*The following is an article that I wrote in partnership with Digital Federal Credit Union, DCU*
As moms, there’s already more than enough on our plates. Whether you’re a stay at home mom, work for yourself or work for someone else, balancing it all is hard and at times, sometimes seemingly impossible. Add in trying to keep up with managing your money and your plate is overflowing with responsibilities, deadlines, bill payments and everything in between. It’s no wonder why we are overwhelmed.
Even if we have helpful partners, the overall management of the household generally speaking seems to fall on moms. The mental load that we carry is heavy. To help alleviate the feeling of overwhelm and somewhat balance the scales, here are some things we can do.
1. Delegate
Delegate responsibilities and ask for more help from your partner and kids. We often feel like we have to do it all. Whether it’s because we like things done a certain way or don’t want to give others more to do because of guilt, we are taking on entirely too much. Ask directly for assistance and delegate tasks to others. For example, can you ask your partner to take over following up on doctors’ appointments or ask your kids to do more around the house? These requests may seem simple but the act of asking and speaking up can go a long way and lets those around you know that you need help.
2. Outsource
Identify tasks in your life that you can outsource. Where can you buy back some of your time and give yourself more mental bandwidth? Consider outsourcing things like; meal prep/cooking through a meal delivery or food service, house cleaning, grocery shopping through a home delivery service, etc.
Figuring out how to pay for these extra services and help is key. Do you need to move things around in your budget to pay for the extra help? Take a look at your current spending habits and the categories that you can potentially cut back on to find room in your budget. A credit union, like DCU – Digital Federal Credit Union, cares about your financial wellness. That’s why they’ve partnered with the industry-leading non-profit organization BALANCE to provide their members with free access to expertly-crafted financial education and resources to help them with their financial matters.
3. Automate
Automate what you can when it comes to your money. Automating doesn’t mean that you set it and completely forget it. Staying engaged with your finances is important but making things automatic removes the extra steps that often add more time and frustration to our lives. Automating as much as we can when it comes to money but still having easy access to our accounts is important. With DCU’s Mobile App, their members can conduct most banking transactions from anywhere and at any time, including depositing checks, paying their bills and setting up payment reminders.
The balancing act of juggling all of our responsibilities as moms can be tough. We are expected to do it all but when we understand that having it all and doing it all ourselves are two different things, we can begin to outsource and ask for help when we need it.
Simplifying and using financial tools to further help get more things off our plate can improve our financial health and be a game changer in improving our day to day lives.
