My Top 5 Sanity Savers

It's quite a challenge balancing work, a 1yr old, a 3 yr old and having a husband who works out of town.  I've learned to find ways of keeping my sanity. Here are the little things I do:

1. Lists

I love making lists and scratching things off them.  I've learned through the years to keep my lists per day only down to 6 items, 10 maximum. And I make lists for the helper at home, my secretary in the office and yes sometimes of things I should remind my husband to do (though I never actually hand him the list).  It's helped me get more done the past few weeks and I feel good at the end of the day.

2. Post-it

Post-its make my many lists even more organized. I use them as tabs in my meeting notebook so I can easily find the last meeting with the different people I coordinate with. I make post-its for reminders for events in the future so that my planner stays neat and I can move it around should my schedules move. I only like how they line up neatly on my desk and stay put. I have post-its in the kids' closet to remind yaya where to put their clothes and what to pack in the diaper bag.  I have post-its on my ref to remind yaya on healthy snacks.  Recently my husband bought the big post-its with lines. I still like the square ones with no lines better though.

3. IPhone

Having lists, photos, email and games for bored toddlers to play with during traffic really makes the Iphone worth it.  I'm not really a techie.  I was convinced to get an Iphone only because of Facetime (for my husband who works far away).

4. Speed Queen Washing Machine

My brother convinced me to get a set of Speed Queen washing machines. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend for them because we had the old school washing machine we bought when we got married and a tiny dryer for when we used to live in a condo.  But each time I lack househelp, I am so so thankful for my fantastic washing machines which are super sturdy and easy to use.  It also helped me survive cloth diapering my son for a year now and still going despite the constant lack of household help.

5. Facebook

I have to admit, mindless Facebook-ing (hmmm, is that a word?) really relaxes my mind when I'm feeling overwhelmed.  My current schedule really hardly has time for going out but it's really nice to be updated with friends and to feel connected even just "like"-ing their status updates.

We all have our little things to save our sanity... what are yours?