How to manage your time as a mom

Time management tips for stay-at-home moms.

These are my top tips on how to manage your time as a mom, from a non-type-A mom.

I'm NOT a traditional "type A" personality type. Literally you guys, most of my life, you couldn't see the floor in my room.

Naturally, I'm not an organized person. I'm your typical middle child/ go-with-the-flow kinda gal. But after becoming a mom, I realized structure and planning actually help me SO much. If I don't have a plan or schedule to my days, I tend to waste a lot of time, get exhausted from decision fatigue, and wish I spent the day differently.

I either wish I got more things done than I did, or I wish I spent more time with my kids.

But, with these time-management tips I'm sharing, I am so much more intentional with my time!

Wake up before your kids do

OKAY, before you exit this page..hear me out.

It doesn't have to start out as a 5 am alarm clock. Maybe, for starters, you just wake up 10 minutes earlier than you are right now. I am TELLING YOU. Getting time to yourself and developing a morning routine before your kids are up is an absolute game changer. The way you start your day HIGHLY effects the way the rest of your day goes.

Don't worry- your morning routine doesn't need to be productive, unless you want it to be!

Even if it's just to drink your coffee alone, you'll feel so much more ready to show up for your day once the kids are up. And, you will statistically end up being way more productive in your day.

If you're having a hard time adjusting to waking up any earlier than you do, try to start by setting your alarm 15 minutes earlier than you normally wake up. Then, every few days just set it another 15 minutes earlier. Before you know it, you'll become addicted to the time you get before the kids are up, I promise!

Pro-tip: Give yourself something to look forward to when you wake up early. A matcha latte (my personal fav), a warm cup of coffee or tea, or reading the book you've been obsessing over. Waking up to something enjoyable is such good motivation to get out of bed instead of pressing the snooze button. I look forward to my mornings when I'm going to sleep, and I used to hate waking up early! It's possible for everyone, I promise.

Have a plan

Whether you plan your day the morning of, the night before, or the month before- having a plan for your day is KEY to making the most of your time. Again, making the most of your time isn't all about productivity. Making the most of your time is also about embracing the fleeting childhood our kids are in right now! The days are long, the years are short they say. I want to soak in every minute!

When I wake up with zero plans for my day, I tend to waste a lot of time.

Your plan for your day doesn't need to cram in as much as possible. But some type of structure and vision for your day will serve you and your family SO well. There's a time management method that is perfect for moms- it's called time blocking!

Time blocking is a productivity tool to manage your time. It's dividing your day into blocks of time, and dedicating that time to specific tasks. Have you ever set a timer for fifteen minutes and tried to get as much kitchen cleaning done as possible? It's kind of like that!

Time blocking helps you focus on one thing at a time, and it also gives yourself a limit to how long you're going to take on that task. Think about the mornings you have to get somewhere early- how much you get done in such a smaller period of time than you do when you have if there wasn't a time limit! When you time block, you are going to make so much more use of your windows of time because the time is limited and intentional.

What I love about time blocking is that it's not all about being productive. Time blocking also helps you make time for what REALLY matters to you. When you time block, for example, you can protect your precious time with your kids through blocking out time that is spent solely and intentionally with them. When you know that you have a time block for housework later, you don't need to worry about getting that done when you are playing with your kids!

Plan meals (and snacks)

Seriously, having a game plan for meals and snacks with kids gives your brain such a rest from the daily decision fatigue.

There is something so stress-free to knowing exactly what my plans are for every meal and snack for the day, instead of deciding as I go. When I know what I'm making the kids and myself for lunch or snacks, I don't have to take a lot of time figuring it out, which frees me a ton of extra minutes to my day. I also am not spending my day exhausted from all the decisions I have to make! With time blocking and meal plans, my day is decided for me ahead of time. This helps me live my "go-with-the-flow" personality out!

Please not- I am not saying you have to be super rigid on this part. But I do feel with young kids, that having a rhythm to when we eat is helpful. My kids are at those ages right now where, if I let them, they would ask me for snacks the ENTIRE day.

Instead, I try to give them a hardy breakfast to fill their bellies when they get up. Then, a nutritious snack around 10 am. We wait to eat again until lunch around noon or 1. I do one more snack between lunch and dinner.

If I didn't have boundaries around meal and snack times, I would be in my kitchen the entire day just making people food and cleaning up. How many of you have been there? Haha and the moms say "amen".

Plus, when kids have natural structures and flow to their days that are predictable, it actually benefits their development!

Plan your rest

If you don't have space in your day and week to mentally and physically rest, you will burn out.

Motherhood has shown me that I'm more introverted than I realized. Honestly, I used to think I was an extrovert! Then, I had kids, and never was alone. It showed me that I NEED to be alone multiple times a day. I also can't have plans with other people impacting majority of my week. I need time alone with my kids, somewhere outside, to just hangout and not talk to anyone else.

Maybe rest for you looks like coffee with a friend. Or maybe it looks like a hot pilates class. I don't know what fuels you, but you need to make space for it as much as possible.

The more rest you give your soul and body as a mom, the better you can show up for your family. Investing time into yourself, is investing time into them. Your time will be more quality, meaningful, and you'll be the best version of yourself. As cliche as that sounds, lol.

So get out a notebook, and write down the things that energize you. Plan out your week and make sure those specific things are sprinkled throughout!

Be flexible

Time-management does not have to be rigid and uptight. Being flexible is so important as a mom! Moods, weather, and health are all daily changing factors as a mom.

Maybe one of your kids needs extra cuddles that morning. You can, and should always make space for that. Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do, is be unproductive.

Doing nothing, is often just as important as doing it ALL.

You can still be the fun, spontaneous mom even with some time-management skills. You can time-block three hours for whatever adventures the kids want to go on. You can make your target trip 2 hours instead of 30 minutes. You don't have to squeeze as much as possible into your day, you just want to fill it with the right things.

In conclusion

You don't have to be type-A or ultra structured to manage your time better as a mom. You just have to think and plan ahead a little! I promise, having a vision for your days and weeks, will give you a vision for your life.

Right now, their childhood is happening. These days go by quickly, as they truthfully say, so our time is precious.

What kind of childhood do you want for them? What do you want them to remember your home feeling like? What do you want to feel like in this season?

I'm guessing, being overwhelmed and clutter-brained and scattered isn't the answer to any of those questions. So I'm here to encourage you, to try these tips! I'm learning alongside you and growing every day.

And, I'm proud to say, you can see the floor of my room now.

Most days 😉

From my home to yours, Keri