I get asked a lot how I juggle everything. Sometimes I give a flip answer, like, I’m just ADHD and what most people call relaxing, I call having nothing to do and being bored! But today while I was juggling exceptionally well, it occurred to me that I do have some actual valid tips to offer, so here’s one of them:

Clean/organize the room you are in at the moment.

What am I talking about, exactly? I mean, often it feels like I never accomplish anything because I am jumping back and forth between this child’s needs and that child’s needs constantly. Thats a true and valid point. What I have learned over the years is that, when there’s so much to do that you have no idea where to start, you simply start where your kids are and follow them around.

For example, my six year old needed a bath and hair wash. He can wash himself, but needs help with his hair. So I washed his hair, turned him loose to bathe himself and popped his little sister in with him. She needed no bath because she had her bath and hair the night before, but having her to play with ensured they’d both be busy and occupied long enough for me to clean up the bathroom, since that’s where we were at. I also had time to run the dirty laundry from the bathroom to the washer right after they got out of the tub.

After bath we went into the kitchen where the two little ones wanted to eat, so I made them both a quick lunch. While they were otherwise distracted, I was able to clean up the kitchen, wash the dishes and wipe down counters. When they ran off to the living room to play I was able to pop the laundry in the dryer, clean up the highchair and pop a frozen lasagne in to feed the older kids and myself.

Right now I’m able to write this blog post because my six year old had to poop and he is afraid to stay in the bathroom alone, so here I sit, using time that would otherwise be spent staring at the wall doing something productive (well, that may be a matter of opinion!).

After this if over, I’ll feed the older kids, get the baby down for a nap (I’ll catch up on my reading while nursing her) then get around to feeding myself. While eating I will manage to do something else at the same time, even if it’s just catching up on General Hospital episodes on my DVR.

I’m sure I am by far not the first woman in the world to discover this method, but some reason I felt compelled to share it today. I guess for it to work you have to be ok with jumping from activity to activity even if you haven’t finished (the dishes and counters are cleaned but the kitchen floor still needs sweeping, but that will have to be done later). I’m ok with that, but maybe we are back to me being ADHD.

Oh look, a squirrel!