Productivity Hacks for Police Wife Struggles
My husband just posted about his success in his 2-year recovery from back surgery due to an Injury On Duty the day that the Covid-19 pandemic was reported as a National Emergency in 2020. He came back bigger and stronger than ever before. The truth is that we both recovered over time. The initial shock to me as a working mom juggling a spouse with his own caregiving needs that lasted months after his surgery and homeschooling children due to school closures was overwhelming. During that time, I learned a thing or two about how to be more productive. I have kept these hacks with me even though I don’t have to juggle quite so much anymore. Police wives often experience anxiety; I share my tips on improving anxiety here. I am so happy to pass these hacks on to you to address any police wife struggles you may run into. Check out more practical tips on developing independence routines, self care routines, and planning ahead in my police wife course. I also share how I overcame many common police wife struggles in my heelsandholster: a police wife devotional book.
Cooking
Meal plan. As the primary cook in the family, I learned to meal plan weekly. I plan to cook a dinner every other day, and the days in between I cook leftovers or easy meals, such as cheese quesadillas. I choose my meals using two cookbooks: 1. The Adaptable Feast and 2. a family cookbook made by my mom. I use a whiteboard weekly calendar in the kitchen to write out each planned meal. Check out my meal planning guide here.
Create a grocery list. I use those meals to create my grocery list. I switch between several breakfasts (scrambled eggs, avocado toast, oatmeal, waffles etc) and lunches (deli or PB & J sandwiches, side of fruit, chips etc), so I make sure we have ingredients for those or they go on the list as well.
Drive up or grocery delivery is so worth it! I love Target Drive-Up.
Use Kitchen knives that work to make your meal prep work easier. I love my Pure Komachi knives.
Get yourself a Kitchen Mini Griddler to grill chicken breasts, burgers etc. quickly and indoors. I love my mini grill to cook Rick a chicken breast while I’m making a vegetarian meal. It’s so much quicker than any other cooking method for meat.
Check out what I include in my police officer husband’s meals for work here.
Laundry
Do a load of laundry a day. I start a new load in the wash and fold a load every single day. If I skip a day, it piles up.
Fold the laundry right outside of the dryer. I do NOT transfer the clothes elsewhere first, because you know it’ll just sit there for a while.
Assign children responsibility for their laundry based on their age. My son Maverick is 6, so he puts all of his clothes away. Leonidas is 4, so he puts his underwear and socks away for now.
Check out our new Police Kids Book
Cleaning
Prioritize your cleaning responsibilities. What are your must clean areas daily and weekly? Create routines to ensure those areas get cleaned. I clean the kitchen after I cook every meal. I forgive myself if I don’t have time in the mornings on workdays, but will clean it fully after dinner each night. I tidy up the living room with my boys each day before bedtime. My boys know that, if they make a mess with toys, it’s their responsibility to clean them up. We have made this their chore since they were toddlers. I also run our robot vacuum nightly (see the next paragraph for more on that). Weekly, I clean the bathrooms and give the kitchen a deep clean and my boys clean their rooms.
Take advantage of cleaning appliances. Just rinse those dishes that you’re going to throw in the dishwasher. Also, invest in good quality appliances. We got a Bosch dishwasher, and it washes the dishes far better than I ever could!
Get help with a housekeeping service or technology. I cannot say enough positive things about our Eufy robot vacuum. I run it nightly and it’s just a dream to walk on our clean hardwood floors that the robot vacuum cleaned-not me!
You find yourself frustrated with your officer's unpredictable hours, feeling like he's "married to the job," and juggling life and parenting alone. After Sustainable Police Wife, you will wake up each day looking forward to your day, even if your spouse isn’t home, working nights, and tons of overtime. The solo parenting days go by so fast, because you’re out having crazy, fun adventures with your children. You will feel supported by a tribe who "gets you" and connected to your officer.
Coordinating the Chaos
As wives and moms, we are typically responsible for the household schedules.
Use a family whiteboard calendar. I love using a whiteboard calendar that everyone can see. We keep ours low and include pictures so our youngest can understand what’s going on.
Use a Google E-Calendar. I store everything including my work meetings, my boys’ school homework deadlines, my boys’ extracurricular activities, our family vacations, doctor’s appointments, etc in my Google E-Calendar. I look at it nightly to see what’s going on the next day. I swear that if I don’t write it down, it’s not going to happen.
Schedule your self-care. When will you work out? Write it down on the calendar. Your needs are just as important as anyone else’s.
Keep Reading…
Being a Police Wife: The Family Chaos Coordinator