Calling All Single Moms ~ How Do You Do It?

I was chatting with a girlfriend and fellow Realtor today who is a single Mom and in the process of signing her children up for before and after school care and she was talking about the different options and which one would be best for her.  Does she need before and after school care?  Is it better to do the one that is a lump sum payment each month that is the lowest cost per hour, but you pay for the time weather you use it or not; or should she just pay as she goes which could cost her more in the long run?

My advice was to pick her schedule, ie. she needs to know that she has child care from 9 – 5:30 every day, find the least expensive child care option (granted in this situation all of the options are great ones in terms of quality of care) and just commit to it rather than driving herself crazy with the ‘what ifs’ of life and then figure out how to get it done in the time allotted.  After this she asked if I managed to get all of my things done in the time allotted each day to which I promptly responded … NO!  Admittedly I never get it all done in a day or a week, but I have a schedule each week with certain things that are important to accomplish such as my calls, notes, connecting with other agents, writing this blog, etc.  Having this schedule and list of things to do keeps me on track and focused with the time that I do have, but the reality is that it is never fully completed by the end of the week.  For me I have learned to let it go.  Some things don’t need to be done, others will when the time is right.

Admittedly though, I still have children in daycare and pre school so I get a few more hours of work time in than those of you with kids in actual school and I have a husband with a flexible schedule who can pick up the boys most days if I need to work a bit later.  Since I believe that you can’t always give advice to someone when you have not experienced exactly what they are going through I want to hear from you single Moms, how do you do it?