I’m just going to say it…
Being a stay at home mom is just as hard as being a working mom. I’ve been both so I would know.
Neither one is easy. Each one has its struggles and bottom line is, all moms are just trying to figure out life and life is hard.
I stayed home for 7 months after each of my kiddos were born so I understand how hard it can be to run a home with little ones and still remain sane.
I’ve also worked in the corporate world for over 10 years and am a Director of Operations where systems and time management are non-negotiables.
I know there are even more stay at home moms who are struggling right now with having to take on more than they ever have before.
I wanted to offer some of the time management tips I use both at home and in the workplace that have helped me become a successful employee and mother. These tips can show you how to manage time as a stay at home mom.
We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
How to Manage Time as a Stay at Home Mom
- Find Your Why
- Make Short and Long Term Goals
- Use a Family Command Center
- Always Plan Ahead
- Choose Your Must-Dos for the Day/Week
- Be Intentional Every Day
- Get Ready Every Day
- Wake up Early
- Establish Routines
- Sort and Prioritize Incoming Tasks
- Use Task Batching to Get More Done
- How Time Blocking Can Help Get More Done
- Use a Planner or Calendar
- One Load of Laundry a Day or Laundry Batching
- Enjoy the Fresh Air When you Can
- Prioritize Your Self Care & Health
- Find Your Power Hour
- Give Yourself Grace
- Lower Your Expectations (so others can help!)
- Track Your Screen Time
- Create and Stick to Boundaries
- Learn to Be Flexible
- Involve the Family
- Streamline/Automate Tasks
- Only Multi-Task When it Makes Sense (“Double Dipping”)
- Find Your Village and Lean on Them
1. Find Your Why
If you’ve been around here long enough, you know I always go back to finding your ‘Why’. It’s so important to know why we are pouring all of our energy into areas of our lives. Parenting and home management are no different.
If we understand what drives us to wake up each day and do all the things, we can lean on that during the really tough days. Even stay at home moms need to have a reason for waking up and taking on the day.
Being a mom is so hard and being a stay at home mom can be just as mentally and physically draining as a mom who goes into the office each day. They both have something in common though and that’s that their why must be so strong that it propels them out of bed each morning.
2. Make Short and Long Term Goals
Making goals for stay at home moms is so important. When you have short and long term goals you have a vision and you’re looking to your future. You are looking ahead and building towards that.
This something can be for our families (maybe an overdue vacation) or for ourselves (maybe you want to start a business or buy yourself a fancy new purse). No matter what our goals are, having them and writing them down; keeping them visible is so important to having successful days.
When you know where you’re going, you can plan your days and keep yourself focused.
3. Use a Family Command Center
This was an absolute game changer for me and my family. For a stay at home mom this is where you can keep all the communication for the home in one place.
If there is one quick win you can implement today, it’s to buy a family command center!
This all started when my husband noticed I’d verbally tell him something he needed to remember the next morning, but had no visual management.
He originally purchased a magnetic whiteboard for the fridge (which of course I thought was silly at the time) so we could write notes to one another.
Once I saw the value in it, I started using it every single day. I wrote notes to the hubby, started our shopping list as I noticed we were low on items, and wrote notes to my mom so she knew what to feed the kids for lunch that day.
This little whiteboard eventually couldn’t hold all the items I needed it for and that’s when I stumbled upon family command centers.
I use this thing every day and it’s our central communication hub as a family. If anything important is happening, it’s somewhere on the family command center for all to see.
4. Always Plan Ahead
Planning is so so so important for stay at home moms. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. It’s seriously that simple.
Carve out time each weekend (Sundays are usually good) to sit down and plan out your week. Organize the important things and fit those items into your schedule.
It doesn’t matter how great you are at getting tasks done, if you don’t organize all the things you have to get done, something will get missed.
5. Choose Your Must Dos for the Day/Week
I can’t stress this enough…creating a very short list of ‘Must Dos’ for the day or week is such a game changer for stay at home moms. When you plan your week out, you should pick no more than 3 things that absolutely must get done that week.
This helps you prioritize what is most important and builds a foundation for the week. All other items/tasks should work around your ‘Must Dos’.
This is a great way to start prioritizing because if one of your must dos is going to take a whole day, well, now you can write that down and plan around it.
These items are things you can not miss. If tasks have a deadline, these are perfect must dos to add.
Once you’ve established your must dos, all other items are planned around these. If you don’t get to certain tasks through the week, those may become must dos for the following week.
Tasks that are not important will fall off and those that are important will get done.
6. Be Intentional Every Day
One huge game changer I’ve found has been to set your intentions for each day. This gets you out of any funk you’ve been in and it ensures your day will be as awesome as you want it to be.
One great way of doing this is writing down 3 things you are grateful for each morning. I read the other day that doing this for 21 days straight will convince your brain you are happy. Now, who wouldn’t want to feel happy through reflection on all the things you have in life?
Sometimes we need a reality check that most of our problems aren’t going to break us. We are stronger than we think.
Another great tool is the act of reading positive affirmations out loud each morning. I use an app called “Motivation” on my iPhone and it shows a new motivational quote a few times throughout the day. I absolutely love it and highly recommend using these quotes as your positive affirmation each morning.
Saying these out loud is the key. If you have very specific things you need to remind yourself of on a daily basis, use those and say them each morning until you truly believe them.
Here are some great positive affirmations to get your started:
7. Get Ready Every Day
We’ve all heard this before. If you get up and get dressed, you feel better. When you look good, you feel good.
Now, whatever your definition is of looking good, shoot for that. We don’t all need full-on professional makeup sessions every day to look and feel good about ourselves. But I’m also sure that rolling out of bed in those amazingly comfy sweatsuit outfits isn’t going to make us feel like superstars either.
Shoot for feeling good as the result. However you get there isn’t really the important thing, the result of you feeling like the damn rockstar mama you are is the goal.
You do you, mama, but feel good during the process!
8. Wake up Early
Regardless if your power hour is in the morning or not, waking up before the rest of the household even as a stay at home mom is a great way to knock some things out; especially those items when being interrupted by kids can throw you off.
Although I am back at work, I still wake up even earlier so I can get a few things done like hitting the Peloton for a quick ride, cleaning up any leftover messes in the kitchen, prepping kids lunches, and some morning affirmations/daily gratitude reflection.
I know this can be super hard to do and there are days I sleep in (like today!), but if I can be consistent even 4-5 days a week, I can tackle quite a bit more!
9. Establish Routines
Morning routines and evening routines are really great ways to ensure certain things get done every single day. You can modify these routines to make them fit your needs for your family, but consistency is key.
When we build in routines, it’s easier to know what is possible to get done in a day. When we just wing it, we aren’t sure what will and what will not get done each day. Build routines where it makes sense and stick to them! Adjust them over time, but keep them a part of your every day life.
10. Sort and Prioritize Incoming Tasks
Now this is something I’ve learned in my career, but stay at home moms can benefit from this technique as well.I keep this same copy on my desk at work to help me sort incoming requests every day.
As tasks get piled on to your plate, sort them using the below method. This will help you tackle the urgent items, but put off those that are not worth your attention in the moment.
11. Use Task Batching to Get More Done
Another great way to save time as a stay at home mom is to group similar tasks together and save them until you can do all of them at once.
For example, if you need to fill out paperwork for school registration, sports registration and refinance paperwork, do all of those at the same time.
Once you’re in a certain mode, you become more efficient as you do the same thing over and over rather than splitting up similar tasks over time.
12. How Time Blocking Can Help Get More Done
Time blocking is a technique used to carve out chunks of your day with certain goals to get done during that time block.
You don’t necessarily have an order to get those items done, but all of the items must get done in the specified time block.
For example, you block out the morning half of your day to clean the house, do one load of laundry, and organize your closet.
With time blocking, there’s a bit more flexibility and you focus on the end goal in mind, not the path to get there.
This method works well for people who want to focus on the end goal, but get overwhelmed by very structured plans.
13. Use a Planner or Calendar
Whether you prefer a paper planner or digital calendar, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re using something to plan your days and weeks out.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a tool to make the planning process possible.
I prefer both actually. I like to write things down on paper that need to be done that day/week, but I like to keep recurring items (like auto-debit bills) or tasks I need a reminder of (a dentist appointment tomorrow) on my digital calendar (Google Calendar).
This is totally a preference thing, but having a tool is a non-negotiable in my opinion. If you aren’t writing (or typing) things down, they just don’t get done.
14. One Load of Laundry a Day or Laundry Batching
Laundry…my dreaded enemy. If there was one task I could never do again, it’s laundry. I’m sure I’m not alone.
I’ve had to learn to make laundry work for me.
Now, if you are someone who likes to keep up with laundry every day, then make this part of your routine and do one load a day.
If you’re like me and want to only do this dreaded task once a week, use laundry batching to get your laundry done.
I actually timed myself to see how long it takes me to do all my laundry for the week in one day.
50 MINUTES!!!
The key here is batching similar tasks…here’s a quick breakdown:
- Have laundry baskets for light and darks; this helps get the family to “pre-sort” your laundry without them even knowing.
- Clear a large area (I use our bed) so as each load is dry, you fold all the load and sort the clothes into the rooms they will go to. Put all socks in one pile, all items to hang in another.
- Once all loads are folded, match all socks and organize those.
- Use the quick hanger method by stacking your hangers in one pile, putting a hanger into the top item then folding it down. Repeat until all items for hanging are done. Organize those into the room piles.
- Put away all items at once by room.
Need help with a cleaning routine? Check out these articles:
How to Clean Your Home with Zone Cleaning
17 Habits of Productive Women Who Always Have Clean Homes
How to Clean INSIDE Your Oven Glass Door
How to Keep a Clean House with Kids (even when you’re tired!)
Home Management: The Complete Guide to Systems at Home
15. Enjoy the Fresh Air When you Can
The outdoors can do so much for our mental health and all stay at home moms need to pay attention to how they’re feeling both physically and emotionally. Even if you aren’t going for a walk or run, being in the sun can help get you that much needed Vitamin D and put you in a better mood.
Create a place in your backyard where you can have lunch outdoors with the kids, paying the bills, reading a book, etc.
Even getting outside to show the kids how to garden is a great way to elevate your mood. Any outdoor activity is great for the mind and body so get outside and move even if it’s just 15 minutes!
16. Reward Yourself
You work hard as a stay at home mom and guess what? Rewards work to form habits!
If you’re struggling to create routine in your home or build healthy habits, use the 21 day habit rule and reward yourself when you have successfully implemented something into your home management.
Even something as small as a warm bath interrupted, or a box of chocolate (this would totally be mine!) can help reinforce the habit you are trying to build.
17. Prioritize Your Self Care & Health
Stay at home moms tend to always put the household’s needs above their own. They view home management as their contribution to the family and their family comes first.
However, if you aren’t putting yourself first, your mental and physical wellbeing can be severely impacted. Prioritizing self-care is not selfish. If anything it’s selfless because you need to make sure you’re in a good place to take care of your family and home.
When you’re feeling good about yourself and your health, it truly impacts all areas of your life.
It’s also a great thing for your kids to see their mom taking care of themselves and respecting themselves enough to put their needs first.
18. Find Your Power Hour
We are all more productive naturally during certain times of the day. Use that to your advantage. For me, I am definitely more of a morning person when it comes to getting things done so I choose to wake up extra early to tackle things built into my morning routine.
This means my evening routine is a bit more laid back because that’s when my brain is done for the day and I am only effective at things like cleaning where I don’t need as much brainpower.
If you’re more effective at night, wait until the kids go to bed and bust out all the important things then.
19. Give Yourself Grace
We are hardest on ourselves, but we need to learn that no one is perfect. We do our best and that’s all we can hope for. Of course, I do believe in hard work setting high expectations, but don’t make yourself sick in the process or beat yourself up. It’s not worth it.
Ignore all the social media perfection. It’s not all real and it isn’t helping when you compare yourself to another person’s highlight reel. Seriously, it’s not healthy and when you do this you’re not even comparing yourself to realistic expectations.
Do yourself a favor and tune all of that out and focus on yourself as a mom, partner, friend, daughter, but most importantly, a human.
20. Lower Your Expectations (so others can help!)
This was something I had to learn early on as a new mom. You need to learn that by lowering your expectations, you leave room for others in the family to help and also, learn.
My husband may not do things the way I would do them, but guess what? That shit is done. And done is better than perfect.
Another great opportunity here is letting your kids help. I read this great article that touches on getting your kids involved in helping the household early on.
Since I’ve read the article, I’ve not once said no to help from my 5 year old daughter. She’s done the dishes several times on her own and has fun doing it. Do I have to re-wash some of them? Sure! But, does it teach her valuable lessons and did most of them get clean? Yes!!!
So win, win for everyone here if you’re just willing to lower those expectations a bit!
21. Track Your Screen Time
Do you even realize how much time you spend on your phone that could be spent on other things that are more important?
I started tracking my screen time on the Screen Time iPhone app and the results were a bit terrifying.
This put things into perspective and showed me that when I feel like I don’t have time, I actually do and I’m just prioritizing it somewhere else.
Watch where you spend your time and truly be honest with yourself. I almost guarantee you can find extra time when you take a hard look at where that time is going right now.
22. Create and Stick to Boundaries
If you’re the type of person who says yes to everyone because you’re a people pleaser, I totally get it. But guess what? Every time you say yes to someone else’s priority, you’re saying no to one of yours if they don’t align.
Learn to create boundaries that work for you as a mom and for your family.
I’ve set a hard rule that if someone asks me to do something with less than a week’s notice, I give myself the ability to say no without feeling guilty.
And I openly share this rule with friends and family. They all know I’m a planner and that last minute things although can be fit in, may not make the cut. They respect that and it works for me and my family.
23. Learn to Be Flexible
Now of course, on the flip side, we need to learn to be flexible when things come up. Life is not always going to go smoothly and we need to be ok with change.
Although you may do your best to plan out the perfect week so you can get all the things done, you also need to prepare for last minute room mom duties, or sports schedule changes, or last minute homework assignments.
It’s ok, we got this. Just plan a bit of cushion into your weeks/days so you don’t have to stress out when something important comes up.
Must dos still get done, but other tasks that aren’t as important can be moved to the next week to fit in changes.
24. Involve the Family
Ask for help when you need it and expect help from the entire family.
This is especially important when kids are young. The younger the better. As soon as they show interest in helping, let them! This is when they think helping mom and dad is cool and they enjoy learning.
Ask your partner for help when things are tough as well. Don’t be afraid to delegate some of the tasks that need to get done that week to them.
Find tasks that are easy to delegate and that anyone can do. It may not be a huge deal to someone else, but it’s saving you time to do other important things.
25. Streamline/Automate Tasks
If you don’t have your bills on auto-pay, that is definitely something to consider.
I have a spreadsheet that I keep my monthly budget on and I break down when bills are due and how much money is coming in during the same timeframe. I break it down by the first and second half of each month.
This shows me if my bills are balanced compared to our incoming money and allows me to time the auto-pay bills just right.
This helps me set all my bills on auto-pilot including all my savings accounts and I don’t have to worry if there will be enough money in each account.
If there are any other tasks that can be automated, like recurring tasks on your calendar, set those up so you aren’t worrying about routine tasks.
26. Only Multi-Task When it Makes Sense (“Double Dipping”)
Multitasking has been proven to not be effective in most situations. However, where multitasking can be effective is when you’re not using your brain as much to get things done. For example, I like to double dip in the mornings when I’m getting ready.
I like to do my makeup and hair while I’m listening to an audiobook or podcast or sometimes even binge watching a Netflix show. This is my form of self-care and it doesn’t take me any extra time because I already have to spend that time getting ready.
27. Find Your Village and Lean on Them
We all need support no matter if you’re a stay at home mom or a working mom. Bottom line is we’re all moms and that #momlife is hard.
Find that community that you can lean on when times are tough outside of your home. Whether it’s family members, friends, or a support group, find your tribe.
Offer help where you can and eventually when you need some extra help, those people will be there for you just as you were for them.
It’s ok to need help and it’s ok to ask for help.
Example Stay At Home Mom Daily Schedule
Use this sample stay at home mom daily schedule to build a schedule that works for you and your family. Feel free to use this exact one and then tweak it over time as you find what works best for you.
Example Stay at Home Mom Morning Schedule
- 5:00 Wake-up
- Daily affirmations
- Exercise/Meditation
- Coffee time
- Read a book
- Podcast/Netflix while getting ready
- 7:00 Kids Wake-Up/Breakfast
- Breakfast time (some can be prepped during your evening routine the night before)
- 7:30 Clean
- Unload the dishwasher
- Clean up from breakfast
- Start a load of laundry
- Kids make beds
- Kids brush teeth & get dressed
- 8:00 School Drop Offs
- 8:30 Educational Time at Home for Younger Kids
- Activity books
- Painting, coloring, playdough, etc.
- Baking/cooking prep for dinner
- Move laundry to dryer
- 10:00 Outdoor Time
- Go for a family walk or to the park
- 11:00 Free Time
- Free play in their room/living room
- Free play with siblings or independent play
- Batch laundry folding/organization
- 11:30 Lunch Prep
- Clean up time for the kids
- Make lunch
Example Stay at Home Mom Mid-Day Schedule
- 12:00 Lunch
- Eat
- Clean up
- Put load of laundry away or start a new load for batching
- 1:00 Nap Time
- Quiet time for older kids who don’t nap (screen time or independent play)
- Free time for mommy
- 2:00 Snack Time
- Clean up from snack time
- Rotate laundry if needed
- 3:30 Clean up time
- Have the kids clean up most of the messes made, but can focus on one area of play
- 4:00 Dinner
- Have the older kids help prep dinner
- Finish cleaning up the house
Example Stay at Home Mom Evening Schedule
- 5:30 Dinner with the Family
- 6:30 Final Clean Up
- Have older kids help clean up after dinner (make sure the tasks are age-appropriate)
- 7:00 Bedtime Routine Begins
- Chores
- Baths/brush teeth
- Books
- Family wind down time
- 8:00 Bedtime for Kiddos
- 8:15 Mommy and Daddy Free Time
- Woot woot, you made it! Finish up anything you couldn’t during the day and focus on me time as well.
- 10:00 Bedtime
Hopefully you now have a few tools for How to Manage Time as a Stay at Home Mom. Just remember, life is hard, but you can do hard things.
Build a routine and schedule that works for you and your family. Adjust what isn’t working and keep going with what is working. It’s all about being flexible and remaining consistent.
Please share your time management tips on how you manage time as a stay at home mom in the comments below! I’d love to see what’s working for you and where you may need more help.
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