Time Saving Tips for Mother’s Day

Sunday, May 10^th, 2015 is Mother’s Day. Said differently, the very minute that Sunday begins is also the very minute your Mother (and/or legal Guardian) must feel robustly appreciated. If you consistently appreciate your Mother (don’t lie, we can all do a better job of this), you must now appreciate her even more than you normally do. If you haven’t already purchased the big three (a card, flowers and a reasonable gift), please stop reading this article and proceed to salvage your relationship with your Guardian(s).

In addition to the traditional fanfare, we’d like to propose you really go the extra mile and use this day to actually make your Mother’s life easier. These following gestures will pay dividends forever (or at least for as long as you pay for) and decrease any remaining stress that the flowers/card/gift will not. Maid Sailors suggests 3 avenues that you (and your family) can pursue in order to make this Mother’s Day both special and meaningful. Keep in mind, ordering a surprise home cleaning from Maid Sailors (while you are all at Sunday brunch) will be an insurmountable gesture and can be pursued in lieu of the following suggestions.

Food

Maybe going out to dinner isn’t your thing. Even if it is, let’s be honest – this isn’t an original idea and your Mother probably values originality. Do something truly creative and conspire with your family members to “bulk cook” an easy set of meals that you can eat for the next few days. If your family traditionally cooks, this will decrease the culinary responsibilities for all involved parties and free up time for other delightful activities (like Netflix). Some more caveats and justifications: 1) If your family traditionally eats out or orders takeout, this solution is a money saver. 2) If you don’t live with your family, you can still use the powerful engine of e-commerce to save everyone both time and money (contrary to most hedge funds, we believe these are separate and distinct elements).

Cookers should utilize tablespoon to find easy, diet-friendly recipes. Tablespoon does a great job of organizing its recipes into distinct categories; for instance, there are 8 separate “diet and health” categories, including Vegan and Gluten Free. If there’s a certain ingredient you’d like to emphasize (like eggs or beans), you’re in luck – tablespoon also categorizes recipes by ingredient and has 10+ to choose from. Find a recipe that works for your family and get to work!

Out-of-towners and the cooking-averse should utilize Blue Apron. The Company eliminates the hassle of both shopping for ingredients and finding recipes by delivering both farm-fresh ingredients and recipes right to your door on a weekly basis. The service allows you to choose the “size” of your plan in order to get the portions just right. In reality, you won’t have time to set this up by tomorrow. Consider trying this out for the next few weeks in order to save your family time.

Laundry

If this is an issue at all, it’s worth addressing. Regardless of who usually does the laundry, take it upon yourself to do your family’s laundry this week. If you’re unsure as to what gets treated in what way (“is this dry clean only?” “should I hang dry this?”), go the extra mile and actually read the labels within the flaps. For some laundry-education, head over to Laundry Goddess, especially if you don’t know how to fold a shirt (properly).

If you’re lazy and also in New York City, consider yourself lucky. There are a few services that are able to pick up your dirty laundry and dry cleaning. There are small pricing differences between the services (generally around $1.15 – $1.50 per pound for wash & fold); check them out for yourself.

Gifts

This is our favorite suggestion. Is your Mother a good listener? Does she give good advice? Give her the opportunity to seamlessly strengthen her skills with audiobooks from Audible. Amazon has given us this amazing gift of narration; the best part about it? The first “book” is free! There are over 180,000 titles and many of the top sellers are actually read by the author. This means Tina Fey will actually read her book (Bossypants) to your mother while she either relaxes on a hammock, heads to work or exercises. The first 30 days are free and the service costs $14.95 per month thereafter. Audible transforms mundane tasks and commutes into learning opportunities; just promise your Mother that you’ll at least try not to hijack her subscription.

Lastly…

First thing’s first: get your flowers, card, and reasonable gift. This Mother’s Day, don’t follow the pack or resume familiar practices. Your family will benefit greatly from developing time-saving habits and your Mother will certainly thank you for it. Use tomorrow as an opportunity to actually change her life for the better on an ongoing basis by eliminating tasks off of her plate or satisfying her curiosity. You’ll thank yourself next Christmas.