They Say a Woman's Work is Never Done

When I look at all the tasks I stuff into a week, I'm amazed at how much I do. Here's what my typical week looks like lately:

• Grocery shop


• Prepare meals


• Clean kitchen and dining room after meals


• Wash, dry, hang/fold 7 or 8 loads of clothes


• Select kid's outfits daily


• Iron kid's outfits daily


• Drop off and pick up dry cleaning


• Pay bills online


• Log and track expenditures


• Run errands (return/renew library books, take donations to goodwill, mail letters, pick up enrollment forms from daycare, drop off required medical forms at pediatrician's office)


• Send in snack for kids


• Sign kids up for activities (soccer, after-school class, basketball, swimming)


• Find and enroll kids in summer camp
  
• Drop kids off at school or bus stop


• Pick kids up from after-school program


• Check homework


• Mediate household spats


• Prepare kids for bed


• Style daughter's hair


• Schedule appointments (doctor, dentist, teacher meetings)


• Excercise (attend class or play basketball 2 times a week)


• Visit the salon (every other week)


• Add numerous family/personal activities to my Blackberry


• Plan family outings (ie, trip to NC, Cherry Blossoms)


• Call friends and family


• Respond to and send personal emails

Not to mention, working 40-50 hours a week!

And responding to all the 'mom cries' on any given day, which could easily exceed 30 a day with 3 children.


So, surely a women's work is never done. What's your typical week like?

Typical Friday Night for a Working Mom?

Spring is here, it’s Friday evening, and we’ve just finished off a pizza. I sit down at my computer after a long work week, to handle some of the things I didn’t have time to get to during the week. Tomorrow, we’re going to see the Cherry Blossoms – which required me to find the best method of transportation considering the limited parking in DC and the kids’ limited tolerance for walking and numerous bus changes. Not to mention, I didn’t exactly know where the Cherry Blossoms were, so I had to begin with a basic search. All of this took at least 20 minutes. Then, I thought about how expensive and inconvenient it is to eat there and decided I should pack lunches, which required me to make a trip to the grocery store to buy items I could easily carry around, while making the trek into the city with 3 kids under age 9. That slight detour took about 30 minutes.

Spring time also means soccer season, so I spent another 30 minutes adding the soccer coach’s contact info, the practice schedule and the game schedule to my blackberry and saving a back-up copy to the home PC. Then, finally, I added my own basketball schedule, a hobby I picked up for the first time in almost 10 years – another 10 minutes.

So, after a long week of working, I just spent another hour and a half doing administrative tasks that needed to get done, but didn’t necessarily have to be done by me. Not only did I lose those 90 minutes, but I compounded my level of exhaustion, which leads to irritability and neglect of the people and things I really love.

This is the whole idea around Attaché Services. Things need to get done – but you don’t have to be the one to do them. Some things can simply be outsourced – delegated – taken off your plate, so that you can spend time recuperating from a long work week, playing a board game with your family, or cuddling up with a good book. Your time is too valuable to waste.

Now, that I have my snacks, travel plans and schedules handled, I still can’t exactly relax, because there’s still work to be done; I still need to buy cleats, a size 3 soccer ball, shin guards, a water bottle, and not to mention pack the ‘soccer bag’ each week and coordinate transportation to and from games (God forbid one of the practices conflicts with one of the other family activities!). I could really use an extra set of hands to make this all work.

If this sounds familiar, you may benefit from the services of a Personal Attaché. If you live in or near Reston, VA, and would like a free in-home consultation, contact:

Attaché Services, LLC
11951 Freedom Drive
Suite 1300
Reston, VA 20190
703-251-4526
info@attacheservices.com