Do you ever struggle with figuring out how to structure your day as a stay at home mom? I know I have.
I have been on a journey since the beginning of my stay-at-home-mom career to figure out how to create a loose structure for each day. Right now, I’m in the busy-and-difficult- to-occupy-toddler stage. Some days it feels like there are hours of time I need to fill, or that I have no idea what to do with my time. I find that I have a solid morning routine, but things can fall apart in the afternoon if I don’t have a plan for the day.
What helped me was using a simple time block structure for each day was the perfect mix of routine and flexibility. I have a busy unpredictable toddler so planning ahead to avoid dead time is essential. Time blocking works so well because it helps to outline your day, and give you a general idea of what you want to do when, without tying you down to an hourly schedule.
The key is to divide your day into segments and have a pattern of activities that you do at each point in the day. This works because you don’t have to do things at the exact same time by the hour, but you at least have an idea of when you will get certain things done. I find deadlines extremely helpful for me to avoid killing time on my phone or aimlessly figuring out what I am going to do at any point in the day.
To help, I have a printable with three different versions (you can choose one that fits your lifestyle). Simply print out, and fill in with the activities you want to do during that time section. Fill out the form below and you’ll receive all three version in your inbox!
Daily Planner Version 1
This version is the plan I use most. It’s divided into: Before kids wake up, morning, nap time, afternoon, evening, and after kid’s bedtime.
To fill it in, begin with anything you want to do before the kids wake up. For me this is:
- Bible Reading
- Make coffee
- Take out planner and write priorities down for the day
Morning
Next is the morning portion. I would write down any appointments I have that day, and also activities i want to schedule during the morning. So this would include:
- Getting ready for the day
- Getting the baby ready for the day
- Eat Breakfast
- Cleaning- unload dishwasher, start the laundry, make the bed
Morning Routine
The morning routine sidebar is to list items that you do daily to get ready for the day. This is optional if you have a lot of things you do daily like breakfast, shower, etc. that you want to write once.
Nap Time
The nap time portion is tasks I want to complete while the baby is napping (obvi). My toddler takes one nap, but if you have a child who takes multiple naps, you can write down everything you plan to get done during those nap times in general. I usually just do homework or anything that requires more focus such as writing or reading. Some days, I set aside nap time for rest/relaxation depending how my week is going! So I might include in the nap time section:
- Draft a blog post
- Outline paper for English
- Read
Afternoon
Next is the afternoon section. As Gia, my daughter, became older, I found it much more difficult to figure out what to do in the afternoons. She wasn’t napping later yet, and she was very very busy. What helped was that I would schedule one thing out of the house for the afternoon time block. Not every day, but some days, I would plan errands, or an outing, such as visiting a friend, having a play date, or just going to the park or coffee shop. This helped my whole day a lot because it meant we had something to look forward to, and I felt like Gia was getting some healthy play or stimulation. So my afternoon block might list things like:
- Go to children’s museum
- Meet up with (friend)
- Go to the park
- Try a new activity
- Go grocery shopping
Evening
The evening block is the transition from afternoon play to dinner and winding down. It can include anything like eating dinner, and evening tasks or activities. Mine looks like:
- Prep dinner
- Eat dinner
- Tidy up kitchen
- Quick pick up
- Get ready for bed
Evening Routine
You can use the evening routine block on the side to detail either your own or your kid’s night time routine. I do a combination of both
- Change into Pajamas
- Read Gia a book
- Put Gia to Bed
- Read a book
- Evening skincare
- Review planner for next day
Finally, the post-kid’s bedtime is anything you want to do after their bedtime. Most days it for relaxing or spending time with my husband. Sometimes I need to catch up on homework, or finish up any tasks that I didn’t get done that day.
- Watch a show
- Hang out with Tim
- Go out
- Finish (homework assignment)
Daily Planner Version 2
Above was the most detailed printable, but I have a couple of variations and you can print the one that best fits your lifestyle.
Below is the same as the first one, but doesn’t include a nap time slot. Maybe your kids don’t have naps, or they aren’t as predictable, so it may be easier to write down “nap” in one of the existing slots.
Daily Planner Version 3
The example below is the most flexible of the printables, and simply separates you day into early morning, later morning, afternoon, and evening. This lets you fill in as much or as little detail as you would like in your day, as is great for someone who has a lot of flexibility from day to day.
I hope you enjoy these printables, and they make your days a little bit simpler!