Friday, March 28, 2008

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

1 Comments:

Blogger WorkingMom said...

I decided to take a look at my typical tasks, but it turned into an exercise of how my husband and I divide up the family tasks between ourselves and the children. Our children are in 2nd and 4th grade. Based on my list, I am generally the "planner-coordinator", and my husband is generally the "carry-out" person. Plus, our children have household tasks as well. Here is how my list turned out:

My Tasks:
·Plan a week’s worth of meals, make the week's grocery list
·Grocery shop for a week’s worth of food
·Put away week’s worth of food
·Prepare dinners
·Clean kitchen and dining room after dinner
·Make sure kids have chosen clean clothes to wear to school
·Get kids up, breakfasted, and to school bus stop on time
·Mediate household spats
·Help kids with special projects: book reports, presentations, etc.
·Research & plan enrichment activities for kids; communicate to husband
·Research summer camp for kids
·Coordinate parent-teacher conferences, communicate via notes usually
·Exercise (during lunch, 3+ times per week)
·Call friends and family
·Once a month, Inspect charge bill, log and track expenditures
·Track overall spending, monitor budget
·Participate in monthly community meetings
·Participate in monthly school meetings
·Visit the salon (every 6 weeks)
·Plan family outings (ie, trip to NC, downtown, museums)
·Add numerous family/personal activities to Family Wall Calendar
·Choose and Pack things for Goodwill/Big Brother-Big Sister, etc.
·Take care of rental unit: scheduling repairs, finding & interviewing new tenants, advertising vacancy
·Plan & coordinate special or seasonal events: birthdays, Christmas (I do all the shopping & wrapping), Easter baskets, Halloween (I do their costumes), clothes shopping & seasonal clothes rotation, select & purchase shoes, snow boots, winter coats & snow pants, hats, numerous pairs of gloves, swimsuits
·Landscaping: plan, coordinate & contract w/ landscapers, or do it myself
·Plan, coordinate, & contract for any household or exterior repairs, or do it myself
·Annually: Gather tax items for accountant appointment
·Provide planning & oversight for enrichment activities, future family events & current family traditions (e.g., evening sit-down meal), celebrations, extended family visits, recording events w/ photographs, etc.
·Work full time

Children’s Tasks:
·Lay out clothes each evening for next day
·Pack snack/lunch for next day school
·Brush their teeth, brush hair
·Set dinner table
·Pour dinner table water
·Put on pajamas

Husband Supervising At Least One Child's Tasks:
·Fold/put away laundry for family of 4
·Gather and take out trash

Husband’s Tasks:
·Wash, dry, hang clothes
·Fill kids’ water bottles each evening, put in refrigerator for next school day
·Clean out the refrigerator at the end of the week-- get rid of old food.
·Assist with putting away new week’s worth of food
·Run errands with children (return/renew library books, take donations to goodwill, mail letters, pick up enrollment forms for enrichment activities, drop off required medical forms at pediatrician's office)
·Schedule appointments (doctor, dentist)
·Take kids to doctor/dentist appointments
·Sign kids up for activities (soccer, after-school class, basketball, swimming)
·Take kids to after school/weekend activities
·Plans and coordinates weekend family bicycle rides
·Pick kids up from after-school program
·Check homework
·Supervise kids during bedtime routine, reads & says nightly prayers with kids
·Supervise kids’ bath time & hair washing
·Take kids & himself for hair cuts (every 6 weeks)
·Enroll kids in by-the-week summer camp
·Take care of kids during the summer, plans activities & camping trips
·Supervise kids picking up their toys before house cleaner arrives
·Mediate household spats
·Add personal activities to Family Calendar
·Call friends and family (rarely)
·Pay monthly charge bill
·Supervises kids writing thank-you letters
·Shovel snow, cut grass (rarely, our lawn traditionally appears to be a miniature grassy field)
·Generally, carries out daily activities imperative to keeping our family moving forward
·Work full time as an 8th grade math teacher (goes to work earlier than me (6:15 AM), gets out of work earlier than me, is probably more tired than me (at the end of a school day, why do kids still have energy while the teachers are exhausted?) works every evening grading papers & preparing next day’s lesson)

No One’s Tasks:
·Iron kid's (or anyone’s) outfits daily
·Drop off and pick up dry cleaning
·Calling a babysitter

Automated Tasks:
·All bills paid automatically (phone, gas, electric, etc.), except charge card bill & taxes

Sanity Saver:
·Cleaning service cleans our house twice a month
·Our accountant prepares our taxes
·All of our clothes are wash & wear, even my suits (we swear by Lands End)

March 29, 2008 at 4:25 PM  

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