Time Saving Tips for Parents with New Babies

Every week your baby is changing and growing so much! Other things can wait--its your sweetheart that needs your time. But we don't want our homes and selves to explode into a toxic mess, so we have some tried and true shortcuts so you can spend more time watching that baby nap!

Cook ahead. Make extra leftovers and freeze them. Its nice to have a healthy meal even on meltdown days when you wouldn't have time for anything else.

Make lists. Even if you've never needed to do so before, your hormones can play havoc on just about everything including memory, and its nice to make sure you don't have to run back out after dinner is started--with baby in tow!

Buy in bulk. Instead of making a weekly, prolonged shopping trip for non perishables, buy things like toilet paper & peanut butter in bulk. Then your weekly shopping trip will just be for items such as fresh fruit, breads, and meats that you might not be able to store for long, and it might take just 15 minutes!

Buy online. Save time and money by letting your fingers do the typing. Most online centers have better prices than your local store, plus you save gas! Amazon even offers free shipping on most orders and huge discounts for recurring orders.

Convenience foods: Don't be afraid to buy premade items. If there is any time in your life that you need the convenience of frozen dinners or premade meals, its after you baby is born. For health & monetary reasons, you might not want to do it everyday, but its nothing to worry about for the short term.

Limit Multitasking: recent studies have shown that people are more productive when they finish one task at a time, as the distraction from other sources increases the overall time spent. Of course, it is impossible as a mom to not do many things at once, but whenever you can just try to finish each item before starting a next.

Baths: OH, that new baby smell! Bathing your baby every day is fun, when short on time before they are crawling, you can easily skip days depending on how messy they get at mealtimes and such. Barring a major spill or accident, most newborns stay pretty clean!

Diaper duty: Instead of a diaper Genie, buy a larger pail intended for adult sized diapers. A Diaper Dekor Plus is the best we've found, as it twists and conceals odors just as well as a Diaper Genie, but the liner has to be changed more rarely. In the early months, when the diapers are small and mostly wet you'll find this an easy way to save time without any drawbacks.

Chatty friends: You know those special friends who will call and talk for hours? Those ones who have so much to tell you, but are hard to say goodbye to. Return their phone calls with a quick email or text message instead of spending precious free time trying to wrap it up verbally. You will talk to them again soon, perhaps when you've had a bit more sleep.

Accept help: When other trusted mothers or family members ask to watch the baby, take them up on it! It can be at your house & give you time to do the dishes or take a nap. If they are trustworthy, it is healthy and normal to take a break. Its normally harder for the mommy to let go than for the baby to be separated!

Originally published at http://www.babytrader.info/time.html