Juggling Act (102)Tom and Megan Wickham are a two-career couple with two very active kids. They feel guilty that they have to work so much and want to spend more time with their children. The little time they do have with the kids is jam-packed with chores. They want more quality time as a family but they can't figure out how to get it.
Megan and Tom are also frustrated by their messy house. Case in point — their storage room. You name it, it's in there — exercise equipment, boxes of toys, baby clothes — all the things they don't want to throw out and might actually use if they could find them.
Maria Bailey from BlueSuitMom.com will teach the Wickhams how to lessen the separation anxiety created when Mom and Dad go to work. Professional organizer Helen Montfort will teach them how to clean up their storage room and keep it organized for years to come.
Guilt Free Parenting Facts:
- 60 percent of workingwomen do not know by 4 pm what is for dinner that night.
- 64 percent of married moms work outside the home.
- Mothers of pre-school children represent the fastest growing segment of the workforce.
Tips: How to reduce separation anxiety between you and your children:
- Don’t prolong goodbyes.
- Visit your child’s daycare center.
- Review the daycare center’s schedule.
- Send a security object.
- Hide a love note in with lunch, a coat pocket or any place your child will find it.
- Find out your center’s policy on phone calls, and if permissible contact each other during emotionally trying times.
Problem: Parents are torn between work and kids.
Solution: Make better use of your time.
- Create a communication center by putting all of your family’s schedules in one place.
- Banish the guilt that derives from being away from the children.
- Build a picture clock with your kids and explain where each of you will be at a certain time during the day. For example, when your child is at school, you let him or her know that you will be at work at that same time.
- Everyday when you get home from work, make the reunion with your children a special time.
- Delegate. Don’t be shy about asking your kids to help out. They will feel more like part of the team.
Contact information:
Maria T. Bailey
CEO and Founder, Blue Suit Mom.com
2335 E. Atlantic Blvd. Suite 300
Pompano Beach, FL 33062
954.943.2322
maria@bluesuitmom.com
www.BlueSuitMom.com
Resources:
Working Parents, Happy Kids: Strategies for Staying Connected
by Pati Crofut, Joanna Knapp
The Women's Home-Based Business Book of Answers
by Maria T. Bailey
For more information: Search keyword(s): working parents, working moms
Organizing the Storage Room Facts:
- Housework can be reduced by 40 percent by eliminating clutter.
- Clutter wastes 25 percent of living space.
- 80 percent of clutter is due to disorganization, not lack of space.
- A professional household organizer charges from $35 to $300 per hour.
- Every day Americans collectively waste nine million hours looking for lost items.
- Disorganization costs an average family $540-$1,100 to replace missing items.
Tips: Streamlining housework can give families an additional 3.2 hours per week.
- Do the dishes at night.
- Sort silverware by piece.
- Store glassware near the dishwasher.
Problem: Waste of space in the Storage Room.
Solution: Cut the clutter and remember to STAY.
- Sort. And for a lot of the hard-to-throw-away stuff, make a "maybe" pile.
- Toss. Decide what you really need and want to keep, then toss the rest.
- Arrange. Label clear storage containers to easily determine the contents and arrange them onto a shelf.
- Yes! Your Everyday System for cutting the clutter out permanently is to maintain it.
Contact information:
Helen Montfort, professional organizer
CEO, Creative Order
301.320.8970
hsmontfort@aol.com
Resources:
Cut the Clutter and Stow the Stuff: The Q.U.I.C.K. Way to Bring Lasting Order to Household Chaos
by Lori Baird (Editor)
National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization
National Association of Professional Organizers
For more information: Search keyword(s): clutter, organization
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