How to be a Productive Mom:10 Easy Ways
Being a mom is not easy especially if you are a working mom, but what if I tell you How to be a Productive Mom? This way you can get more done effectively and be a super mom. In this post, I share with you Productive Mom Tips and Ways to be a more productive mom even if you are a working mom and enjoy motherhood without being overwhelmed.
Why do you need to be a Productive Mom?
- With many roles as a mother and endless responsibilities to take care of in this busy world, it is very difficult to manage work, household, kids’ school, kids’ care, and their extracurricular activities. You cannot afford to miss critical things or make any mistake that can affect your little munchkin. The best thing that you can do is to build habits to be productive moms to ensure all the things are taken care of.
- I emphasize starting with productive habits because habits take you a long way, habits are automatic behavioral responses and once you build a good habit it becomes your second nature and serves you in the long run.
- Once you set up systems to make you productive you need not put the effort into making sure things are done but taking care of all the chores effectively will be effortless for you.
10 ways to Be a Productive Mom
Here are 10 simple hacks that you can use to be a productive mom, If you can build a habit of following these you will be able to strive for a work-life balance, get more done with less effort, and spend time more intentionally.
1: Wake up before kids
Waking up early in the morning especially before your kids wake up is a habit that every productive mum swears by. Getting up before the kids gives you time and allows you to start your day calmly and without distractions.
You can get things done without disturbance from your little munchkins and get more done in less time. It just helps you set the right tone for the day and build momentum to be productive.
If you get up before the kids by the time kids are up you will have already dealt with some tasks for the day and you are not in a hustle mood. This even lets give better attention to your kids and have them worry about your task list.
2: Plan in advance
To be a productive mum it is very important to get into the habit of planning things in advance. As a busy mom, you already have a lot of things to deal with apart from taking care of kids. Planning in advance eases the load of work and allows you to make the best use of your time.
There are various ways in which you can plan in advance. You can do monthly planning, weekly planning, or even plan the night before for the next day. I prefer to use the weekend for planning and preparing myself for the next week. Here are some posts to help you plan:
10 Things for working mom weekend routine
Weekly planning secrets for work-life balance
Monthly Goal Planning for Balanced Life under 30 min
While planning you should consider the schedule of all the family members to ensure everyone’s needs are addressed. You should not just plan your work and chores but also vacation, fun time, and dates so that you can plan your work and apply for leave work in advance.
Planning things in advance gives you a fair idea about things you will be doing in the coming days and removes the unpredictability and overwhelm. I find planning on the weekend to be most effective.
3: Write down everything
Everyone has many things to do but moms have much more things to do. From remembering to purchase groceries to vaccine appointments and from work assignment last date to paying bills, there are so many things on my mind.
Hence one of the habits of productive moms is to note down all the things and rely less on remembering things. Productive moms have lists and notes for everything, you should keep a running To-Do list, grocery list, and any other list you can think of.
Having things written down relieves the stress as you do not have to spend the energy to remember things. By writing down you reduce the chance of forgetting work and you can plan work better. When you have an unfinished task you tend to recall it more and feel anxious, writing things down removes the overwhelming and chaotic feeling. It gives you assurance that the task is planned and will happen as per the schedule.
You may find this helpful: 10 Ways To Make An Effective To-Do List
4: Make effective routines
Routines add structure and predictability to your day. Having routines makes you more efficient, and builds momentum. By having routines you do not waste time thinking about what next to do. Having a routine suitable to your need make you spend less time planning, and chores and task become part of your life.
Productive moms understand the benefits of routine and build routines as per their needs and these routines include tasks that are best suited for the routine. Productive moms have morning routines, evening routines, and weekend routines so that the most important and frequent tasks are done best with fewer efforts
Here are some posts to help you build a routine:
10 Working Mom Morning Routine Tips to make life easy.
Working Mom evening routine: 12 things to do
Real Daily Routine For Working Moms
5: Prioritize tasks
To be a productive mom you must prioritize work. With many tasks at hand, it is very difficult to complete altogether. And if you are a working mom you got to be more strategic with the way you spend your time and the things you choose to get done.
Even the most productive person cannot get everything done. You can only do one thing at a time. Prioritizing work allows you to make a conscious and informed decision to give preference to one task over the other and plan your work better.
P.S. How to prioritize work tasks
6: Make a Schedule for chores
House chores can take a lot of your time but if you make a schedule for them and break them into small tasks, chores can be effectively managed. With schedules for common chores nothing is missed and you are not overwhelmed with many things to do at a time. Identify all the things that they need to do, split them out with the available time, and create schedules.
Some of the most common schedules for chores that you can have are cleaning schedules, laundry schedules, meal planning schedules, etc. Of these, I highly recommend having a cleaning schedule as it takes a lot of time for all busy moms and is unavoidable. You must read my post on making your own cleaning schedule it includes a free printable to help you get started. I however prefer to use a digital cleaning planner.
Cleaning Planner Google Sheet Template
＄9 ＄6
- An easy-to-use tool that helps you stay on top of your cleaning tasks
- Make a cleaning schedule for all needs
- Use to make your daily, weekly cleaning routine
- Make weekly or monthly cleaning schedules when you are out of routine or planning deep cleaning
- Make cleaning schedule room by room
- Make a quarterly, yearly cleaning plan
- Track your progress easily with graph and % completion
- Customize weekly cleaning tasks that you do more than once.
7: Plan and prep the meals
A key part of being a mom is the responsibility to feed healthy food to the family and for a productive mom spending time every day thinking about what to cook is a waste of time. Hence plan their meal in advance and make sure the grocery required for the same is made available. Planning in advance allows you to incorporate healthy eating options in your meals that are not just healthy but also enjoyed by your family.
You can also do some basic meal prepping on the weekend such as chopping fruits and vegetables, boiling pulses and legumes, or preparing sauces so that you spend less time cooking during the busy weekdays.
8: Teach kids independence
Productive moms don’t just get all things done but they also try to teach their kids to do some basic tasks based on their age. You can start by doing small tasks yourself in the presence of your kids and gradually move on to ask if they would like to do it themselves.
For younger kids, of course, your presence will be required to monitor but eventually, they will learn to do things themselves. This helps in the development of the child and makes them independent. By teaching your kids independence they will be able to do the basic things themselves and this will reduce your work burden and also make them more responsible.
9: Keep backup for a rough day
As a productive mom always have a plan B. We all know with kids and work, plans and schedules don’t execute the way we want them to. Unexpected things always make their way through our perfect schedule and make things imperfect.
Hence always keep a backup plan. Your backup plan can be as simple as buffer time during the day to deal with unexpected work, a frozen meal to fall back upon when required, or a helping hand from a babysitter when you need to get work done.
Depending on your situation in life and the things that get unmanageable for you, keep a vision for the unexpected things that can probably disrupt your plans, and make sure to create a backup plan.
10: Automate tasks
Productivity is not about doing all the work but being the most efficient. Hence make the best use of technology and try to automate things where possible. You should try to automate tasks wherever possible, automation ensures things are happening at the right time without you remembering to do them and putting repetitive effort into the same task every time.
Automation can be done for many things such as auto payment set up for bill payments, making a yearly calendar with reminders for important events, and making a subscription for frequent grocery purchases. Using a dishwasher for cleaning utensils but my favorite is using a Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Mop
Try to find what task you can automate and be done with your intervention, you can also try to delegate tasks to others and seek help where possible if automation seems not feasible for you.
Pin for later.
Conclusion
So these are 10 ways that can help you be a productive mom, following even a few of them will allow you to get the most done as a busy mom and still keep a calm mind. And be a happy mom and spend quality time with your family.
Related posts you make like:
10 Tips To Be An Organized Working Mom
Secrets to spending quality time with your kids in a busy life
