When being mummy to a newborn, you will inevitably feel time poor at first and the turn of phrase ‘I don’t have time,’ will never be more true. The more limited time becomes, the more you will begin to treasure it. As your little one grows, you will in turn grow more confident in your motherhood abilities and the worries that took up so much of your time will begin to lessen. At this point you will no doubt wish to find a little time for yourself, just so you can enjoy a few of the luxuries that you once did, that you never even knew were luxury until you became a mummy.
Here’s some tips to save time and maximise the time that you manage to make for yourself that I swear by!
Grocery Shop Online
It’s not always feasible to make it to the supermarket and having a baby with you will just slow you down. Build your shopping list online and save it. If you shop at the same supermarket each time, you can simply re-order your previous order or tweak if need be, instead of doing the whole selection each and every time you shop. Your grocery shop will be with you as soon as the next day and you’ve not even had to hunt down a child parking space, search for the baby trolley or pack a baby bag!
Speedy Healthy Foods
You need to stay healthy for you and baby, so eat well, but keep prep time to a minimum. Buy your veggies already chopped instead of spending your hard earned time chopping away unnecessarily. They may cost a little extra, but it’s well worth it. Have some frozen veg in the freezer for backup, because fresh veg everyday of the week means multiple supermarket visits/shops a week and you are trying to save time.
Minimise Your Make Up Routine
Master the art of the three piece makeup rule. Whittle down your makeup routine to just three items that you can’t live without. If you can make it even less, or none at all, that’s brilliant. But if you are someone who enjoys and feels good in makeup, the likelihood is that you will want to wear some makeup when leaving the house, especially when socialising. The three piece rule means you have one item for your base (concealer or foundation), one for your eyes (eyeliner or eyebrow pencil) and one item that adds a bit of colour (blusher or lipstick/gloss). Manipulate this to however best suits you.
Minimise Your Wardrobe
Don’t give yourself the disservice of overwhelming yourself with choice. There will be items in your wardrobe that might not fit, that you just don’t wear that much or that is no longer suitable for your new life. Remove those items from your wardrobe, or at least from your eye line, and create yourself a Mummy capsule wardrobe that you can wear on rotation. If there’s a jumper in your wardrobe that you find yourself reaching for time and time again, then shop (online) for a jumper similar and buy it in a few different colours or variations. Find a format that works for you and simply stick with it. The shirt I am wearing in this post has become a shape that I have shopped over and over and has since become my signature motherhood look. Simply because it’s just so simple and I think it works!
Use the Gym Instead of Doing Classes
If you are fortunate enough to have the time to go to the gym then this means you found yourself some me time. However if this time doesn’t come around often, you will need to maximise this golden hour. Instead of doing classes, use the gym and while you are pounding away on the treadmill, catch up on your favourite TV shows, read the news, scroll through your social media feeds and read emails. The gym may not be as fun or as engaging as an Legs Bums and Tums class, but before you know it, you’ve burned 500 calories and are completely caught up on all your necessaires.
Go Audio and Video
The truth is you might find it will be a while before you can justify sitting down with a cup of tea or a glass of wine while flicking through a magazine, reading a book or flicking through the Sunday papers. This doesn’t mean that you don’t want to stay in the know. Try to stay in touch with your interests in audio and video form so you can really maximise this time. If you love books but aren’t able to sit down and read one, then download it in audio and play it while you’re in the car on the way to a friends. If you love fashion magazines then get onto YouTube and start watching Fashion YouTubers while you cook the dinner. See if your favourite columnists or journos have their own podcasts and listen while cleaning the house.
Soon you’ll be eating dinner in downward dog, watching YouTube while your nails dry and the little one sleeps!
Super mum here you come!
What I’m wearing…
Tuxedo Shirt from Zara
Cropped raw hem jeans from Zara
Mojito Sock Boots from Topsshop
