When I was pregnant my mom told me that I was going to have to let go of my perfectionist tendencies once I became a mom. She and I are very similar in the way we want to make everything just right, from the meals we cook for our families to how clean our houses are, and she knew from her own experience that something would have to give. (Although, thinking back, I am not sure what she let go when I was growing up and she was a busy working mom… I’ll have to ask her about that.)

I heard this advice from many other moms as well but to be honest, I ignored it. Well, maybe not ignored, but tucked somewhere deep inside my brain and didn’t think much about. I knew that having a baby would change EVERYTHING, but surely it didn’t have to mean that my house would be a mess, we’d eat endless leftovers for dinner, skip out on concerts and catching indie movies we loved so much, or forget to send birthday cards to my family and friends (one of my long-time must-dos.)

You’re reading this and laughing, I know. Having been a working mom for five years the one thing I know for certain is that surviving means letting go of some things that you used to have in your pre-kid life. Concert and movie going? Much less frequent. Birthday cards for family and friends? Thank you, the inventor of e-cards and “sorry, I missed your birthday cards”. The list of things we’ve cut back on doing since we became parents is long and mostly, I’m fine with it.

But there are two areas of our life which have not changed since we became stressed, tired, overworked parents: Our house is very clean and organized and I cook, a lot. I have some help with the former — a cleaning lady every two weeks and a husband who vacuums regularly. But keeping our house organized still means lots of work for me. The cooking? This is, for me, the most time-consuming “chore”.

I love to cook, actually, and over the past few years have really gotten into good food and cooking. But my favorite things to cook are new things, not the set of ten dinners that I rotate through on a regular basis. I’ve done a lot to get organized and minimize the stress. I make a rough menu plan for the week so that I know what to cook and we know what we need at the store. I have a list of quick and easy recipes that I make most often so that I don’t have to be stomped for ideas. And I do a lot of my cooking on Sundays, so that I only cook a few more times during the week.

But still, it’s tiring. Exhausting, actually. And I’m starting to think I need to figure out how to cut some cooking corners. I’m not sure I’ll do it because for many reasons, I think having home-made, healthy, tasty meals is really important. (I am sure if you ask my husband or daughter, they’d be thrilled with hot dogs or cereal for dinner every night.) But it’s worth a shot and probably, some money, in the form of more frequent (healthy) take out so that this mom can step away from the stove and save some sanity!

Where do you cut corners to save time and sanity? Are there non-negotiable areas in your life where you just don’t budge, regardless of how tired you are?