Now I know logically that this is a silly belief because my self-worth is not tied to the income I bring into our family but it’s there for me, I struggle with it and I have a feeling it’s there for a lot of us. I know my value as a mom, wife, cook and house manager and I am working on it.

Maybe you’re just not ready to delegate it? Maybe it’s just getting organized, having a process & checklists and setting a schedule? Maybe it’s time blocking so you can knock it all out like I do in my 30-minute block? Maybe it’s hiring someone to help? And it doesn’t cost as much as you think, I want you to price it out before you dismiss this option or maybe you just start small. You have just the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned every other week.

When I finally got over myself and started delegating the housework, grocery shopping through InstaCart and meal planning and prepping with PrepDish is when I stopped feeling like everything was out of control. That was invaluable.

Now my goal is to find someone that can take over my 30-minute tidy, do the laundry and keep the closets organized. I’m thinking an hour or an hour and a half Monday - Friday. Maybe even get them to help me prep meals too. That way I can spend that time focusing on my family, my work, my health and the things that light me up.

We have all of these hats that we were as moms, my goal is to help make those a little easier.