Inside: Wondering how to create a work at home mom schedule? Juggling a work from home routine can be stressful. The demands of kids and home life can easily push your business to the side. But with a few simple tweaks, you can create a work from home schedule that allows both your family and your business to thrive! Keep reading for these no-fail tips for a better work from home mom schedule!
Full disclosure, here. I never thought I would be a work from home mom. Before I had kids I was a librarian, then a teacher. (Yes, total nerd alert!)
After my son was born, we decided that I would stay home with him instead of returning to work the next school year. And I loved every second of it.
But after a while I realized something. This may come as a shock if you know how much I love being a mom, but here it is…
Parenting can’t fulfill every part of me.
It’s a huge part. Huge! But being a mom isn’t all that I am. It’s another facet of the woman God made me to be.
I quickly realized that I needed an outlet to explore those creative and industrious parts of me. That’s where blogging began for me!
As my love for online business grew, I learned that I needed a routine. A routine helped me keep my family priorities first and grow my business with confidence!
Now with my kids growing up and entering school, I’m more thankful than ever for the time I was able to stay home with them and build a business. I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
Do you need a work from home schedule?
Whether you’re a blogger, freelancer, or do any other kind of work from home job, having a schedule is absolutely essential! A great work at home mom schedule will help you juggle all the moving parts of your life. You’ll get laser-focused on doing what’s important and meaningful for your work and your family.
Ready to finally find work-life balance? Keep reading as I share what I’ve learned about creating a work from home routine!
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Step 1: Create Systems and Simplify
Systems are life when it comes to balancing work and family responsibilities and schedules. As a work at home mom, I’ve found that having routines and systems frees up both my time and my brain space.
This means I have more time, less anxiety, and more creativity throughout my day!
When you work at home, family, life, and business tend to blend together. This can quickly add up to a big, confusing mess without systems and routines to keep things straight!
As you create systems, remember it doesn’t have to be overly complicated. A system can be as simple as setting out kid’s clothes for school the night before.
Simplicity works!
I use systems in literally every area of my life. Try one of these systems to simplify your own work at home schedule!
- I write in my favorite mom planner every day to keep everything in one spot.
- I use family meal planner tools to prevent last-minute dinner emergencies.
- I stick to a daily toddler schedule and stay at home mom schedule so I can depend on set work and playtimes.
- I regularly sort through clothes and toys and donate what we don’t need. Less clutter equals more free time and creativity in my house!
- We do 5-10 minute “house sweeps” twice a day to keep the house clean without marathon cleaning sessions. The kids and my husband all help with this system! Working as a team gets it done fast.
- I create a yearly content plan for my blogs so I don’t have to guess what I’ll write about. This helps me be super-efficient during my kids’ nap time when I work from home.
Think about your business and home responsibilities. What areas do you struggle with? Where do you feel like you’re constantly playing catchup or overwhelmed?
Tackle just one pain point at a time. Create a unique system, or try out some of the resources I listed above!
Once you’re in the swing of a system, you’ll find that you suddenly have more time in your day than you thought! Using systems will help you manage your work at home mom schedule like a pro!
Want to take action? Download my free printable work at home mom schedule! Writing down your goals and routine is a huge part of success. Get the free printable schedule and more in our digital resource library!
Step 2: Write in Your Essentials
The next step to creating a work at home mom schedule is to write in the essential elements of your day. These essentials can include both family elements and work elements. As a work from home mom, you’re a jack of all trades.
I like to write down my essentials because it helps me feel accomplished and stay motivated. If I feel like I’m failing at everything that day, I can take a break and do one of my essential items.
All the other stuff can wait!
This helps me re-focus and not feel like the whole day is wasted.
What are your essentials? Maybe they look a lot like mine:
- Morning quiet time.
- Outside time with my kids.
- Read (at least) one book with my kids.
- Aim for two hours to blog, work, and get creative during nap time.
- Quality time with my husband.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, and that’s OK. Keep reading, and I’ll show you what this looks like in my sample work from home mom routine!
Step 3: Prioritize and Work Your Goals!
It’s easy to get sidetracked as a work from home mom. There are distractions waiting around every corner!
When I should be focused on being present with my family, business ideas are always on the back burner of my thoughts. When I need to work, short naps or sick kids sometimes throw off my momentum.
Balancing family and work goals is difficult! The key for me is to make the most of my time so that I can do the things that are truly important to me.
Use these goals as examples to inspire your own goals:
- Cook dinner at home six nights per week.
- Get outside to play 30 minutes a day.
- Run with my husband three times a week.
- Earn enough through work at home jobs to pay the mortgage every month.
Once you have your goals, the real work begins. If your goals are important to you, you’ll have to fight for them! This may mean giving up other less important things to make room for your goals. Prioritize what’s really meaningful to you!
For example, I limit myself to working during my children’s naptime. When my kids were younger, this meant shorter, but more frequent working sessions. As my kids reached the toddler stage, my work time lengthed out to about two hours every afternoon.
I protect this time because consistent, slow-and-steady progress helps me reach my business goals. In two hours a day, I earn enough to pay the mortgage each month! It wasn’t an overnight success, but slow progress that paid off.
But on the other side of the coin, I also protect my family time. As tempting as it is to put on a movie and work the morning away, I limit myself to those designated work hours.
I know that I could build my online businesses faster if I worked more hours in a day. But I remember why I wanted to stay home to begin with. My family is priority #1!
The bottom line is that it’s all about balance! Find what works for your goals and stick to it!
Step 4: Leave Room for Margin
As tempting as it is to jam-pack your work at home mom schedule, it’s essential to add a margin to your routine. Margin means breathing room, a chance to do something that brings you joy, or the opportunity to be spontaneous.
Without margin, you’ll find your work from home schedule will begin to feel like a prison. So how do you find margin in an already full schedule?
Use these simple tips to find more margin in your work at home mom schedule:
- Look at your calendar. Which events take up most of your time? Evaluate if these items are helping you reach your goals.
- Write in margin on your schedule. Plan out date nights. Designate at least one day a week as a non-workday. Write it down to stay accountable!
- Remember those systems we talked about earlier? Take full advantage of home and work systems to free up even 15 minutes in your day to rest and reset.
My Sample Work at Home Mom Schedule
My work from home mom schedule is constantly evolving. When my kids were babies the balance leaned more heavily toward family time. Now that they are older I have a pretty predictable family and work at home routine.
Use my sample work from home routine to inspire your own daily schedule:
- 6:00 AM: Wake up. Read my Bible and devotions before the kids wake up.
- 6:40 AM: Kids wake up. Breakfast and morning routines.
- 7:30 AM: Leave for school drop-off for my son.
- 8-11:30: Family time with my toddler. Play, do activities and errands, and tackle household chores together. I try my best to not do business tasks during this time!
- 11:30 AM: Lunch!
- 12- 2:00 PM: Naptime for my toddler. This is my designated work time in my home office! I use my planner notes and blog content planner to quickly tackle my tasks for the day. No social media during this time helps me stay focused.
- 2:30 PM: School pick-up.
- 3-6:00 PM: Family time. Outside play to help my son unwind from school. Homework time. Finish up household chores or relax!
- 6:30 PM: Dinner together as a family.
- 7:00 PM: Quick house sweep to clean up toys and tidy up. Bath and bedtime routine.
- 7:30- 8:00 PM: Bedtime
- 8:30 PM: Run after the kids are in bed a few times per week!
Your Turn
How do you balance working from home and being present with your family? What strategies or tools help you on this journey as a work at home mom?
Let us know your best work at home schedule tips! Share in the comments below.
