Saving time online and five minutes of my life

“Mum! Where are my shorts?”

I hear this shout from upstairs as I am rummaging through the fridge looking for something, anything, to put in the girls’ packed lunches. Underneath a pack of cheddar, I find some ham. It’s only a few days out of date. I smell it. Fine. Now I just can’t remember if we have bread…

Which shorts? I answer my oldest daughter, the 10-year-old; she has sports day this week. Actualy,it could be today? Did you look in your room? Try your drawers, I shout back. Most likely it is under the pile of clothing near her bed, which seems to keep growing. I must get on top of the laundry.

The other two girls appear at the breakfast table. At least they are dressed. Can I have plaits mummy? It’s my youngest. I look at the clock; we have a full 30 minutes until the whistle blows. I was hoping to check a few emails before left, but can’t resist. Plus there is the added benefit that plaids help keep away head lice. Of course you can!

As I start the plaits, middle daughter asks if I could text her friend’s mother for a playdate. I reach for my iPhone, and the others then pipe in with similar requests. Have you ever tried to arrange simultaneous playdates for three children? My shoulders tighten. I finish the plaits, while texting three mums.

***

And that was only a small five minute snippet of my life! I imagine other mums lives are similar (but maybe not as acccomodatung?) The lives of mothers today are filled with activity often from pre-dawn to well past dusk. Breakfast, school runs, work (both at home and out of the home), household jobs, ironing, shopping, making meals, keeping track of the bills and finances, organising activities and playdates for the children and on and on and and that is not even counting “real” work.

I’m working with British Gas on a campaign to help busy mums to be more efficient by using online apps (disclosure: they are a client). By introducing time-pressed mums to online tools, such as the British Gas Online Energy Management app, they want to help mums save time and organise their lives more efficiently.

Now comes the fun part. I get to challenge another mum to manage her life online for week! Karin Joyce, from Café Bebe, has agreed to take the challenge. She gets an iPad to help her out, I’m sure that was not the deciding factor though. Karin is Mum to Ella (4) and Sam (8 months) and wife to Mark. In addition to writing Café Bebe, Karin has a new blog (Mummy365) and works with BritMums on a number of projects, including being our social media maven!

Karin spends a great deal of her time online but has yet to learn the benefits of managing her life online. Karin STILL goes to the supermarket to buy her groceries and hasn’t learned how to check her bank balance on the go! She does ALL of her blogging and social media management from her laptop in the comfort of her own home which seriously limits her out and about time! Karin needs to step away from the shopping trolley and get comfortable with Apps!

Over the next week, Karin will document her progress on Café Bebe. She will tackle one new online task each day and report back on how her life has benefited from being able to manage it online. You’ll be able to follow Karin’s daily progress through her Google+ On Air diary entries as well as on her blog.

Finally, I’ll be interviewing Karin after her week of experimenting to see how much of a difference she’s seen in being able to manage her family life online. Karin will be utilising an iPad to explore time saving apps that will allow her to streamline her daily tasks.

Good luck to Karin on her Time Management Adventure. Be sure to tune in to Karin’s updates on Café Bebe, Google+ and Twitter (@cafebebe) and follow the hashtag #BGSaveTime.