Being home with kids can be stressful. Whether you work from home or stay at home with kids, it’s important to note the need to manage everyday life with your children. Here you’ll find time management strategies for the overwhelmed mom and how creating a list of everyday tasks can help with time management tips for moms.

Most people assume budgeting yourself has to do with money. What if I told you it means more to budget your time than you do your money?

Money can be replaced, but time is something you will never get back. However, there are ways you can get the most out of the time you have in a day.

Having the right time management skills will help you overcome some of the most terrifying moments in your life, like raising a child without manual to guide you. There are many ways to parent, but you will know what’s best for your family.

How Do Moms Organize Their Lives

Raising kids at home can be tough at first. Once you get a grip on how to make the most out of the time you have with your family, you’ll notice the value in it.

Time management is the process by which you plan and organize your time between different activities throughout the day. Skills that are involved with time management include prioritizing, delegating, decision-making, goal setting, and scheduling.

With a majority of families staying in these days due to the coronavirus outbreak, it’s no surprise that many are facing time management challenges. From wearing too many hats to a number of interruptions throughout the day, it’s easy to feel as though nothing will get accomplished.

Being a parent is a full-time commitment. Adding a work-at-home role to the mix will make you feel as though you’re tipping the scale. Working from home can lead to chaos and frustration, but it doesn’t have to.

Learning ways to cope with the interruptions, distractions, lateness, and (dare I say it), procrastination, is something that will help you overcome the challenges of accomplishing tasks throughout the day.

With a little planning and some time management skills, you can avoid the headaches. Below are five effective time management tips for moms.

How To Manage Time With A Baby

Having a newborn can be exciting and stressful — all at once. It’s nearly impossible to think of how to care for yourself when you’re busy learning how to care for someone else.

Learning the basics on how to manage time with a baby will help you create a foundation on how you work on everyday tasks. It’s all about doing your best to make time for everything.

Focusing on how to manage time with a baby doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, it’ll be messy and overwhelming at times. The best thing about caring for a newborn is how predictable their schedule becomes over time.

Newborns eat, poop, and sleep throughout the day. The best approach to caring for a baby and properly managing tasks is to think of working around your baby’s schedule.

Babies have a routine, and the sooner you pick up on it, the better you’ll be at getting more things done. Think of the essentials you’d like to get done in the day and other things you can leave for before bed or the next day.

Time Management Tips For Stay At Home Moms

Being home with kids can be rewarding. It helps you save money on daycare and gives you the opportunity to experience firsts.

Although it might not seem like a blessing when your child is screaming for you to pick them up for the 100th time in the last hour, it’s worth investing the time to juggle the household chores as well. Here are 5 things to keep in mind when practicing time management for housewife duties.

1. Create a schedule

You can create a schedule that helps you make time for everything on your To-Do list. Having a schedule will come in handy by getting you to save time throughout the day.

From all the moms I’ve been able to chat with on managing their day to day, having a schedule made a difference. Time management for parents is different when you follow a daily/weekly structure.

When you plan your day, you’re giving yourself space to catch your breath. It allows you a break before the next task and helps you focus on other things that may pop up.

2. Have someone you can rely on

When you’re home, family and friends will rely on you for everything. Oftentimes, there’s this belief that because you’re home, you have the time to help others.

Although it might be true that you have time to lend a hand, you should also have someone you can rely on as well.

This can be your partner or a family member. Make sure it’s someone you can trust.

3. Focus on an outlet

How you manage your time is important to finding peace in your day. It also gives you the necessary space to focus on how to recharge your energy.

This can be anything from going for a walk alone or simply getting a moment to listen to music. It’s important that you have that outlet for yourself because it helps you feel less overwhelmed.

4. Link things together

The more you can mix things together into the same timeframe, the better. For instance, if you start working on preparing lunch, think of something you can cook during that time block to minimize the workload later on.

It makes a difference when you link tasks because it helps you find more time to do other things around your home.

5. Skip the unnecessary things

It’s easy to get caught up on wasting away moments you can use for other tasks. One of the things I’ve learned to cut back on is investing too much time online.

By cutting back on social media and checking emails, I’ve been able to rework my schedule for other things I genuinely enjoy doing.

Time Management For Working Parents

Working parents face the reality of having to complete tasks outside of the home and those that require their attention around the clock. Housework alone can be stressful at times, and adding the headaches from the office can become overwhelming.

There are a number of time management strategies for the overwhelmed mom to try. Below are 6 time management tips I give family and friends when they ask for ideas on how to juggle working and managing a household.

1. Time blocking is your friend

Time blocking is one of the most important time management skills. You can dedicate a certain amount of time to just one task every day.

For example, you can set aside 30 minutes to an hour to focus on writing if you’re a mom blogger. Creating an hour block every morning for writing is a great way to cross that off your list.

Blocking out the time to work on tasks is a great way to focus on a certain task. Remembering not to try and tackle anything else during this set period will be a challenge at first, but worth putting the effort.

Slowly turn this habit into a daily one and you’ll start to see the results.

Now, it’s not important to choose the morning slot for this. Mornings work best because it’s the time most people are getting ready to start their day.

It’s a time to set the gameplan for how you will tackle the things on your list.

For at-home working moms, this can help with navigating your child’s routine and other household chores. You’ll want to choose a time slot that suits your family’s lifestyle.

2. Avoid multitasking like no tomorrow

This tip coincides with the first. When you plan to work on something, make sure that’s what you’re doing.

No need to look at your phone, see what notification popped up or to reply to someone’s text.

With the amount of ways to connect with people these days, it’s hard not to be available. Just because your phone is always on, doesn’t mean you need to be.

Make time for the things that matter.

Yes, there will be plenty of time to reply back to that meme from that chat group. Personally, I avoid chat groups because they take up too much time and the notifications get out of hand throughout the day.

Have you ever tried cooking more than one meal at a time and realized something was burning or it didn’t taste as good as the last time you made it?

This happens when you multitask.

When you start multitasking, you lose focus on the importance of the tasks you’re trying to complete. Give each task the attention it deserves.

3. Give everyone their spotlight

One of the top time management tips for moms that I like to give is to focus on those you love. For me it’s my family.

Shining a spotlight on someone means giving them the attention they deserve. If you’re tight on a deadline, then complete the task and set aside time for the people you love.

This includes yourself as well.

How you manage your time says a lot about your relationships. Whether it’s with your partner or your kids, it’s important to make everyone feel loved when they’re around you.

Spending time with your partner, your kids and yourself is important. Sometimes it might feel as though you’re spreading yourself thin.

That’s when you need to take a step back and refocus on the essentials.

If you are spending time with your kids, don’t worry about your work. If you are working, try not to do household chores. I know it’s difficult but at least give it a try.

With time, you’ll notice a change in your more productivity. It has been proven, time and again, that multitasking reduces productivity.

Hence, it’s best to avoid it, as often and when possible!

4. Create a personal schedule

One of the best time management tips for moms is to create a schedule. When you plan ahead, you’re planning to succeed.

Whether or not you get to tackle everything on that schedule doesn’t matter. Tomorrow is a new day.

By creating a set schedule for yourself, you are aware of things that are important, and that matter to you. With a schedule, you’re able to plan for everyday tasks and more.

For instance, if your child takes a nap at a certain time, you’re less likely to plan something to do with them at that time. When your child goes down for a nap, that is your time to focus on something else.

Jot down the time block your child often takes their nap. Make a schedule of how you’d like to spend that time.

When you’re starting out, it’s a good idea to divide your daily tasks into smaller ones. This way you’ll feel more accomplished by the end of the day.

It’s never a good idea to pile on unattainable goals.

5. Delegate tasks like a boss

Delegating tasks to your family helps. If your child is of a certain age and can do chores, then you should have them helping out.

Such small acts would not only help you but will also bring the entire family together.

There are a variety of options out there for the tasks you need to be accomplished. Don’t be afraid to delegate.

It’ll save you time and the headaches.

Coming to the work front, let’s say, you are a blogger. If possible, you can hire a V.A. to help you in blogging related tasks like Pinterest management or creating social media graphics.

If you are not able to afford a permanent V.A.; go for online schedulers. There is a wide range of these, and you can buy the one that fits your budget.

For example, you can invest in Tailwind to schedule your pins. This would free you from manual pinning.

You can go for social media schedulers like Hootsuite or Buffer. These would definitely help you by giving you some extra time to do other important tasks.

6. Take a day off

While working on your schedule, it’s important to set time aside for a day of rest. Taking a break from everyday tasks has proven to be beneficial for families.

If you’re tired, you won’t feel as enthusiastic to take on the next day. You’ll have less energy and nothing will seem to work for you that day.

Believe me, I’ve been there.

Take a day off throughout the week and spend it with your family. We host weekly movie nights and occasional family game nights with the kids.

It helps us bond and a good competition can be exciting for the little ones.

Can We Manage Time

The kids are growing way too fast, and it didn’t hit me until I sat down one day and realized I had been giving my business too much of my time. I would spend a good chunk of my day pitching companies, connecting with other bloggers and trying to perfect my blog.

When I wasn’t online, I was trying to make the house look decent. I say that lightly since I have small kids and two dogs– all of which are very active.

One day, I told myself to that I needed to organize myself. I knew it would help me gain my sanity. I remember looking at my kids and realizing I missed spending time with them. I also thought about overworking on my business was causing me to miss out on creating memories with them.

How I Made Time For Everything With Time Management

You never know how much you need to organize your thoughts until you look at your home. I read somewhere that how your home/office space looks, has a lot to do with how your mind works. If one is cluttered, then so is the other.

In the years that I’ve been running Motherhood Through My Eyes, I can finally say that I’ve got the hang of it. I now know how to juggle my personal and professional life. I’ve shared 5 of the things that I did to improve my juggling act.

1. Wrote down my goals

After telling myself that I needed to make some changes, I jotted them down. I began to focus on my goals, included not only professional goals, but also personal ones.

I began with my number one job: being a full-time mom. Blogging became second, and that was the best decision I had made in a long time.

Dedicating more time to my family meant I’d be able to watch my kids enjoy life a little more, and in return, enjoy them just as much.

2. Shared my goals with close friends

Few people even knew I had a blog until I started sharing posts on Facebook, and even less of them knew I was actually getting paid for the stuff I was sharing. There are a couple of reasons why I didn’t tell anyone, and one of them was that they wouldn’t understand.

When I’m passionate about something, I’ve very cautious with whom I share it with. You’ll be surprised how many people are just waiting to burst your bubble.

Share anyway. Those who care will support you, and they will care to see you succeed.

3. Created my own success point

I joked with my husband that the day I got an all-inclusive hotel stay for the family, that’s when I’d know I’ve “made it”. Of course, this was nothing compared to what others have said their success point would be, but for me, it meant a lot.

I’ve worked with brands I’ve loved for several years and that’s also something to celebrate, right? When I finally reached the success point I had set for myself, it was at a time in my life when I felt at my lowest.

Landing an all-inclusive stay at Balmoral Resort was a wonderful feeling. I’ve planned other stays with the family and look forward to others because it was a great experience for us.

4. Planned ahead

As a business owner, you have to plan for things that are beyond your control, like the time I went into labor with the second child. I had posts scheduled a month or two in advance.

This allowed me to focus on my family and not worry about whether or not I was keeping my blog alive. I still plan ahead today, and have an editorial calendar with features for every month. This helps me organize pitches from companies, and respond with tentative dates.

5. Made real connections

If you feel there is something that might be useful in a pitch or by collaborating with another person, then I say go for it. I stopped entertaining the idea of possibly working with a company, or trying to make something work out of the pitches I received.

It’s okay to turn people and things down. This opens up your path (and time) to something more meaningful.