Our guest blogger today is calendar editor and freelancer Laura Cech.

When I stopped working full-time, I traded one evening rush hour for another.

This one starts when the bus arrives, continues through the frenzy of homework and dinner preparations and doesn’t wind down until the dishes are done, lunches are made and baths are finished.

I’m more harried now than I ever was on the Beltway. Sitting in my car listening to the radio for an hour sounds kind of nice actually.

If there’s a PTA meeting or extra laundry to do — I throw up my hands in surrender and order pizza, or Chinese because they deliver.

I haven’t figured out any way to streamline things. I do some meal prep ahead of time when I can, but it’s not like you do the dishes before you’ve eaten the dinner. And no matter how I time things, it always seems like our baby needs to nurse when it’s time to brush the 5-year-old’s teeth.

Any suggestions?