It’s REALLY early Tuesday morning and I can’t sleep because my head is about to explode. I will not regale you with tales of how many times I have blown my nose since I got into bed but let’s just say I’m keeping everyone awake. So as I wait for my Chamomille tea to steep, I’ve invented a new DYM blogging tradition – Tip Day Tuesday. I want everyone to post tips for other moms. This could be fun. If it’s not fun, I could blame it all on a Nyquil stupor….but wait, I’m nursing and can’t take anything for this blasted cold. Okay, here goes:
1. Dinner Co-op: I team up with 3 other moms in my neighborhood. We each take a turn making the main dish for all 4 families Mon-Thurs. My day is Tuesday and I make and take the food around to the other moms. Then Mon, Wed, and Thurs dinner appears magically on my doorstep ready to eat, with no mess to clean up and nothing to make but the veggies and desert (ha ha. As if my family ever gets desert). We plan the menus together 5 weeks at a time and all have matching pyrex pans and disposable Tupperware so the dishes just rotate around with the food. It is fabulous and saves a ton of time and money. Plus we have way better variety in the food we eat.
2. Mother’s Helpers — I have asked a sweet 11-year old girl from my neighborhood to come over Tuesday afternoons after school for an hour and a half and play with my kids while I make dinner and clean my house (not a coincidence that this is my dinner co-op night). She gets paid less than half of what I would pay an older babysitter and I can concentrate on really working at the projects I’ve been putting off around my house. Cheaper than a hiring professional house-cleaners and I get things done my way. Hopefully my kids will one day be old enough to fill the roll of “house cleaners” but until then…..
Post your ideas in my comments or on your own blog but let me know when your post is up.
21 Responses to Tip Day Tuesday — Outside Help