how to get more done as a stay at home mom

Hey Mama, have you ever felt like your to-do list is never ending, and you never have enough time to get  everything done? Have you ever wondered how to get more done as a stay at home mom? Me too. As a self-employed, homesteading, stay-at-home mother of 3, I am totally familiar with the feeling of never having enough time. As mothers, we hold the weight of our family’s world on our shoulders every single day. Our husband, children, home, meals, animals, social obligations and much more call to us with their needs. I don’t even think I need to mention how our own needs often fall to the back burner. Yet, we have the same 24 hours to work with as everyone else.

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I’ve Been There Too.

With each new child, business, and phase of personal growth I have swam through the drowning waves of overwhelm. By God’s grace I have learned to adapt, set into place, and make boundaries that have allowed me to emerge on the other side of the overwhelm a more seasoned mother capable of more than I ever imagined I could be. In this post, I am going to lay out for you all of my tips that will show you how to get more done as a stay at home mom. 

Identifying the problem:

Why does it seem like some people can get so much done in a day? We all have the same 24 hours, what is the secret to their success?

Time management is the key for how to get more done as a stay at home mom. Being able to identify your time wasting tendencies will help you be able to manage your time better, giving you more time than I ever thought you could have. 

Implementing The Solution:

For easy reference, I am going to lay out all of my time-savings tips in a way that I hope will make sense, and help you identify where you could manage your time better.

First I will explain the issue. Second, I will explain the solution. Hopefully this format will be easy to follow, allow you to implement the solutions into your own life, and show you how to get more done as a stay at home mom.

The Bright Side:

If you identify with one or more of these issues, there is a bright side! Seeing places for improvement means you do actually have time somewhere in your days that you can learn to manage well. If you don’t identify with any of these issues and have completely optimized how every second of your day is spent, there would be very little room for improvement or extra time! 

How to get more done as a stay at home mom:

Problem: No Defined Goals

Without defined goals, there is a lack of motivation because we don’t have any defined level of achievement.  There is also a feeling of hopeless un-ending things to do because there is no direction to what we are doing or where we are going. There’s no feeling of accomplishment for reaching goals we don’t set.

Solution: Set Defined Goals

Setting defined goals is the foundational structure for making your to-do lists and setting your schedule/routine. Without the direction of the main goals you are trying to achieve that day, week, or year, it is much harder to create those to-do lists and routines because there is no larger goal in mind. You won’t achieve goals you don’t set. Possibly worse, you’ll live with overwhelm and guilt. Feeling like you never accomplish anything. Preferably with a partner, (either your husband, a sibling, or friend) set for yourself some goals.

1. 5 Year goals
2. Year goals
3. Monthly goals
4. Weekly goals
5. Daily goals
   

You need this goal structure in order to achieve these goals in a timely manner that isn’t overwhelming. The 5 year goals are optional, all of the other goals you should regularly be setting and revisiting. In the “Make a List” solution below, I explain how I incorporate my goal setting into my daily life so that I achieve the goals I set out to accomplish every day, week, month and year.

Problem: No Focus

Not having a general focus can certainly add to our to-do list without us even noticing. If it were only up to me, I would have 200 hobbies completely unrelated to each other. I am just a free spirited creative person, I always have been. I pick something up, lose interest,  start something new, and so on. As stay at home wives we can sometimes get lost in whatever activity calls to us that day and lose a general focus of what we are hoping to achieve that day, week, or even year. 

Solution: Make A List

Creating simple lists can tremendously help with keeping a focus on our daily tasks and goals. I keep 4 kinds of lists that I review daily and weekly.

1. Annual Goals
2. Monthly Goals
3. Weekly Goals
4. Daily Tasks

I have 2 different notebooks. One for the annual and monthly goals, and one for the weekly goals and daily tasks.

Goals List Structure:

1.I review my annual goals at the beginning of the month to decide what to add to my monthly goals list.

2.I review my monthly goals list when writing my weekly goals list

3. write my daily tasks down every single day to keep me on track

4. I write my weekly goals to the daily task page every single day to remind myself of the larger goals I have set for the week.

Having this list structure allows me to be consistently reminded of my goals and incorporate them into my daily tasks without getting too side tracked on other projects.

Problem: No Routine

As stay at home mom’s we don’t have a defined schedule set into place by someone else like we would in school or at a job. We are solely responsible for creating and being accountable to our own daily routine. If you don’t have any kind of routine in place, you don’t have a guideline for how the day should go, and neither do you kids. You lose a lot of productive time without the structure of a routine.

Solution: Routine & Schedule

Having a routine and setting a schedule are 2 different things. I feel different people benefit differently from both. Personally, have a very hard time keeping to a schedule with 3 young kids. I much prefer having general daily rhythms and a routine set in place where the time of each task is more flexible. This allows me to stay on task with the daily plan, and allows my kids to have structure and stability within their days without being too rigid. I think as moms, we view structure as constricting, but let me change that narrative for you. Within routine, you actually find freedom. Routine is a huge game changer in learning how to get more done as a stay at home mom. Let me explain.

Our Morning Routine:

1. 5:00 Me wake up
2. 5:15 Drink tea/Read bible
3. 5:40 Blog writing/content creation
4. 7:15 Phone put away- Get dressed for day
5. 7:20 Kids wake up, I make breakfast
6. 7:45 Eat breakfast as family
7. 8:00 Family devotion time
8. 8:15 School time
9. 10:00 Chore time
10. 11:00 Prepare dinner/Make lunch while kids play
11. 12:00 Lunch
12. 1:00 Afternoon naps – Phone back out for some work time

This schedule may look extremely rigid to you. While I do assign times, the times set are flexible once the kids wake up. Generally, we are completely done with all school and chores by 10:30/11 even with schedule flexibility. By sticking to a morning routine, it completely opens up our afternoons (guilt free) to anything we would like to do. When I don’t have this routine in place, I get distracted and it takes all day to do just school and chores with the kids, (which should only take til 11am)! I eliminate so much overwhelm, and feel so accomplished when we stick to this routine. My kids also know exactly what to expect from our weekdays, so I have much less struggle with getting them to do their work because they know what is expected. It truly creates so much time in my life to stick to this morning routine.

Problem: Over-consuming media

In this age of social media it might be safe to say most people have a screen addiction issue. Phones have made it far too easy to get sucked into watching other people’s lives, preventing us from living our own. I feel, consuming social media rarely adds value to our own lives. While we can get encouragement, creative ideas, and tips to help us (like this blog) generally, what we end up consuming on the regular basis is often mindless entertainment or someone trying to sell you their product. 

Solution: Setting Media Boundaries

Not all media is bad, in fact, often the screens themselves are not the issue. Setting hard boundaries for ourselves for when and how long we are using our screens is what matters. As a blog writer, and content creator for multiple of our businesses, it is all too easy for me to be picking up my phone every 5 seconds. I have set for myself phone free times throughout the day where I do not pick up my phone for anything except phone calls within those times (which is most of the day that my kids are up for). Setting, and sticking to these hard boundaries has helped me to be more productive, attentive, and has also helped me be more intentional about what I am actually doing on my phone during the set times since the time I use my phone is now limited.

I also have less mom guilt because my kids know if I’m using my phone during the day it is me doing important work, and they don’t see me just picking up my phone all of the time for no reason. I feel I am setting a good example for them of what responsibly using a phone looks like by limiting my own use.

Problem: Lack of accountability

As stay at home wives and mothers we don’t have the built in accountability system that school or a job provides. We don’t have deadlines, quality control, or managers expecting a certain level of quality and efficiency. Our time management and quality of work is almost completely up to our own standards and motivation. Being overtired, overstimulated, or unmotivated can all easily derail our lives and cause us to feel like we’re just floating through the days accomplishing nothing with no one to call us back to focus on our time and responsibilities.

Solution: Accountability partners

 Even as a highly self motivated person I often find myself slacking in certain areas of my life and needing extra motivation to achieve my goals. During these times, I will ask my husband, sisters, or friends to help me be accountable. Multiple times I have started fitness accountability chats to keep myself active when I am out of a regular workout routine. My husband and I will do a bible study together to keep me accountable to studying the Bible. I have never reached out to someone asking them for accountability and been turned down. Most people are willing and even admire the gesture of trying to be accountable. Find yourself an accountability partner or partner(s) for whatever area of your life you are feeling you need a boost of accountability and motivation.

Problem: Not Saying “No”

It is hard to say no. Especially when there are always fun new opportunities to say yes to. But we can’t do everything. Every activity,  every social engagement, even every cleaning task we do at home takes our time and energy. Not saying “no” enough can cause stress, overwhelm, and eventually burnout. 

Solution: Learn To Say No

Can simplifying your life be as easy as saying no? Absolutely. Is it easy to say no? No, it is not. If you are really serious about figuring out how to get more done as a stay at home mom, you need to learn to say no. Having your routine and goals in place, does make it easier to say no. Because you now have some structure behind your time, so you know how much you can fit into your schedule. Some easy questions to figure out if something is a “yes” or a “no”

Is this important?

Is this something I really want to do?

What will the benefit of doing this be?

Is this something I really need to do?

Is this worth the time/effort/money?

Does saying “yes” allow me to stick to my routine and goals?

Does this easily fit into my routine?

Will this stress me out?

These are just ideas of what to ask yourself before giving your answer to whatever the opportunity is. Whether it’s a church obligation, playdate, or extracurricular activity, these questions will help you narrow down the decision if you find it hard to say no.

Did any of these tips help you figure out how to get more done as a stay at home mom?

Do you have any extra tips for: how to get more done as a stay at home mom?

Let me know in the comments down below!

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This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy here.