Share your tips & shortcuts for moms/students!

NewEnglandRN, RN · Aug 10, 2004

here are some ideas i plan to use to make life easier:

for the kids:

backpacks are always packed the night before with homework, projects, lunch money, note's from home, etc. in the winter: gloves, hats, boots, snow pants, jackets are waiting at the front door.

one day a week, i will be 30 minutes late getting home from school. i'll pre-set the table with an afterschool snack, drink box and welcome home note from mom. this will hopefully eliminate the whining for food when i arrive.

consistent bedtime routine: showers, in jammies, can watch tv until 8:30 if homework is done and then read until 9:00 on school nights.

friday night is family game night: we either rent movies and have popcorn or play board games. this is a good night for take-out pizza or subs.

for mom:

same thing with the backpack and planning the night before, but i don't need snow pants :rotfl:
make sure to always have gas in my tank to avoid last minute morning stops before clinicals
pre-plan meals ahead of time to cutdown on grocery trips
make a study schedule and stick to it. i plan to study away from home when possible to avoid distraction aka: three kids :chuckle
notice i am avoiding the subject of cleaning... i will use everyone else's tips for that!

michelle

stressgal, RN · Aug 10, 2004

Crock Pot! I have found this essential for nights with late classes.

Many recipies at http://www.a1priorities.com

My father raised my sister and I on his own and his biggest tip was to do 1 load of laundry everytime you walk in the door. This means you will always have laundry to do, but you will also always have clean clothes to wear too.

I like keeping a laundry basket or box with everyone's name on it. When the house gets cluttered, toss the items in the appropriate basket and place in the person's room. It is then their responsibility to put it away and the clutter is out of the main areas. This is very beneficial for our bar in the kitchen, everything ends up there.

It is also good to have a centrally located calendar for the family. Not that any of us nursing students are overly organized or anything. :chuckle http://www.organizedhome.com/notebook/index.shtml has GREAT pages that can be printed out, filled out and inserted into a notebook. For those of you who like the idea of doing all of your cooking once a month, this page also has some information on how to accomplish this.

Good luck and happy organizing!

mariedoreen · Aug 10, 2004

I do this myself except I don't do it in the morning. I usually do it the day I buy groceries. I grill chicken, make hamburger pattys, brown growned meat. With that done, at meal time I just pull whatever meat out of the frig and quickly make a meal. I use the growned meat for tacos, burritos, pizza. The hamburger pattys can be used to make regular hamburgers, or I top the pattys with steak sauce or gravy and serve with veggies. The grilled chicken is really good sliced up for fajitas or just served with mashed potatos and salad. I think this is very easy, much cheaper than fast food, and taste tons better.

What an AWESOME idea! Thanks!

enfermeraSG · Aug 10, 2004

Crock Pot! I have found this essential for nights with late classes.
Many recipies at http://www.a1priorities.com
I like keeping a laundry basket or box with everyone's name on it. When the house gets cluttered, toss the items in the appropriate basket and place in the person's room. It is then their responsibility to put it away and the clutter is out of the main areas. This is very beneficial for our bar in the kitchen, everything ends up there.
There are soooo.. many good ideas posted!!! Thanks everyone, keep them coming!!! Maybe these next 4 semesters won't be so bad!? Best of luck to everyone, SG

carlalogan · Aug 12, 2004

I usually have one day where I get to be home while my kids are at school and I use this day for studying and doing laundry. I set a timer to remind me to go and change the loads so that it all gets done in one day. Also, makes me stay at task studying. I try to let that be all I do during that time...gives me nice breaks in studying...and gets it all done at one time which I like rather than playing chase with the laundry all week!

Altra, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2004

*BUMP*
Ummm...any breakfast ideas? That seems to be my rush time....

I make french toast by the loaf and at least 3 dozen pancakes when I have time, like on the weekends. They freeze very well and don't have all the preservatives of the pre-frozen ones.

I also make scrambled eggs & crumbled sausage and make tortilla breakfast wraps - these freeze too (individually in small freezer bags) and then you just pop them in the microwave to heat.

I'd look forward to cleaning tips too. The only suggestion I can add there is that I've found that "power cleaning" -- 15 min. to tackle one room or one task that's driving you crazy -- seems to work well.

Good luck to all moms AND dads ... (that's for you, Dave1117) :)

LPNtobe · Aug 17, 2004

Great tips But are there any for moms with babys. I have a 9 month old and Dad is great but can handle the baby for very long periods or is no good at cleaning or cooking. But I also have a 17year old [which is a senior this year and thinks the world should revolves around her this year] and a 14year old that is a good helper. Any suggestion for me and study time.

Tammi

d.petko · Aug 17, 2004

Any suggestions to a mother of four under five? I have three girls (two, three and four) and one boy (eight weeks). Even though I only work part-time at a local hospital (nights), trying to manage the kids and school has been a challenge. When I'm at work my husband watches the kids (pretty easy since they're all asleep), and I have a close friend who watches them while I'm attending class, but when I'm home they're all mine. My husband works long hours and doesn't get home until seven or eight at night. Any clever ideas on how to keep the two, three and four-year-old busy (for more than ten minutes at a time) besides the television, so I can study? There is not enough time in the day!

NewEnglandRN, RN · Aug 17, 2004

Oh my! I don't know how you can get anything done!

I know in my comunity, the high school students are required to have a certain number of "community service hours" to graduate. Some shose to be a mother's helper to get their service hours in. If you call your local high school, just ask if they have a similar program.

Good luck and try to get some rest!

MrsCannibal · Aug 17, 2004

I haven't quite reached the Zen level of organization that I have read in previous replies (though I'm striving for it! ), but I have a few tips...I plan my meals a week at a time using magazines like Quick Cooking (same people who do Taste of Home, or Country Woman), or websites like www.mealsmatter.org This website makes the planning and choosing recipes easy, but it can be time consuming, and who has all that time? After I have picked 5 dinner (I figure one night is pizza, one night is dumping leftovers on the table), and 5 or 6 breakfast items, I list them all on a sheet of paper, including where I found the recipe if necessary. That sheet of paper gets posted on the refrigerator. It saves me from "forgetting" what I was planning on doing with the items in the frig and wasting food, and tells the kids what they can expect for the next week. I make a separate list for the grocery store, and when I get home with all the groceries, I clean, chop, slice, dice, shred, pre-cook and pre-assemble anything that I can, so that all I have to do is basically throw things together and add a little heat.

My next tip might sound dumb, I get teased a lot, but I find that it helps me out tremendously as a student! I color coordinate all of my notebooks and folders, etc. I have even matched my textbooks in the past by buying the cloth bookcovers in certain colors that match my notebooks, folders, and binders. Basically, I put all of my paperwork for each class into a 1" white binder that has the clear plastic on the front. I write the name of the class in a specific color, like blue marker, on a piece of paper, and put it behind the clear plastic on the front of the binder. Then, I have blue folders and notebooks for that class only. Another class will be all red, another all yellow. You get the idea. If I am in a major hurry, like every day, I just grab all of the stuff in that color, textbook and all. Some days, when I have felt especially brain dead, it has saved my butt. Also, I have different backpacks. It was too time consuming for me to constantly change out books, or lug around books for classes that I didn't need each day. So, during semesters when I attended each class 2x's a week, I would keep all of my monday/wed stuff in one bag, and my tues/thursday stuff in the other. The night before, I simply laid out whichever one I needed for the next day, knowing that all the supplies and proper books/papers/notebooks are ready to go without me packing/repacking everything.

Okay, rereading this, I sound a little nuts, but I guess that is what nursing school will do to ya! :rotfl:

TexeCuter · Aug 17, 2004

IMHO this is what should be in our student handbook.

Practical hints for essentials.

This thread is a great example of excellent support networking, both guys and gals.

Thanks to all for the advice.

ERnightsRN · Aug 17, 2004

For those who have older kids, let them do some of the work! Our kids are 4, 7, 10, 11, & 14. Even the littlest one helps out by doing things like making her own bed, picking up toys etc...and the others all do dishes, help with laundry, etc. They know the sooner Mom has time to study, the sooner she can get done and spend time with the family. The older kids even help out by quizzing me from my class notes, which keeps them occupied while I get to study at the same time. Also, I agree with the post about color-coding books, notebooks, folders, etc...it really does help. I have also found that my daily planner is my life line to sanity...everything that needs to be done goes in that thing.