Productive Stay at Home Mom Tips (to Get More Done!)

Being a productive stay at home mom isn’t easy. 

You might start the day with good intentions but before you know it, the chaos takes over and you’re pulled in 100 different directions. But unlike working a full-time job, you can’t clock out at 5:00 at the end of the day.

​If you’re struggling to get things done as a busy mom, developing systems and routines is the answer.

Today, I’m sharing my best tips for being a productive stay at home mom so you can navigate your daily routine with less stress. 

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How to Be Productive as Stay at Home Mom in 3 Easy Steps

1. Put it all in a planner

If you’re not using a planner to manage your days yet as a stay at home mom, then it’s time to get in the habit.

I went years without using a planner and I regret not jumping on the bandwagon sooner. Having a clear plan to follow makes navigating your days as a busy mom so much easier!

My Picks for the Best Planners for Busy Moms: 

Other Planner Options for Stay at Home Moms

If none of those options catch your eye, here are a few other planners you can try:

Customizable Productivity Planners from Inkwell Press (Great if you like planners that use disc binding!)

Erin Condren’s Life Planner (Perfect for weekly planning!)

PowerSheets by Lara Casey (Pick these if you want a comprehensive planner that’s absolutely GORGEOUS!)

And if you’d rather go digital with planning, you can always try the Cozi app.

Cozi is a free family organizer that everyone in the family can access to see what’s on the schedule. This app is great if your kids are in multiple activities or you have children that require regular doctor appointments since you and your spouse can log in separately to divvy up the to-do list.

GET COZI HERE!

How to use your planner to be more productive every day

Once you’ve got your planner, open it up and start adding in all the things you have to do daily, weekly and monthly.

That means everything and anything that you do as a mom day in and out. For example, that might include:

• School-related events for your kids
• Playdates
• Doctor’s appointments
• Phone calls you need to make
• Vacations and staycations if someone’s coming to visit
• Fun events you plan on attending as a family
• Birthdays and anniversaries
• Days for running errands
• Bill due dates

If you run a business or a blog as a stay at home mom, you could also pencil in anything important for that. For example, I run a freelance writing business so I use a planner to keep track of due dates for assignments.

Putting it all down in your planner means you don’t have to struggle to remember everything. You can just open it up and see at a glance what you have going on as a family on any given day.

Bottom line, a planner is your first secret weapon for how to be productive as a stay at home mom.

2. Use lists to keep track of daily tasks

A planner is the first part of the how to be productive formula for stay at home moms. Lists are definitely the second.

I love to-do lists. They speak to the perfectionist nerd that lurks inside me.

And it’s a great feeling to be able to cross things off your list. It’s like yeah, I did a thing.

When you’re juggling household chores and kids and a spouse and maybe a business or pets, then doing a thing is huge. Even if it’s just a small thing.

So get into the habit of keeping lists if you aren’t doing that yet.

On Sunday, grab your planner and open up to the section for the week ahead. Make a master list of everything you need to get done. Then go through and assign items on your list to each day.

Writing things down in a to-do list can help you feel more connected to those tasks.

You could keep your to-do lists in the notepad app on your phone or sticky notes or a dry erase board next to your fridge.

It doesn’t really matter; whatever system works for you is fine. It’s all about making the list and following it.

Getting into the habit of making lists can help with how to be productive because you have a road map for your day to follow.

As you make your to-do list for each day of the week, rank each item based on what’s a top priority for you. That way when it’s time to tackle your list for a specific day, you’ll automatically know what needs your attention first.

Also, keep a done list to go with your to-do list.

Your done list is where you write down all the things you were able to accomplish for the day. Big things, little things — everything in-between.

So what’s the point of that?

Well, when you can look back and see what you were able to get done on any given day, it’s a big motivator.

You don’t need to second-guess yourself on whether you can be more productive because my done list tells you that already are.

Try keeping a to-do list and a done list for two to three weeks to see how the system works for you. You might be surprised at how much more productive you feel at the end of it.

3. Develop and stick to a routine

Trying to create a routine — whether it’s a morning routine or a routine for working from home — can be challenging.

If you can pull it off though, having a routine and sticking with it consistently can be life-changing. Because once you get into the habit of structuring your days in a certain way, they just start to flow better.

It’s a simple secret for how to be productive but it works.

If you don’t have a routine, then think about how you can create one and what it would ideally look like.

• Where do you focus your time?
• How do you break the day up?
• What takes the most or least time?
• Are there things you could cut out of your day that drain your time or energy?
• What do you want to make more time for each day?

Putting a routine in place can help you be more productive because you start to pay attention to how you use your time.

You start saying to yourself, do I really have time for this? And is it worth the time I’d need to spend on it? 

When you start whittling out the time-wasters, that frees you up to focus on what matters most.

Also, this is super important: set your intentions for the day. 

It’s a lot easier to get all the things done when you have a solid intention behind what you’re doing. So when you wake up in the morning, outline your intentions in a journal or just in your head so you’re focused on what you need to get done.

Bonus Tip: Invest in tools that can help boost your productivity!

Before you get back to your busy stay at home mom day, let me give you one more tip for how to be productive!

Snag the Ultimate Productivity Bundle!

If you’ve never heard of the Ultimate Productivity Bundle, it’s one of the BEST investments you can make as a busy mom!

Inside the bundle, you get:

• 14 e-courses
• 5 ebooks
• 26 printable packs and workbooks
• Access to one game-changing productivity summit

And you get all of that — over $1,500 worth of productivity goodies — for only $47!

That’s an insane price if you ask me, considering how valuable this thing is. Altogether, you get 46 different goodies to help you manage your days as a busy mom.

The bundle only goes on sale a few times a year, so it’s all about the timing. But if you come across a flash sale for it, be sure to grab it!

What’s your Best Tip for How To Be Productive as a Busy Mom?

So I’ve told you my best secrets for having a more productive day as a stay at home mom — now it’s your turn.

Do you have a killer tip for getting things done as a busy mama? If so, head to the comments and share it.

And I’d love for you to pin and share this post if you found it helpful. 🙂