How To Stay Sane as a Mum

Are you at the end of your rope? Going crazy? I certainly was yesterday. Laney was so crabby and would not let me set her down but was not content being held either. I just felt like walking out.

After I finally got Laney to sleep, I knew I needed to find some way to destress.

Mike and I have decided that we are going to be "unplugged" on Wednesday evenings. We turn off all the lights and only use candles, and every gadget is verboten for the evening. No TV, no phones, no computers. Games, talking, and any other activity not requiring batteries or electricity is the order of the day. We hope that this is going to be a fun tradition in our family in the future. I decided to take advantage of this particular evening alone because Mike was out with some friends.

Do you have a free half hour? Could you put off doing the dishes or laundry right now? They will still be there later, I promise.

Follow the steps below. Your sanity is worth every minute of it.

Drink a glass of water

Go rummaging through your cupboards and find samples, containers, etc. of goods to be used during your bath. I hold onto these for years without ever using them. Finally giving myself permission to use them is so much better than letting them pile up and cause clutter in my house. I always was saving these for special occasions. I did myself a favour and made yesterday a special occasion.

I managed to find some bath salts, an undereye gel pad sample, Arbonne sea salt scrub, and a facial cleanser. Look, the scrub even has dust on it!


Turn off the bathroom lights and light some candles. I know you have tons of them laying around that just collect dust. Use them. That's what they were meant for. Don't they look so much prettier lit?


Wash your face.

Put on a mask or like I did, some under-eye gel pads. Note to self: buy facial mask for next time.


Run a hot bath with whatever you can find. Bubble bath. Bath salts. Anything.

Hop in and put your feet up.


Breathe deeply and relax. Quit cheating. Stop that tape recorder playing in your head with all the things you should be doing instead.


Get out and dry off. Use the best smelling body lotion you can find.

Brush and floss your teeth. You will feel much better with squeaky clean teeth.

There. That wasn't so bad was it?