Auto Repair for the Mom with No Time
Auto repair usually falls to the mom of the family. It is she who must find the time to make the appointments. With a little pre-planning, going to the shop can be the break you've been needing.
Unless you have a handyman mechanic at home,
auto repair usually falls to the home executive—the mom of the house. If you are a stay-at-home mom, it seems that everyone thinks that you have all the time in the world to complete anything on a to do list. You don't. We all know it is true, but since you are taking your car in for auto repair, why not make the best of it?
Do not just go anywhere. Bigger name service garages today have great amenities in their waiting areas. Find a place with a wireless connection, and take along you lap top to get some work done if you must while you wait on your vehicle to be fixed. If you are feeling slightly dangerous, don't work at all. Brush up on your Angry Bird skills. It is a rather therapeutic game. Perhaps the bill will not be as stressful if you have taken out your aggressions by hurling cartoon birds into towering structures.
Perhaps you would like to use this time to disconnect. Turn off your phone, turn off your laptop, and scout the surrounding area. Do you see a salon? Surely you need a pedicure. Tell the shop where you will be and that you will check back in a few hours. Order the works— a mani/pedi with salt scrubs, hot towels, aromatherapy, and nail art. Consider the cost a transportation incidental. Don't go as far as writing it off of your taxes, but stretching the budget a bit to accommodate yourself while you wait on your vehicle to be fixed is not a crime.
If you just cannot spend money and feel you must do something productive with the down time, take a book or a stack of magazines that you have been meaning to get to. You can wait on your auto repair while practicing literacy—parenting magazines are a necessity of your trade, right? Recipe magazines and home decorating catalogs will suffice as well.
Another service that many places offer is a shuttle. If you are impatient and need to be moving, you can catch a ride back to your home where you can finish the laundry, start dinner, or get some work done. You could also take a walk, sit in the whirlpool bath, pull out that romance novel, or take a well deserved nap.
Being in charge of auto repair does not have to be a drag. Next time it comes up, just smile and say, "I'll take care of it."No problem." Go out and enjoy a little me-time.
