10 Time Management Tips For Moms To Streamline Your Day

Published by Tammy Tilley at September 4, 2017

10 Time Management Tips For Moms

As a procrastinator & chronically late arriver, here are 10 time management tips for moms I try to practice to make my time and life more manageable.

1. Decide on what the most important tasks of the day are.

We can’t get everything done in one day. Some days, we barely can get two things done. So start with the most important priorities today holds, and go after it. For some of us, the most important task of today is to care for our babies. That’s it. Go for it.

2. Establish a routine or schedule.

A schedule keeps you on track for your day. Frankly, I still use a paper schedule so I can see where I have windows of time. I still get a kick out of marking things off that schedule, too. Then, I combine this step with using my timer, and when I stick to it, I can feel that sense of accomplishment by the end of the day.

3. Break down your tasks into bite-size chunks.

Your goal is to sift through your pile of paperwork, but you also know your child needs to be dropped off at preschool in twenty minutes. So in those twenty minutes, you can lay out the bills and permission slips that need signed.

Last winter my spouse accepted a new job out of the area. We had one month to sell our house, pack, and move to a new town. Working backwards on our calendar, beginning with our last day in our current location, we wrote down a few important tasks that needed to be accomplished each day. We could see visually if we stayed on schedule, we could accomplish what we needed to do, relieving a lot of stress from our lives. It worked!

4. Avoid multitasking.

We may think we’re doing more than one thing at a time, but our brains really can’t handle more than one thing at a time. Focus on what’s in front of you, then let it go and move on to the next. I use the slogan, “Do this first, then do that.”

5. Use your timer.

A friend recently was so overworked at his job, he discovered he had to set his timer in 15-minute increments so he could give attention to all the different pieces around him he was responsible for. Fortunately he didn’t have to live his life this way for very long, but the lesson is if you have to give attention to multiple things in one day, use your timer.

6. Use social media as a reward.

I refer to social media as the black hole. I can tell myself I’m just going to “check” Facebook or Instagram, and 45 minutes later, I’m still posting updates and comments. I have to WILL myself not to use social media until I have accomplished specific tasks.

7. Perform only one or two household tasks each day.

It only takes five minutes to clean a toilet. It may take twenty to clean the entire bathroom. Do what you can when you can, but do only one or two tasks each day.

10 Time Management Tips For Moms To Streamline Your Day Click To Tweet

8. Limit your commitments.

There’s a great book club I want to attend in my new town, but due to my work schedule, I know if I try to add this engagement right now, I will stress.

An acquaintance has set the next three years aside to pursue a PhD. She told me she has limited her social engagements to two times a month and has let go of her civic responsibilities.

It’s hard to say no, but if we want sanity in our lives as well as in our families’ lives, we must limit our commitments. A day will come when an added commitment will feel more manageable.

9. Have a sense of humor.

We can schedule and set priorities and be diligent and try, but there are days where everything goes wrong. On those days, find some humor in it all. Tomorrow is a new day.

10. Take care of yourself.

If your baby is sick and you didn’t sleep, take a nap. Everything else can wait. If you’re hungry, stop and eat. You can’t give energy when you don’t have it, so take care of yourself so you can help care for others.

Do you have any other time management tips for moms? Let us know in the comments!