Recently I revised my stay at home mom daily schedule. This will make revision number 475, 201, 394.
How to Thrive as a Stay at Home Mom
People talk all the time about how to survive motherhood. I’d rather talk about how to thrive as a mom. It is possible to feel good as a mom at any stage by having control of your days. A lot of things are out of our control but not everything. So let’s grab hold of what we can and do something with it.
If you thrive on schedules, good for you. It’s not my strong suit, but now that my kids are older and life is more complex, I find schedules create a helpful structure.
If you don’t thrive on schedules, or you have kids preschool-age or younger you will want to learn about routines over schedules. Routines keep your life in movement without the stress of keeping specific time guidelines. Life, in general but especially as a mom, changes frequently and so we need to be able to change with it. A big secret about how to thrive as a stay at home mom is just to be flexible. Super-flexible. Which brings me back to the newly revised stay at home mom daily schedule I’m here to share with you.
How do stay at home moms schedule the day?
Organized stay at home moms have certain habits and tasks that keep them organized.
Being an organized stay at home mom is not by chance. Contrary to popular belief, moms at home are productive and it’s because they are diligent in being their own taskmaster. Actually, with current events in the world, I wouldn’t be surprised if the question, “What do stay at home moms do all day?”, will completely disappear in the near future.
Stay at home moms schedule their days on paper or by app. There are tons of reminder apps and note apps that you can check out. My favorite, of course, is still Evernote. But I don’t use Evernote to keep track of my daily schedule. I write it all down.
I know this whole thing can be overwhelming but I created a simple paper guide that you can download. It gives you ideas on how to create good habits and walks you through figuring out what you (yes, you as an individual) can know about your own home goals. It includes a way to time block your day and write down a schedule.
Some tasks or habits to schedule into the day:
Chores
Rest Periods
Hygiene
Cleaning
Time with Kids
Self-care
These don’t need to be marked out on a planner, they just need to be considered when you are thinking of how to schedule the day.
Other Things to Consider When Making a Stay at Home Mom Schedule
To prevent from going crazy as a stay at home mom, you might also want to consider:
Top priorities
I recommend just 3. Think about each and every day – what are the 3 things in the day that you want to make sure you do. You could add more but depending on the age of your kids and your personal demands, even 3 might be too much. Mine are:
- Bible time with my kids
- Homeschool (not to be confused with ‘stay at home’ school)
- Run the Dishwasher
Time Blocks
When you create a stay at home mom daily schedule consider the blocks of time or grouping of activities in your life. Mornings before kids get up, mornings after the kids get up, high energy times, low energy times, rest periods, food periods. Think about what can be done or not done in each of those blocks of time.
Absolutes or Must-Dos
There are certain things that make sense for your life that must be done every day. Yours will likely be different from mine. For instance, one of my absolutes is also a priority – running the dishwasher. Maybe a must-do would include calling your mom each day or taking meat out of the freezer to thaw.
My Stay at Home Mom Daily Schedule
I have shared a stay at home mom schedule in the past and this one isn’t hugely different. I mainly needed to reinstate, to myself, some of the integral tasks that create balance and progress in my day. This is helpful during times when life feels monotonous.
However, I want to assert the importance of not just having an average day schedule (which is what this is), but also to have special to-dos for each day of the week. Shaping your days differently, outside of external factors, will do you and your family much good.
I like to look at my schedule various ways. Mornings and Evenings, Block Scheduled, and a Weekly Schedule.
Mornings
5:30 Bible and Devotional Time
6:15 Exercise
6:30 School Prep and/or Blog Work
7:30 Shower and Prepare for the Day
8a Help my daughter prepare for the day
8:15 Start Laundry
8:30 Kids Breakfast
9am Family Bible Time
9:15 Start School
Afternoon
12n Flip Clothes – Make Lunch – Kids Go Outside
2p Quiet Time and Blog Work
3:30 Chores, Organizing Project
5:30 Start Dinner
Evening
6p Time with Kids
7p Bedtime Prep with Kids
9:30p Bullet Journal
10:30p Bedtime
Organized Stay-at-Home Mom Tips
Here are some tips for when you are making your organized stay at home mom daily schedule.
- Better sleep equals better days
- Avoid time wasters
- Take time to do routines with kids
- Always plan for dinner
- Download the Actually Get Something Done Guide
