After a long day at work, all you want to do is relax, but that is when you need to be at your best to take on the overwhelming evenings at home. Dinner, chores, activities, cleaning, homework – the list of everything needing to get done is never ending. Not to mention wanting to spend quality time with your spouse and those adorable children of yours!
Is it even possible to have enjoyable evenings with children and a full-time job?
YES! It absolutely is!
Here are seven ways your evenings are going to go from chaos to calm!
Set the Tone
The way you think about the evening ahead will impact how the evening goes. After leaving work, take a few minutes to relax and decide how your evening is going to be. You can choose to have a rushed and chaotic evening or a calm, productive evening. Decide what kind of wife and mom you want to be. How would that mom come home in the evening? A kind, loving mom is excited to see her kids and spend time with them. A cranky mom will be rushed and annoyed. Who do you want to be? The choice is yours, choose wisely!
Plan for Dinner
The age-old question “what’s for dinner?” haunts most moms every night. Stop dreading dinner and start planning for it! Look at your planner for the week to determine how much time you have each night for dinner. On evenings when there is minimal time, plan a crockpot meal you can start in the morning before work. Most importantly, always have backup meals that are easy and ingredients are always on hand. Our favorites are breakfast for dinner, frozen pizzas, sandwiches and pasta salad.
Family Effort
Hello supermom! You do not have to do everything on your own! Your family wants to help, but you need to be willing to allow them to help, communicate what your needs are, and be okay when they do not complete things YOUR way. Your toddler can help put dishes away, older kids can help cook, spouses can do all kinds of things! When we allow others to help in their own way overwhelming evenings can become family bonding time instead. It also allows your children to learn important life skills so as adults they will not be overwhelmed by their evenings.
Routine
Remembering what to do and in what order to be the most effective takes time and energy. When routines are in place, you can get more done in less time and be more relaxed because you know exactly when everything will get done. In addition, the mental burden we take on as moms is real and plays a big role in feeling overwhelmed. Making things predictable with a routine will reduce much of the overwhelm.
Make it Fun!
Life is serious enough as it is, housework does not have to be serious too! If you have to do it anyway – make it fun! Turn on some fun music, make it into a game, listen to a podcast or audiobook while working. You can make anything enjoyable if you choose. PLUS your family is more likely to join in and help if it is fun!
Maximize Your Time
Every minute counts. Use every minute with intention to get more done with less mental overload. Bring things along to be able to budget while at kids’ activities and opening mail in the parking lot before work. Make every minute count!
Break it into small chunks
Life is overwhelming when you try to take on everything at once. Getting started when looking at a huge mountain to climb is overwhelming. Look at just the one step in front of you and start moving. You will be at the top of your mountain before you know it.
Evenings after work do not have to be overwhelming and stressful. When working full-time we don’t get the quantity of time to spend with our families, but we can make the time we do have count. Give your family the best version of you by being intentional with how you choose to come home from work.
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