In your kitchen, you can literally eat off the floor—you can always find something ;)—and when someone asks what you want for your birthday, you answer, "two extra hands"? As a mom or dad, the day simply never has enough hours to manage the baby, the household, and work (and still get some sleep)! However, sometimes small things can help make everyday life with a baby—and the associated mental load—a little easier. In this article, we’ve compiled 7 tips to help you save time—whether it’s finally vacuuming the kitchen or simply taking a breather over a cup of coffee.
1. Forward-looking meal planning
If you find yourself standing cluelessly in front of the fridge every day and realizing that you’re missing a crucial ingredient for every recipe, it’s not only frustrating but also a waste of time. With a weekly plan, you can put an end to spontaneous, hungry shopping trips, frantic recipe Googling, and having spaghetti for the fifth time in a row. Include all meals that you and your little explorer eat at home, and write your shopping list right away. You’ll notice that weekly grocery shopping becomes much quicker! Another advantage: you’ll automatically skip some unhealthy snacks.
Extra tip: Cooking slightly larger quantities and freezing them takes hardly any more time, and you’ll always have a delicious meal on hand when you need something quick!
2. Use digital helpers
Do you sometimes wonder how your grandparents managed everyday life without the internet and smartphones? We do too! Fortunately, today we have a multitude of digital helpers at our disposal that make life easier for moms and dads—for example, apps that let you sync your to-do lists, shopping lists, and calendar with your partner. This way, errands aren’t forgotten or duplicated, and scheduling appointments becomes much more straightforward.
In the video, Cindy talks about the YouTube channel "" and shares her tips for time management within the family.
3. Say goodbye to perfectionism
If you haven’t already said goodbye to perfectionism in the household with the birth of your child, now is the time. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should become the queen/king of chaos, but in many areas you can save time without anyone (except maybe you) noticing! Do the T-shirts really need to be ironed, and does the apartment really need to be vacuumed daily? Take a close look at your daily routine for these small time-wasters, and you’ll realize how many supposed necessities you can actually do without.
4. Set up functionality
It’s a vicious cycle: you don’t have time to tidy up, and then you lose even more time because the toy your little explorer urgently and desperately needs has slipped under the sofa and only reappears after you’ve turned the entire apartment upside down. So, keeping things tidy isn’t just worth it for aesthetic reasons—it also saves you from wasting time searching. When every item has its designated place, cleaning up becomes much quicker! A good organization tip is to store things in a way that requires as few movements as possible and short distances: for example, put the spices in the drawer next to the stove, or place the bathroom cleaner in the bathroom cabinet instead of with the other cleaning supplies in the storage room.
5. Seek assistance
Who says you always have to do everything yourself? Of course, cleaning help or babysitters are also a matter of cost, but sometimes that kind of support (even if only for one or two hours a week) can truly be worth its weight in gold! Don’t hesitate to seek help or to ask family and friends. Maybe you can also team up regularly with other parents: sometimes they take care of the children for an afternoon, and other times you do. The time you gain from this is well deserved!
6. Introduce the productive 15 minutes
What can you accomplish in fifteen minutes? Plenty! A small ritual with a big effect is the "15-Minute Power Tidy-Up" in the evening: when your little explorer is already asleep, set a timer for 15 minutes and complete as many small (household) tasks as possible within that time. This could be loading the dishwasher, making a bank transfer, or writing a birthday card. You’ll notice that in such a short time, you can often get much more done than you thought.
7. Have diapers delivered
If you have a child, you know how many diapers little explorers go through in a short time—and how bulky diaper packages are. And anyone who has gone shopping with a child can tell you how time-consuming and, above all, nerve-wracking it can be. Luckily, you no longer have to struggle with that! :) With the you can have your diaper supply conveniently delivered to your home and stay very flexible: you can change the diaper size and delivery interval anytime online in your customer account, and if you’re on vacation, you can also reschedule the delivery date there. As needed, you can also add wet wipes, care products, and changing mats. Isn’t it much nicer to spend time playing with your baby instead of lugging around diaper packages? Maybe your supermarket also offers a delivery service—then you can skip the hauling there too and order your groceries directly using your weekly meal plan. ;)
8. Save and redistribute mental load
How can you celebrate your baby’s first birthday? What should you do for a stomach ache? What does the diaper contents say about your child’s health? As a mom or dad, you have a lot of (more or less important) organizational tasks on your mind every day. These mental burdens are called "Mental Load". It can be helpful to make a detailed list of who in your family organizes and keeps track of which "everyday tasks"—and whether the distribution is fair. There are even available online to check this. Sometimes, you can simply "outsource" the search for answers to these questions. In our with Katharina Katz, you’ll find detailed tips.
We hope we’ve been able to share a few helpful tips so you can gain a few extra minutes of "quality time" with your favorite in the future!
