Spring Cleaning for Balance

Spring is officially here! Ah, the smell of fresh cut grass, the shrieks from the playgrounds, the inch-thick dust on the blinds (no wait, that’s not a good part of Spring – let’s not think about that). Spring always fills me with this great sense of hope. Hope for great new beginnings, days of sunshine and laughter. And of course, I get that overwhelming urge to overhaul my entire life. Clean out the closets, cut my hair, buy cute sandals, plant some flowers.

As a working mom, I have to really pay attention to my schedule, as it can quickly get out of hand in my fervor to sweep away winter. Sure, it’s easy to look at the sunlight illuminating that dust on the blinds and realize I need to add “clean blinds” to my list, but there are a host of things that I also need to get done that aren’t so obvious - things that help me in my quest for optimum working mommy balance. Here is a small list of seemingly random things to do to help get your Spring cleaning off to a great start. None of them will take much time to complete, but can potentially save you a lot of time and hassle on down the road.

1. Update your emergency contact list, both at work and at home. Make sure the doctors haven’t changed, significant other’s cell phone, etc. Your work needs to be notified who to call in an emergency, and your babysitter needs to know the numbers by the phone are correct.
2. Get your insurance information and copies of any living wills to your closest hospitals to work and home. This saves a lot of hassle if you land in the emergency room for any reason. You won’t be distracted by annoying paperwork and can instead focus on the reason for the visit.
3. Rotate the pictures in your frames at work to more recent photos, giving you a little lift every time they catch your eye. And while you’re at it, switch the ones in your wallet, too.
4. Clean out your medicine cabinet and stock it for summer. Throw away expired medications and buy new. Check your stock of bug spray, sunscreen, bandages, various cut and scrape medications, etc. Not things you want to find out are expired and/or missing when you need them!
5. Update your resume. Not that you have any intentions of looking for a new job, but taking stock at least once a year on your current job and your recent accomplishments will ensure your resume is always fresh and reflects your work accurately.