The One Tool I Use as a Stay-At-Home Mom

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It’s so easy to get sidetracked and disorganized as a busy mom. When you’re focused on keeping the house clean and making dinner and just keeping the kids from being monkeys, who has time for anything else?!? But following routines for moms and creating a plan for your day as a stay-at-home mom is one of the best things you can do.

Your day should be simple. After all, as a mom, you’re supposed to have time to enjoy your family and make wonderful memories (and maybe even write a sentence or two in the baby book).

But it’s a little hard to make wonderful memories when you’re tripping over wall-to-wall Hot Wheels and squishing crushed Cheerios between your toes, right?!?

So how do you find time to keep the squished Cheerios swept up and the laundry folded and the kids on time to preschool when you can barely manage to make it through the day with your sanity intact and your kids still alive?

Maybe you’ve heard of time blocking but always thought it was just something that CEOs use to organize their day. Or maybe you used it at work to keep track of your meetings.

But in the home? Seriously?

Yep! Time blocking has seriously saved my day, even as a stay-at-home mom. Some days I think it’s the only thing keeping me sane. 😉 Let me show you how.

Create a “Stay at Home plan”

Time blocking allows you to schedule everything in your day and easily create a plan for your day. You’ll be more productive, and you’ll always be able to see exactly what you need to do.

Maybe you’ll even have time to sweep up those Cheerios!

Start by having a few basic goals for the day (try to stick to three or fewer), and plan your day around those.

Whether your goals are taking your son to the doctor, changing the sheets, or finally finishing the weekly cleaning, plug them into your day so that you have a solid plan.

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Related Reading: 4 Things to Include in Your Day as a Stay-at-Home Mom

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See how much time you actually have

Especially if you struggle with estimating how much time things take, time blocking will help you estimate and plan a realistic schedule.

If you know that you need to run errands, but you also want to go to toddler time at the library and still make it home to get your son off the bus, write everything down in your planner and estimate the amount of time that each task will take.

Add in drive time, and you’ll be able to see exactly how much time you have and whether your daily plan is realistic.

If you need help figuring out exactly how much time to budget for your activities, try my free morning routine template. I use it to plan my morning routine, but it works perfectly for planning any activity when you have lots of moving parts.

Stay focused

Have you ever started a task, only to get distracted and start another… and another… until you forgot what you were supposed to be doing in the first place?

Me, too!

Time blocking can help with that!

Once you start time blocking, you’ll be better about getting the important things done (and remembering exactly what you’re supposed to be doing).

I’m still not perfect, like those times when I start collecting laundry only to start decluttering toys in my kids’ rooms, but at least I have my time blocked planner to remind me of what I really should be doing. 😉

If you get distracted? You can always check your planner to get back on track.

View upcoming appointments

How many times have you made an appointment, only to completely forget about it? Or, you remember, but plan something else either right before or after so you end up late….

When you schedule an appointment, write it in your planner immediately. Then, as you get closer to your appointments, you’ll be less tempted to double book yourself.

Also, when you add your appointment to your planner, block out the travel time before and after your appointment so that you don’t accidentally schedule something too close.

Remember your to-do list

A time blocked day is the ultimate to-do list!

By writing things down when they need to be completed, you’ll not only create a reminder for yourself, but you’ll also make sure that your tasks actually get completed.

On those days when you’re trying to do random tasks around the house, block out time to do each task in your daily plan.

However, if you have a separate cleaning plan, don’t try to reinvent the wheel by writing each task down in your planner. Instead, write “weekly cleaning” and block out a chunk of time to actually do your cleaning. However, to make sure that you actually complete everything, make sure you use your cleaning checklist (if you don’t have one, download mine here).

While time blocking is great to use if you have a busy schedule, it can also help for everyday activities around the house. Use time blocking to create a plan for your day, see how much time you have available, keep track of upcoming appointments, stay focused during the day, and remember your to-do list.

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