Ivana Poku A few days ago, I asked this question in one Facebook group for new mums:
“What do you need help with the most?”
(I often ask questions in Facebook groups as it helps me to understand what you need and create the best possible content for you.)
Do you know what 90% of mums said?
Housework!
Most of new mums need help with cleaning, washing, tidying, and ironing.
Well, there is no wonder really.
Motherhood in itself is a full-time job and we often have to sacrifice our free time to catch up with housework.
You know what I mean…
Most days with your children are pretty draining.
By the time you get to the bedtime, your are exhausted and have nothing left to give.
Once you children are in bed, you long to just sit down and chill.
But the view of the overflowing laundry basket or dirty dishes in the sink won’t let you rest.
So you catch up with the housework and by the time you finish, there is often no time left for a ‘Me’ time.
You go to bed knowing that the next day you will have to do this all over again.
No easy at all!
No wonder most mums struggle to find the time to clean the house, or that they simply give up and come to accept the mess.
The good news is though, that there is a solution!
And that it’s easier you may think!
I came up with it a few years back when I realised how much of our free time we sacrifice on chores, or how much money we spend on babysitters and cleaners.
I thought: It hasn’t always worked this way!
Back in the day, mums we raising 4-5 children without any cleaners or sitters and they managed.
Do you know why?
Because they worked together as a team!
They were together in the sisterhood of motherhood.
They were helping each other out, they were raising each other’s children, they were hanging out at each others’ places all the time, they did housework together, they were going out and did fun things together… It was normal at the time and no one had ever questioned it.
But today, it doesn’t work like this anymore. (In most cases, anyway.)
Today, a new mum feels lonely.
She is isolated and often feels like she has no one to help her.
This is wrong an unnatural. So what we need to do in order to have more time and get more things done while feeling more relaxed and building a supportive community, is go back to how things were once.
Here’s my ninja tip on how we can achieve this!
Start with getting together a group of local mums.
It can be mums you already know but not necessarily.
At this day and age, you have plenty of options to meet mummy friends. Some of the places you can meet themat are baby groups, baby classes, NCT groups, Facebook groups, Local buggy walks, Motherhood Apps like Peanut or Mush, to name a few.
The group can be as big or as small as you like, but the bigger the better.
Once the group is created, set up a system that works for you all.
You can agree to do chores for each other in a way that benefits you all.
You can do shopping, cleaning, cooking, ironing or anything else you want for each other. You can babysit for each other. You can take each other’s children out. You can have regular mummy nights out. You can do trips together. You can do whatever you want to make your lives easier!
There is no right or wrong way to do this. You can for instance do some of the above (or all of it!) on a weekly basis for each other. Or have two days a week dedicated to specific chores and do them together for a different mum each day. Whatever works for YOU!
This way, not only you will get more work done in less time, but you will also save some money and create wonderful connections with other mums.
Not to mention that you will have more time for yourself and things you enjoy, which will then positively impact your child.
It’s a win-win for everyone.
Of course, there are situations when it is more convenient to get a babysitter or cleaner, but it should not be our first choice.
We have each other so we should embrace it! 😊
There you go!
That’s my secret tip (except not really) for getting more work done in less time while creating more time for yourself and building a supportive community.
I suggest you apply it as soon as possible so that you can enjoy the wonderful benefits of being surrounded by a community of supportive like-minded mums.
I promise that once you do it, you will never understand how you could live without it.
So get out there and create your own sisterhood today.
Good luck and let me know how you get on! 😘
