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While staying at home as much as possible is an important part of keeping our families and our community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, for those with kids it can lead to a lot of extra work.
In addition to working from home and taking on the role of homeschool teacher while schools and daycares are shut, many parents are finding it difficult to plan for and prepare all the extra meals and deal with the magnified mess of kids at home all day.
If you’re on the hunt for ways to lighten your load during this stressful time, check out the list of ideas below for inspiration!
1. Prepare multi-purpose meals
It can be hard enough trying to plan, shop for and prepare breakfast and dinner every day but with the whole family now needing lunch everyday too, lots of parents are feeling burnt out in the kitchen. Lighten your load by preparing multi-purpose recipes that can be stretched into two or three meals.
For example, if you roast a chicken for supper on Sunday, you can use leftovers to prepare chicken soup on Monday and chicken quesadillas on Tuesday.
2. Make cleaning a family affair
If everyone is making the mess, everyone should be responsible for pitching in to clean it up. Even small children can pick up and put away toys and older children can be tasked with sweeping, vacuuming, dusting and doing the dishes.
At a minimum, kids should be responsible for picking up the game or toys they’re playing with before moving on to their next activity.
3. Get outside as much as possible
While getting outside won’t help you knock out any cleaning tasks, it will help you prevent your kids from making indoor messes that need to be cleaned up.
Play in the backyard, take a walk or spin around the block on your bikes and, while you do, rest assured that the inside of your home isn’t being wrecked.
Gentle reminder to still follow social distancing guidelines!
4. Outsource where you still can
While home cleaning services are a no-no right now, there are plenty of things you can still outsource – one major one being your laundry.
Instead of tossing in load after load that never gets folded and put away, make a pick up request with 2ULaundry and watch your clothes come back fresh, clean and folded the next day.
5. Plan for some alone time
As much as extra time with our kids can be a blessing, it’s easy for parents to feel burned out after weeks of 24/7 parenting with no break.
If you have a partner, make it a point to take turns taking breaks and getting some alone time. While you can’t go out (or at least should be cautious when going out) with friends or relax with a pedicure, taking a nice solo walk around the block or a relaxing bubble bath, or simply sitting and reading alone at home while your partner takes your kids out to ride their bikes can be just the break you need to recharge!
There’s no doubt that these are tough times for everyone in the community but with a little forethought and planning ahead, you should be able to lighten your load at least a little bit this spring!
2ULaundry is a premium laundry and dry-cleaning pick-up and delivery service available in Charlotte, Atlanta, Tampa, Austin, San Antonio, and Phoenix. Learn more about 2ULaundry and sign up on our website.
