Shout out to all the moms out there. The busy, exhausted, and sometimes overwhelmed, moms who never get to clock out. Being a mom is a tough gig!
We have the superpower of learning to maintain an endlessly busy schedule filled with late nights, early mornings, and lots of moving parts.
Chores, meals, activities, appointments, bills, and life’s long list of to-dos never seem to end. If you also feel like it’s tough to keep things going and our families on track—I hear you.
But you know, this isn’t a competition of who is the busiest, most hot mess express out there…
I bet you can insert any adjective in front of the word, ‘mom’, and can say you’ve felt it at one point in your life! Okay, maybe not every adjective…
But you know, we are all busy mothers trying to do our best. And when it comes to time management and productivity, I knew I could improve to simplify my life in order to live my life a little more.
I had my son when I was already working from home for about a year and a half. When I started working from home at the end of 2017, I remember thinking how busy I was with purchasing our first home—which was a complete demo and renovation.
I even told my husband if I was still working outside the home, we would’ve never taken on this ‘project’. I stick to my word to this day, because it was a pretty hectic time of our lives!
Newly married, purchasing our first home together, and deciding to take the vacant foreclosure down to studs, and rebuild it together—but I had no idea what busy truly was until I became a mother.
I often laugh at the amount of time I didn’t even know I had before kids. Hindsight, right?
How Can A Working Mom Save Time?
Over the first 16 months of being a first-time mom, I have become super efficient at managing my time and getting organized after becoming a work-from-home, stay-at-home mom. And now I want to share these time-saving tips with you!
There’s nothing like nap time to teach self-discipline to work-at-home moms, am I right?
When getting yourself organized to save time, the first question to ask yourself is; why do you need to be better at managing your time?
Are you feeling parental burnout? Do you want to start a part-time business or a new hobby?
Are you overwhelmed with everything you need to do and feel like you don’t have time to do what you want to do?
We all have the same 24 hours in a day, and there is always someone who is much busier than you— who is also figuring it out whilst being successful.
I know that this reality might feel a bit harsh, but that quote really has stuck with me for years!
If you’d like to learn more about the symptoms and ways to recover from motherhood burnout, then be sure to check out my article here.
How Can A Work From Home Mom Be Productive? Manage Time To Make Your Life Easier!
Isn’t it crazy that normal is considered running around like a chicken with your head cut off? The terms ‘hot mess’, ‘messy bun’, and ‘multi-tasker’ all correlate with ‘mom’.
I am not saying that I don’t call myself a hot mess sometimes, but that doesn’t mean that I am not intentional about keeping up with my life. If you personally know me, you probably know I am an organizer. If there’s one skill that has saved my life; it’s organization. I live on systems, lists, and routines.
As a mom, you also gain more responsibilities. Along with more responsibilities often comes increased stress and overwhelm— even for an organized person. If the demands of life have left you feeling like you’re spinning out of control—please know that you’re not alone.
Time management for moms can be a challenge, but it is certainly doable. It all starts with your mindset and replacing the negative thoughts with more positive self-talk because that is the foundation we are building sister! One that is rooted in connecting to yourself and having belief. And this post specifically, that is having the belief that you have the time to get done what you need to. And that your best is enough…
So when it comes to time management, please:
Don’t Think you’re just not the organized type, or that life is just always hectic.
Don’t define yourself as a scatterbrain or that you’re stuck this way, because you’re not.
Don’t rely on your memory. Our heads can only take so much. Put your to-dos onto paper to clear your mind to be present in what is going on in the here and now.
And don’t think you’ll get it together once XYZ is finished. Don’t wait until something happens before you get your act together because that is just setting you up for making the same excuse time and time again.
One of my favorite quotes is; “small seemingly insignificant actions done consistently over time will bring results”... So, let’s start implementing these habits today!
20 Simple Time Management Tips To Start Implementing Now
1. Set Goals
Why do you want to work on your time management in the first place? Setting goals helps boost your motivation because they give you something to look forward to each day. And the more you look at your goals the more they will stay in your mind. I recommend looking at your goals daily. Try visualizing yourself reaching them, which will motivate you to push past your fears and continue to show up.
2. Establish A Morning Routine
One of the best ways to build confidence is by doing what you say you’re going to do. Starting my morning the same way every day (for the most part—I mean, we have children) has helped so much with owning my day versus having my day own me.
Here are some quick tips to help you create a morning routine:
- It doesn’t have to be time intensive and long (which will probably just make you stress out). Keep it simple, and remember that it’s how you start your day and set the tone for your day that matters most.
- Try waking up a little earlier than normal because oftentimes we wake up at the last minute and then the rest of our day feels like a rush too.
- Start your day with alone time whenever you can. Gratitude, prayer, journaling, and reading are all great tasks. Try something that gets your mind in a good space.
- If the only time of your day to exercise is in the morning, include it here!
- Write down your intentions for the day and your most important to-dos.
3. Plan And Write Everything Down
I always have been fond of writing things down! Writing things down can help you to get things out of your head so you are not overwhelmed.
This helps you to use your headspace for the present moment. Simply grab a planner, and start jotting your notes down to free your mind from clutter.
4. Make Lists
When you’re jotting down notes, it helps to organize everything into lists.
For example:
- Daily intentions or to-dos for the day
- Ongoing to-do list for the week or month (which is a great space to write things down that you have to do, but are not a priority for you at this moment)
- Ongoing grocery list
- Goals
- Cleaning checklist
- Schedule your day (even down to the hour)
5. Work In Power Pockets Of Time
Take advantage of that snack break or while the kiddos are doing an activity. This is why writing my daily intentions list is so important… By taking the time in the morning to write down what I have to get done, if I have a quick pocket of time, I can choose something from that list to do instead of taking that pocket of time to figure out what it is I have to do!
6. Anchor, Batch, And Block Schedule
Anchoring habits, batching your time, and blocked scheduling are all productivity hacks to help you maximize your time by having focused time slots to do certain things.
I like to anchor things together to either implement a new habit or do things right after the other—to create a kind of routine.
For example; drinking water. If I want to drink more water during the day (or remember to drink water throughout my day) I can anchor drinking water to other things I already habitually do…
- Wake up and drink a glass
- Brush my teeth and drink a glass
- Workout and drink a glass
- Eat lunch and drink a glass
Batching your time is a simple hack that allows you to have full concentration on a group of similar tasks during a dedicated time period without interruptions.
This basically means planning out your day so that you concentrate your energy on one task at a time, and also organizing similar tasks together. So if you have 5 phone calls to make, you can batch that all together and make them all at once—or as many as your kids will allow in that time setting.
Blocked scheduling is when we schedule similar tasks that have been batched into our day. Our morning may consist of making beds, making breakfast, starting laundry, and doing dishes. Similar tasks are batched together for ease and efficiency.
7. Revolve Your Life Around Your Priorities
So you have your list and you’re batching your time, but how do you know what is the best use of your time?
A question I like to ask myself is; ‘Is this activity going to get me closer to XYZ?’
If the answer is yes, it’s a priority. If the answer is no, it can move a little farther down the list.
Do the things that will help you reach your goal the fastest, first. And also do the things that you’re trying to avoid doing first too!
8. Focus On Your Daily To-Do’s First
Don’t worry about the to-do’s that you don’t have to attend to right now, simply focus on the tasks which you have to do today. Sometimes, focusing on too many things can become really stressful, so focus on your top 1-3, and take it one day at a time.
9. Use A Planner
Planners such as Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, or even just good old pen-and-paper planners are great for scheduling and productivity.
Set aside one day during the week to look over the days ahead and make notes on your schedule.
Check out my other blog on easy time-management strategies for moms, for more tips and tricks!
10. Take Care Of Tasks Online
Take advantage of the internet. Gone are the days when you have to mail in paper checks to pay bills and drive from store to store just to see if they carry the items you needed.
Now, you can simply log online, and save time whilst also completing so many tasks. Try setting your bills to autopay, grocery shopping online, and even running your errands on the internet whenever you can.
11. Meal Preparation
Meal preparation saves so much time. By simply pulling out all of your main ingredients once a week, you can prepare them all within an hour. As opposed to having to get them out every day whilst spending 20 minutes per meal prepping.
Talk about a time saver!
Another tip is to overcook, this way you can have leftovers for lunch too.
12. Be Ready To Go
Having a bag packed with essentials by the door helps to save time every time you want to leave the house.
Fill your baby bag with baby gear, snacks, wipes, coloring books, stationery, stamps, a change of clothes, and anything else that you regularly use when out with your family. That way, if something unexpected comes up, you have a bag packed and ready to get out the door quicker.
13. Outsource And Delegate Tasks You Don’t Enjoy
If you can afford to, outsource and delegate whenever you can. Even if you can’t afford a nanny, virtual assistant, or cleaner, write up a list and delegate tasks out to your partner, friends, and family wherever possible.
14. Do The Work Ahead Of Time To Save Yourself More Time Later On
These little tips and tricks help save me a ton of time in the long run:
- Put extra trash bags at the bottom of the bin
- Keep your dust buster by your dryer to clean up lint fast
- Turn clothes right side out as you fold
- Have toilet paper stocked in the bathroom
- Keep an ongoing shopping list and to-do list of daily tasks
- Meal planning and cooking in bulk
- Set up autopay for bills
- Do dishes right away so food doesn’t set and make it tougher to clean later
- Have a diaper changing station in most used rooms of the house
15. Clean As You Go
Cleaning up and doing household chores as you go can save you a lot of time and headaches in the future. Not only that, but get your kids involved in cleaning too. Teach your kids to clean, and try to make it fun for them—I love singing songs to motivate my kids to clean up their mess.
For example, praise and clap together when you’re done. By making it a bit more fun, they’ll really start to enjoy cleaning and helping you around the house.
16. Spend Enough Time Sleeping
Getting a good night’s sleep helps to improve your productivity because you’re able to function with ease when you’re awake! Getting a good night’s sleep helps to improve cognitive function, and mood. In fact, self-care in general, is really important. The better rested you are, the more efficient you are!
A clinical journal notes that sleep deprivation combined with high stress can be a contributing factor to a variety of severe physical and mental health problems such as impaired cognitive function and memory, depression, reduced motivation, and even obesity.¹
17. Figure Out (And Reduce) Your Time Wasters
How much time do you spend doing things which don’t add value to your life? For example, can you reduce screen time, such as watching TV or scrolling on social media?
As a busy mom, you need to rest and enjoy yourself, but are you wasting important time on useless tasks that actually bring more stress to your life?
Using the priority quadrant is a great way to work out which tasks in your life should take priority. You can learn more about priority quadrants here.
18. Be Present So You Can Be Productive
Learning how to be present can help you to be way more productive because you’re able to evaluate what you’re doing well, and what you need to improve upon.
19. Multitasking
Some research shows that multitasking can be one of the worst things we can do for both productivity and the execution of great work. But, hello motherhood – how on earth can we NOT multitask…
So in my opinion, I believe there is a way to multi-task that is to our advantage and doesn’t interfere with productivity or doing things half-ass.
And that is, multitask two items – one that doesn’t consume much brain power with the other that you really are focusing on. Examples are:
- Take advantage of your commute. I am not saying driving doesn’t take brain power, but instead of listening to the radio or talk shows that have no benefit to you, listen to a podcast or book while you drive. You can also make your drive time when you schedule phone calls.
- Another thing you can do while listening to a podcast, audiobook, or talk on the phone is laundry, dishes, and/or cleaning! Take advantage of that time that a lot of us dread, and make it more enjoyable.
- While you are cooking dinner, start that ongoing grocery list. You are in the kitchen already so make use of the time and see in real time what you need from the store.
- Start laundry, put away dishes, tidy up, or make phone calls while your child is contained in their high chair eating
20. Choose Happiness Now
It is easy to get caught up in our goals and feel we aren’t getting there quickly enough. However, one of the most powerful quotes I have ever heard is, ‘when you’re happy for a particular reason, you are still in misery because that reason can be taken from you tomorrow.’
We have to be happy and have a good life now if we ever want to get where we want to go – improving our time management included.
There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path. Thank you, Buddha.
We need to learn to stop chasing happiness. It’s blinding us from the many blessings of the present. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out the next thing that will make us happy, but not nearly enough time focusing on enjoying the life we already have.
I know the stressors and feelings of lack of time…and when you do get a minute, where should I be putting my energy because I can make that phone call or fold the laundry or make an activity to do or prep this or do that or take a minute to just be… I get it, we are always pulled in so many directions and I hope these tips gave you some ways to take back control of some of your time.
*Affiliate Disclaimer: I only ever endorse products or programs that I have personally used and benefited from. This post may contain affiliate links which means I’d receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using my links. If you do make a purchase – thank you for helping to support my family through my blog!
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