Things have changed a lot in how I manage my life since becoming a parent (and buying a house and changing jobs). I’ve written about how to take control of your time as a working parent where I cover concepts from the book Uptime (my hands down favorite productivity book), and today I want to share the simple systems and routines that have made all of the difference in how I live my life. None of this is revolutionary, but actually doing this all has made a huge difference! If you’re interested in learning about my weekly planning process from my pre-baby days, you can check out this post.
Meals
I think about meals in a few steps: planning, shopping, and preparation. Joe is an excellent cook and is wholly in charge of preparation and he also does the shopping (the chef needs to pick out his ingredients, after all). I am in charge of planning, which means selecting the meals for the week, knowing what we have in stock, and making the grocery list.
Every Sunday I sit down with the grocery store sale flyer and make a meal plan which includes lunches for my son and dinners for the family. I then update our shared grocery list and Joe is off to the market on Monday mornings after drop off.
Tools
To implement this routine, I got a dry erase board for the refrigerator where I write the meal plan which includes lunches for my son and dinners for the family. Our shared grocery list on Google Keep.
Cleaning
Every time we leave a room, we clean it up. This is something I have been intentional about teaching my son from day one and it helps keep our home in a state that feels calm (it also helps that we are minimalists with our possessions, so there often isn’t all that much to clean up). But tidiness is not the same as cleanliness, and I found that I needed to implement a routine to make cleaning feel manageable.
We do light cleaning throughout every week, and have a rotating every-other-week schedule for a deep dusting/vacuum and a deep bathroom clean. Knowing that we have just one of these to accomplish each week ensures it doesn’t pile up and we don’t have the need to dedicate an entire day to cleaning the floors, furniture, and bathrooms. We do laundry on an as-needed basis.
Tools
I use Google Tasks for my cleaning schedule. Each Saturday on a recurring schedule either dusting/vacuuming or bathrooms appears on my calendar as a Task.
Plans/Socializing
It’s important for us to have dedicated individual time and time together as a family. I believe everyone is happier and healthier when they have one activity to look forward to each week for themselves! Joe and I both play tennis and have one night per week where we go to a class while the other person is at home with our son. And our son goes to a weekly gym class.
Each week, we plan one fun activity for the weekend that we choose from a running list of places we want to visit.
I also have a reminder for myself each week to check in with my girlfriends to schedule catch up phone calls and make in person plans as schedules allow. Having a weekly reminder helps me from getting so absorbed in my own life that I don’t stop to spend time with others.
Tools
We keep our running list of places we want to go in Google Maps and the reminder I mentioned for checking in with friends shows up as a Task on my calendar.
I love using Gemini to plan our family outings. I’ll share the area we want to visit or specific place we want to go, and Gemini will suggest a complete itinerary, including spots for food and for play (since I taught it to take our son into account!). I go back and forth to get it just right, copy it to a note in Keep to share with Joe and make my own edits, then we’re on our way!
Family Photos
I’ve become more aware of how important photo preservation and organization is to me since having my son (you can see my pre-baby approach to photo management here). I now have all of my photos on Google Photos (and am loving my life with a Google Pixel phone) and every six months I back my photos up on a hard drive and print out my favorites for a physical photo album.
Tools
I use Google Photos for my cloud storage, a hard drive as an additional back up, and a large photo album for my physical photos. You probably guessed it – every six month a Task comes up on my calendar to remind me to take action on my photos.
Bedtime Alarm
I always thought of alarms as a tool for morning wake up, but once I started using an alarm to tell me to go to bed I got so much better at adhering to my goal bedtime. My bedtime alarm goes off at 9:15 and I aim to be in bed and asleep before 10. This consistency makes me feel good and has gotten me into a rhythm of waking up by 5:30 so I can have time to myself before I start the day with my son.
What routines support your life? How do you simplify?
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