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Whether it's football, basketball, baseball, or any other sport, being in season is stressful for the entire family. While daddy's out coaching or the kids juggle multiple practices and games each week, it's your job to keep everything organized and running smoothly at home. We're all about working smarter, not harder, so it's not so stressful once you're in season and everything descends into chaos! By preparing ahead of time, here are 28 ways to make your life less stressful during the season.
Ways to Make Your Life Less Stressful During the Season
Our suggestion with the following list? Take the ideas that will make it easier for the family and leave the rest. It should be all about simplifying your life and prepping beforehand – so don't unnecessarily stress yourself out!
Meal Planning
- Freezer Prep: While you prepare some freezer essentials, list what you have and cross off the items as you use them. This will help you know what's in your freezer and use everything up so you're not wasting anything.
- Meal Plan: Whether this involves planning the week or month ahead, having a schedule in place will help you figure out what to have for dinner each night. We're all about leftovers, so keep a few days free each week!
- Easy-to-Make Meal List: Make a list of meals that are easy to make because you always have the ingredients in your house. These meals include pancakes, grilled cheese, scrambled eggs, etc.
- Use Paper Plates and Towels: No shaming over here! If paper plates and towels will make life easier for you (and fewer dishes!), we're all about that lifestyle.
- Subscribe to Grocery Delivery/Amazon or Do Pick Ups: You won't have to worry about going through a grocery store with kids, and you will save so much time. Will they sometimes mess up your order? Probably! But if it's saving you time, don't stress about the small stuff!
- Costco Run: Do a big Costco or Sam's Club run before the beginning of the season so you can stock up on all your favorite essentials!
Chores Around the House
- Hire a Housecleaner: Plan ahead of time and save to have a housecleaner come in once a week during the season (or all year, if you can afford it). It will free up so much time for you.
- Age-Appropriate Chores: Teach your children age-appropriate chores BEFORE the season starts so they can help you around the house and fend for themselves during the season.
- Laundry 1-2 Times a Week: Choose 1 or 2 days a week to do laundry and forget about it on the other days. We promise you and your kids will still have something to wear daily (especially if you plan the outfits in advance – as suggested below!).
- Prioritize The Most Important Rooms: Instead of trying to clean everything and keep it all neat, just prioritize the rooms that are most important to you or your family uses the most...and then forget the rest! Choose what will help your sanity.
- Cleaning Schedule: Create a cleaning schedule that includes what you want to accomplish weekly and monthly. If you skip a day, don't worry – you can deal with it next week!
Tips for Kids
- Set Out Clothes: Decide what the kids (and you) will wear for the entire week and set it out in advance. This task will take 15 minutes on a Sunday, but save so much time during the week and avoid unnecessary fights early in the morning.
- Prep the Night Before: It might suck having to do this at night, but you'll thank your past self sooo much the following morning! Get all the lunches made, backpacks lined up, and everything else organized so you can have a smooth morning (as much as possible with children!).
- Line Up Babysitters: Figure out a few babysitters ahead of time that can watch your kids so you can 1) get a few hours to yourself or 2) squeeze in a date night (or afternoon!) with your husband.
- Game Day Packing List: Keep a list of what you need and a dedicated game day bag so you don't forget anything and never feel rushed.
Family Time
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Family Events: Think of a couple things you know you could make work as a family this season. Having them thought out and ready to go will make you more likely to do them and less likely to skip them! Your kids will especially thank you for this quality time together.
Mindset Shifts
- Decide Your Family's Priorities: What are truly the most important things in your life this season. Write them down. Know that everything else are things you WANT to do, not HAVE a to do.
- Don't Stress Over the Small Stuff: This is easier said than done, but not stressing over a small mess or providing your kids with a frozen meal will make life much easier for you and the entire family.
- Declutter and Donate: Use a weekend before the start of the season to do a big purge of your house. Declutter items you no longer use and donate them. Less clutter = less stress. Have your husband take the kids out for a few hours so you can do this in peace and quiet.
- Communicate with Your Husband: While this is his busy time of year, he can still do small things to help out around the house. Have a conversation with him every Saturday or Sunday for 30 minutes. Not only will this help the two of you reconnect, but talk about what he can do to help. Don't expect him to know what needs to be done – be specific!
- Prioritize Yourself: Learn what you need to function and prioritize it! Daily walks? Your morning coffee? If you're not taking care of yourself, it will be much harder to care for those around you.
Favorite Resources
- Coaches' Wives Ministry and their podcast
- More Than a Season podcast (Apple and Spotify)
- Friday Night Wives blog posts for encouragement
- Birds on a Wire Moms and their Wire Talk podcast for moms
- The Friday Night Life and their podcast
- End Zone Wives podcast
As we said before, we're all about working smarter, not harder, during the season! You should enjoy this time of year with your entire family and cheer on Daddy from the stands. As you begin preparing for the season ahead, remember: If something is stressing you out or making life more difficult, it's time to forget about it, discard it, and move on! Don't stress the small stuff, and life will be so much easier in the season.