If you’re a busy mom like you, you often find there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything you need to get done. Some days you feel like you’ve nailed your daily tasks, and other days, you didn’t even have time to brush your teeth. If you find yourself in similar situations, it’s time to start crushing your time management skills. You don’t need to make huge changes to see a difference in your everyday routine; small changes can help you manage your time better and reduce the stress caused by the million and one items on your to-do list. Here are a few hacks you can use to help better manage your time.
#1 Utilize Grocery Delivery Services
Grocery shopping is time-consuming and can often lead to unnecessary purchases, which hurts your budget as well. Using a grocery delivery service allows you to shop online and have your groceries delivered to your door, often in a couple of hours. Now you’ll have the ability to add foods to your cart as you make your weekly menu and avoid impulse purchases. Many delivery services only cost around one hundred dollars a year, which you may have spent in gas alone, going to and from the grocery store.
#2 Meal Prep
Now that you’ve had your groceries delivered, you have plenty of time for meal prepping. Spending one day cooking and preparing the week’s meals will save you significant time when you need it most. Dinner is when the household is busiest, and trying to decide what to cook now can be a nightmare. Whether you prep crockpot or freezer to oven meals, it doesn’t matter. The point is to have dinner readily available, so you don’t have to worry about realizing you forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer for the third time that week!
#3 Lay Out Everything The Night Before
Mornings are notoriously hectic, and trying to get the kids dressed, lunches made, and homework packed can feel like a whirlwind. Help alleviate the morning hustle and prepare the night before. Pack lunches and keep them in the refrigerator, lay out school clothes and shoes, and make sure backpacks have all your kid’s important papers in them. Take this to the next level and have your kids prepare these things themselves for school the next day. You will teach them responsibility while freeing your time up; now that’s what I call a win-win!
#4 Make A Daily To-Do List
When you have a schedule and know exactly what needs to get done, it helps take the guesswork out of what the day will entail. Try making a schedule for everyone in the household so they can contribute and do their daily chores. Kids do well when they don’t have to guess what is expected of them, making them more likely to help out without giving you a hard time. If you have specific tasks to get done, your to-do list is your best friend. Being able to mark off what you have completed helps keep you motivated and ensures you don’t forget anything.
#5 Set A Cleaning Schedule
Cleaning the house can quickly get away from you, which is why having a schedule for what you will accomplish each day is helpful. You can give each day of the week a chore, so it’s easy to stay on top of the work. A sample cleaning schedule may be: Monday clean the windows, Tuesday vacuum and mop the floors, Wednesday clean the bathrooms, Thursday change the sheets, Friday clean the kitchen and have Saturday and Sunday to wash and fold the laundry. However you want to set the schedule to work for you is ok; it’s all about using your time as wisely as possible.
Time management is a struggle for so many moms, so don’t get discouraged if you find yourself having a hard time keeping track of everything. Utilizing a few hacks like getting your groceries delivered, meal prepping, laying out what you will need the next day the night before, making a daily to-do list, and setting a cleaning schedule, can help you fit in everything you need to do each day.
