Dear friends and clients, it is official that after a busy month of unpacking and waiting in line at several state agencies I am now an official resident of Austin, TX. I spent a lot of time with the common drill being “Take a number and bring a book to read while you wait.” One of the books I read while waiting that I want to share with you was “Work Life Balancing” by Dr. Paul Baffes.

I met Paul at a breakfast meeting in September where he shared his tips for Work Life Balance. So I am excited to announce my newest business partnership with Dr. Paul Baffes aka “Dr. WorkLife” and will be sharing some tips from his book “Work Life Balancing” over the next few months. As a special bonus to HLO readers, you can order “Work Life Balancing” for 10% off the regular price. Just type “WLO” as the company name and your email address when ordering.

As always you can listen to Home Life Organization (www.HomeLifeOrganization.com) on Bizz Buzz Live – Kansas City’s Most Progressive Business Show. Timothy Chin & Michael Maher have me share some of my Simple Life Management tips with their listeners. Click here (www.BizzBuzzLive.com) to listen to their show live online on Saturdays from 11am – 1pm CST.

Outsource Your Stress - The Parent Nanny

As promised, I am sharing with you a really great tip that I picked up from Dr. Paul Baffes and his book “Work Life Balancing”. This is for all you parents out there with young children, who work full time and struggle in the evenings with all the chores that need to be done and still want to enjoy time with your little ones – while they are still little.

First recognize that you only have so many hours in your evening. There are always dinners to be made, dishes to clean, pets to feed, laundry to do, the house to pick-up and lunches for the next day to make. On top of that how are you going to spend quality time with your kids, help them with their homework, get them bathed and off to bed? Not to mention what about quality time for yourself and your spouse?

Take a moment to list out all the things you do in the evenings that directly involve your children. Make a second list of the things you do that have to be done, but are really your chores and don’t directly involve the kids. Look at this second list and ask yourself, “Can I get someone else to do this?” Now, keep reading for a truly revolutionary concept.

Believe it or not you can outsource your second list and it’s for a job called the “Parent Nanny”. The “Parent Nanny” helps to take care of the parent’s needs so that the parents can spend quality time with the kids. For example, Paul and his wife have hired a local University student from 5pm to 8pm Monday through Thursday to make dinner (they can stay for dinner), to pick up around the house (not housekeeping), to make lunches, to do the dishes and to start the laundry.

Here’s how it works. Mom and Dad pick-up the kids from school or day care and the “Parent Nanny” starts dinner. The parents play with the kids and help with homework until dinner is ready. Everyone eats dinner together. Then the parents get the kids bathed and ready for bed while the “Parent Nanny” finishes the dishes and lunches for the next day and is out the door by 8pm.

I know this may be a completely radical idea, but consider the time and energy you spend every evening only to fall into bed exhausted and still not feeling like you got to spend quality time with your kids. We are conditioned to believe we have to do it all ourselves, and then feel guilty if we don’t. Let go of that myth give yourself a break and give your kids what they really want, your undivided time while they are still young!

Sarah Kirkish is a Certified Life Coach and Professional Organizer with over 17 years of corporate project management experience. She understands the needs of both business and technical professionals with her background in engineering and business. Sarah brings a straight forward approach to hold her clients accountable, keep them focused and guide them to measurable success towards their personal goals.

If you are looking for more suggestions to get organized, you are not alone, so contact me for a complimentary consultation. I help busy professionals to simplify their lives from the inside out. The solution is usually somewhere in between, so let’s find it together!

www.homelifeorg.com    sarah@homelifeorg.com
734-612-3327
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