3 Tips To Help You Stay Organized As A Working Mom

“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” – Milton Berle

This is a legitimate question as sometimes I am in desperate need of another hand to juggle multiple tasks at once!

I am forever grateful to be the mom to two amazing blessings and I enjoy being a mom. My maternity leave was busy as you can imagine because I am just the type of person who can't stay idle, but now I am back to work and so I desperately need to prioritize my tasks so I can remain on top of things.

For more context, I am a Project Manager in the Tech Department of a large outdoor gear company. So my days are busy with meetings here and there and a lot of seating in front of the computer. Also my baby girl (now 1) has been home all this while, thankfully she's starting daycare soon. So you can imagine what it's like taking care of her and managing to work in between. I am also thankful Mr. 'Mo get's to go to school now because the year started with them schooling online which was quite hectic for me.

So now that you have an idea of what I am talking about, here are tips that have helped me to remain organized and hopefully you can make use of them too.

1. Meal Preps: I haven't always been consistent in the past but I have seen how it is indeed a necessity now that I have a somewhat defined schedule. As a working mom, I don't want to spend hours in the kitchen on a weeknight. Whatever it is to make my life easier, I'm all for it. It helps to have a time-table of what we are eating for the week and meal prep as much as I can. Here's a sample of my current meal plan:

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Cereal/ fruits		steamed brocolli/grilled fish
Tuesday	Cereal / fruits		Jollof Pasta and Giz Dodo
Wednesday	Avocado Toast		Home made burger with Salad

I use a whiteboard in my kitchen to create my list and timetable over the weekend and this sets me up for the week. (It's magical :) ). I also pack left overs for Mr. Mo's lunch and we buy takeout on Friday evenings.

2. Pre-Plan: I normally pick out Mr. Mo's outfit for the next day a night before, all clothing items sorted and will be doing the same for Desi once she begins at daycare.

I work with Pacific standard time for the most part even though I'm in the Eastern part of Canada. This gives me time to check my tasks for the day, respond to emails and organize my calendar before the actual work hours kick in. Once that's out of the way, I am able to concentrate on my home duties because "wfh" is pretty much here to stay :)

My evenings are pretty much for studying and catching up with social media.

3. Ask for Help: If this is possible please do. In this part of the world, everyone is as busy as you are. Unlike back in Nigeria where I grew up, there were always aunties, grandmas to stay with. Since we don't have that luxury as immigrants, it's difficult planning anything outside kids Ville except you have family close by or a tight knit community to run to. Which is why community involvement in whatever capacity is really important because we all need support systems to help and motivate us. There are so many resources, WhatsApp groups, Facebook groups etc. If you are here, of course I will point you in the right direction if I don't have the answers.

I really give kudos to all moms, whether you've got 2, 3, 4, 5, a stay at home mom, a working mom, single mom - Just name it.

It's not an easy task but with the right support, it makes parenting worthwhile. After all, there's the popular saying " it takes a village to raise kids" and is absolutely true.

Remember, the key is to remain organized as much as possible. Check out the white board I use in creating my list and creating my time table for the week. This has been the most helpful tool so far. XOXO