Organization Tips for Busy Moms
How I stay organized as a stay at home mom and full time student comes down to plenty of planning. While it’s a lot of work, I love that I get to take care of my baby and take college classes simultaneously.You may be in the same boat, either as a mom plus a student, or a mom who works from home. Regardless of your situation, I hope you find these tips helpful, and can adapt them to your specific needs. I am going to share about three main areas: Schedule and Events, Home, and Work/School with my top tips to keep each area organized. Let’s go!
Schedule and Events
Have a Weekly Planning Session
Once a week, I set aside about an hour of my time to fill in my planner with important dates, meal plans, and my study schedule. This is so the rest of the week, I am not constantly wondering what I have to do each day.
This hour also helps me see if I actually have the time to accomplish what I need to do that week. Do I need additional child-care, because I have a big exam? Do I need to plan additional meals for company? Do I need to set aside more time to clean? If I plan ahead in one session (or at least on one day) I get an overview of my week which allows me to see the big picture. This also helps me from getting overwhelmed with tasks, or forgetting them later on.
Choose Your Planner
Having a visual for your schedule is the key to being organized. The one you choose is up to you! It could be the calendar app on your phone, a wall calendar in your home, Google Calendar, or a physical planner.
I use a Bloom Planner to keep track of my schedule. I love this planner because there are spaces for goals, visions, to-do lists, and everyday events. It makes it easy to get an overview of the month or week, then fill in daily tasks. I check this planner daily and track everything, from Dr. appointments, to class schedules, visits, and spending time with friends.
In addition, my husband and I have a joint calendar on the iPhone calendar app. We add events to this calendar throughout the day to keep them organized. That way, if we forget to tell the other about an event coming up, it’s right there where we both can see it.
Home
Meal planning and shopping
My husband and I do an equal amount of cooking (actually he probably cooks more than I do).In The iPhone notes app, we have a shared note for grocery lists and meal plans. During the week, we can add individual items and meal ideas to the list. During my weekly planning hour, I finalize the meals for the week, create a grocery list, and put in an order for Walmart pickup (a life saver when you have a baby!).
Cleaning
Even if you like cleaning, you probably don’t want to spend all day doing it. You can have a clean house without spending hours on it. Start by writing yourself a chore list. This does not need to be anything fancy– a list in your planner, a slip of paper, or your notes app. You can click the button below to print the one I use! Make a list of daily tasks that YOU need to do to feel comfortable in your space. Everyone has a different standard for “clean”. Choose the tasks that, when finished, help you feel at peace in your home. My daily tasks are:
- Make my bed
- Pick up clothes off the floor
- Unload and reload dishwasher
- Pick up living and dining area
My weekly tasks include:
- Vacuum, sweep, mop the floors
- Laundry- wash and dry
- Laundry- fold and put away
- Meal plan, shop, prep
- Wash bed sheets
- Clean bathroom
Work and School Tasks
Balancing mom life with work or school does not have to be impossible. Create a schedule, plan ahead, and find help when you need it. Planning ahead is the key to spending more time accomplishing tasks, and less time wondering how you’re going to get everything done.
Homework schedule
During your weekly planning time, make a list of all assignments due that week with due dates. I use Trello, a free scheduling app, for my homework. In this app, you can create boards and lists on each board.Then you can add tasks to those lists. For example, I have a board for college. I make one list titled DUE THIS WEEK, and one list for each day of the week. I add all of my assignments onto DUE THIS WEEK, then add specific tasks to different days. Then, when it’s time to study, I just go to the app and see what I need to accomplish that day. This saves SO much time, and prevents me from scrambling to figure out what I am doing that day. This means less time stressed, and more time with my baby!
Time Blocking
When are you going to accomplish those tasks? You need write down specific times in your planner. I have 2-3 blocks of time each day that I know will be dedicated to getting school done. When the time comes, I settle into my workspace, open my schedule, and simply do those tasks for the day.
I found that I can accomplish many of my tasks during my baby’s nap time. In addition, I have a babysitter come watch her three times a week, for a total of six hours. This takes the pressure off trying to squeeze all my tasks into nap times or in the evenings. I don’t have to worry I will get behind on homework, knowing I already have time set aside to study.
Don't Forget to be Flexible
What? But we just spent all this time talking about schedules! Yes. Planning a ahead helps you stay organized, but it’s not meant to keep you from living life. If you are a mom, interruptions are pretty much a guarantee. There will be days your house is messy, and you have no time to clean it. That’s ok. Do your best. There will be days when the baby doesn’t nap. That’s ok. Be there for your baby. Let these plans and schedules serve you, not the other way around.
I hope these tips on how I stay organized as a stay at home mom were helpful to you. Let me know in the comments how you stay organized!
Being organized is so important! I love these tips. I also love the fact that you have a babysitter a few times a week to focus on school, I wish I had thought of that back then!
For time blocking, I also use the Focus mode on my phone to block Facebook, IG, Pinterest, Messenger, and any other app that could potentially make me lose my focus (I have a short attention span… Focus mode works wonders for me!)
that’s a great tip; i’ll have to try it. Thank you for sharing!
When I was working in the office I felt so much more organized. Now that I’m working remotely due to covid I love your tips for blocking times to get not only my work done but to schedule time to keep my house running. I love my work life balance working from home as it empowers me to get much more done rather sitting in commute traffic. Great tips thank you for sharing.
These tips are AMAZING! I’m have a planner that I just got, I just haven’t written a THING in it yet! I’m going to take your advice and intentionally set aside time to fill it out every week. You had so many good tips that I want to incorporate! I’ll be back to check out any other great tips you may have! Thanks 😊
Beautifully written! I love to be organized and do follow a lot of what you have mentioned. Following the plan is one of the top in my list..