mom life

How To Create A Daily Routine

09/17/2019 By Jenn Leave a Comment

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A daily routine could do so much for your mental health and well-being.

By creating routines you will find you are also creating good habits and it takes a lot of stress off of us. You will feel more in control of your life.

Another amazing benefit is, you will be able to do more things that are important to us.

A daily routine allows me to stay more organized and less scattered.

So if you are struggling with a daily routine as a mom, this post is for you!

Here are 5 simple steps on how to create a daily routine.

Trust me it’s very simple. Once you get the hang of your routine you will have so much more crossed off your to-do list and less stress.

1 – Make Time To Plan

Make sure you have the time to plan properly, in order to create a daily routine that works for you and your family.

Grab a pen, paper and your coffee (or whatever you love to drink) and find a place where you can focus.

This could be your bedroom, patio or even your local Starbucks.

For me I usually like to retreat to my office on Sunday. That is where I like to get all of my planning done.

My kids are old enough now that when they see my door is closed mom is doing something important.

Find your quiet place that allows you to get down to business.

2 – Write It All Out

Write down all of the things!

Brain dump all of the things you have to do. These are the commitments and responsibilities you have.

This will vary from person to person and depending on your children’s ages and needs.

Start with the appointments you have set already for the upcoming weeks.

From there think of things in categories such as:

Family
Cleaning
Laundry
Career
School
Health
Self Care
Friends
Hobbies
Other

Get as detailed as possible in these areas as you can.

Think of all the things that take up time and that you’d like to get done.

3 – Think About What Works and Where Your Problem Areas Are

This is where we get into the nitty gritty. Imagine what you want your daily routine to look like.

These could be very simple things such as:

Making your bed each morning
Doing the dishes each night before you go to bed
Not having a messy house
Getting into a good sleep routine

Keeping that in mind, take a moment and reflect on your daily routine at it’s current state.

Let’s start with what works well for you and your family.

Write down all the routines you have in place that are working well.

This could be that you have a rockstar morning routine. Make a note of that.
Maybe you have stuck to cooking dinner at home more, write it down.

These are the area’s that are working for you so you want to build on that.

Now, let’s take a moment of what does not work well for you.

Maybe your cleaning routine is no longer working.
Or, you feel like there is never enough time to get anything accomplished.
What are your distractions that stop you from getting things accomplished?

Related: Weekly Cleaning Routine

4 – Make A Weekly Draft

Take a look at your entire week in advance.

Start with the must do appointments or meetings.

These are things like:

Doctor appointments
Social events
School events
Date night
Other

Any place you have to be for a specific time or day, this is where you write it down first.

Then you will move on to your other tasks, but look at it from a week long time period:

House cleaning tasks
Job deadlines
Self care
Other

5 – Create A Time Block Schedule

Now, we will dive into how to put our daily routine together.

I am a pen and paper gal but you can use apps or even your phone or Google calendar to use time blocking.

Get fancy and use color coordinated blocks if that speaks to you.

Pick what works for you and try it out the way you find it best.

Let’s put it all together step by step.

Add appointments for that day
Set your wake up time and bedtime
What hours are you working that day
Add in daily tasks things like making your bed or working out
Now you will add in the extra areas such as house keeping items
Schedule in down time each day too!

Keep in mind the biggest issue with time managment I see is you have to be realistic. We all have the same 24 hours in a day so spreading yourself to think you are lesslikly to stick to a daily routine.

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Just to give you an idea, here is an example of my daily routine as a work at home mom:

5 AM – I wake up and workout
6 AM – kids get up – morning cleaning routine
7 AM – drop off kids at school
7:30 AM – weekly cleaning routine chore
9 AM – work emails
10 AM – write blog posts, schedule posts
12 PM – lunch – switch laundry
12:30 PM – schedule pins
2:30 PM – get my boys off the bus – fold laundry and put away
3 PM – after school routine
4 PM – daughter arrives home from school – prep dinner she loves to help me
5 PM – dinner – evening cleaning routine – family time
7 PM – kids night time routine
8 PM – kids bedtime – make grocery list – meal prep – go over my planner – time block next day – me time
10 PM Bed

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Are you a mom struggling with routines? Here are 5 simple steps on how to create a good daily routine to stay more organized and feel more in control.

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14 Habits of An Organized Mom

02/19/2019 By Jenn 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure.

Ah, the organized mom!

Do you know that mom that looks like she has it all together? The mom at parent drop off that looks like she had the most peaceful morning getting everyone ready for school…

She looks like she got plenty of sleep the night before…

She looks like super mom running her home, volunteering at school and has a career on top of that.

Well, no one has it all together!

But these moms have a secret – they are a highly organized mom.

Are you an overwhelmed mom trying to keep up? You can become an organized mom with these simple habits that will change your life and be more productive with less stress.

We are stretched so thin these days that being an organized mom and staying one step ahead of the game is key!

These organized moms have developed amazing simple habits that are easy to follow but make all the difference.

Here are 14 Habits of An Organized Mom to help make mom life a whole lot easier!

1 – Create Routines

I’ll start with my favorite organized mom habit!

Routines..

I love my routines and I use them a ton in my day to day life.

When you set routines in your day to day life it takes the guess work out of what comes next.

Children thrive on routines but so do moms!

Having good routines for yourself can and will make you more productive, less stressed and a more organized mom overall.

Just take a look at my weekly cleaning routine.

Weekly Cleaning Schedule Printable

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It takes the guess work out of what to do, where to start and by the end of the week your home is clean in less than an hour a day.

Be sure to check out all of my posts on various routines:

2 – Make To Do Lists

Organized moms have a plan.

By having a to do list every day helps you clear out your mind.

There is just something that feels good about writing down all the things you have to do.

And, being able to cross it off as you complete each task.

Organized mom secret to make a to-do list but make it attainable!

If you make a daily to do list make sure you can complete it today.

No one wants to set themselves up for failure. So when you sit down writing all the things you need to get done make sure you can complete those tasks.

Grab A Free To Do List Printable

Getting it done one day at a time with this free to do list printable. Sign up below for your downloadable copy.

3 – Meal Plan

Meal planning has saved me tons of time and money.

If you are new to meal planning you can start by just planning out a week at a time.

If a monthly schedule works better by all means go ahead and plan it out.

Figure out what works for you and your family.

By having a meal plan each week it takes the guess work of what’s for dinner?

You already have a plan written out!

Related: Free Meal Planning Printable

Sit down each week and go over your schedule. Those busy nights plan to make a quick meal or something you can throw into your slowcooker.

It takes very little time to plan and you will find your weeks run so much smoother when you have meals planned out for you according to your schedule.

4 – Wake Up A Little Earlier

Now I know what you are thinking.

My kids get up too early, there is no way I can get up any earlier.

However, by getting up just 15 minutes before your house can do wonders for your day.

Take that time to get a quick shower, or plan your to do list.

This allows you some time to think before the busy mornings happen.

5 – Nail Down A Night Time Routine For You and Your Family

Night routines are probably the most important routine an organized mom uses.

Get your house completely ready for the next morning is the goal here.

Things to include are:

Making kids lunches for the next day
Making sure their backpacks are ready to go
Picking out everyone’s clothes, including yours
Make sure you have the things you need for work ready

6 – Do A Load Of Laundry A Day

No more piles of dirty clothes and over flowing hampers.

Once you create a one load of laundry a day policy you will never spend hours doing laundry again.

I throw in a load of laundry each night before I go to bed. Then I set it to an automatic start for about an hour before I wake up.

Once I am up that morning I switch it over into the dryer and it is dry before I even leave the house in the morning.

You can fold it and put it away later.

A simple routine that organized moms swear by.

7 – Create A Command Center

A command center is an organized mom ultimate successful trick.

Having everything you need right there so all of your family knows what is going on.

Things to include in a command center are:

Dry erase monthly calendar – write down kid’s activities, meetings and appointments.
Weekly meal plan – every one knows whats for dinner that night
Chore charts – laminated chore charts so your kids can help
Important papers – school calendars, party invitations etc.

Related: Free Printable Chore Chart

8 – Batch Your Errands

Try to designate one day a week to running errands if you can.

By batching your errands all into one day saves you time, money on gas and having to quickly run out on days that are busy.

The best habit of an organized mom is to make the most out of the time you have.

9 – Grocery Shop Less

Make one weekly trip to the grocery store.

Plan your list each week with your meal plan and get everything you need that week in one trip.

If your grocery store offers grocery pick up, try it!

I do this in the summer and let me tell you not only do I save time but sanity.

Is it just my kids or do yours hate going to the grocery store?

This is a battle I choose not to fight so I order my groceries online during the summer.

10 – Declutter Regularly

Clutter can be very overwhelming to deal with if you allow it to pile up.

An organized mom will tell you the more clutter you have the more overwhelming it can be.

Go through things regularly such as kids clothing and household items you no longer need.

Paper clutter too!

Toss junk mail, coupons that have expired and old receipts the second you can.

11 – Meal Prep

Prep anything you can on your grocery shopping day or on a day that works for you.

Wash your fruits, cut your veggies anything you can prep ahead of time is a win for every organized mom.

Go through your meal plan for that week and see if anything can be prepped before hand saving you even more time during the week.

12 – Create A Drop Zone

The key to being an organized mom is to have simple systems in place.

Like the command center you should also have a drop zone.

A place where backpacks go, keys, shoes, your purse.

Anything that you need to walk out of the house with should all be in one centralized location for easy access.

13 – Set Deadlines

By setting deadlines for yourself you will more likely to make your task a priority.

But, just like your to do list keep it realistic.

Break up bigger goals into smaller chunks.

An organized mom will tell you by working towards a goal little by little and setting a deadline to get it finished is the key to successfully getting it done.

14 – Plan Your Week Every Sunday

This is so important to set yourself up for a successful week and hit the ground running on Monday.

Take some time each Sunday to write out everything you need to do, places you need to be and everything in between for the week ahead.

So you see being an organized mom is just planning ahead. Taking a few minutes each day to get things done.

Are there any organized mom habits you have? I’d love to know in the comments.

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Are you an overwhelmed mom trying to keep up? You can become an organized mom with these simple habits

Why Planners Are A Must Have For Moms + Purple Trail Planner Review

05/11/2017 By Jenn 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure.

Disclosure: We were provided with mentioned products. I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions are 100% mine.

Planners have been gaining in popularity over the past few years. There are so many different ones to chose from basic to totally customized planners out there. I have always been a planner kind of gal. Even dating back to high school I can remember having one with lists of things I needed to do or appointments I had to be at.

When I became a mom lists and planners became a must. Three little kids under 3 was no easy task back then and there were some days I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached. Now that they are older, I was very wrong when I said it will get better. Now I have even more in my planners to keep track of.

Why Planners Make My Job As A Mom So Much Easier

All the things listed I keep in my planner making it easy to remember and dump off my brain. Out of site out of mind, anything to make it easier on this mom I am all for.

School activities
Birthdays
Doctor appointments
Daily To Dos
Play-dates

When looking for a planner I like a hard cover, thick paper to write on and monthly and weekly pages to keep a more detailed list on weekly events.

Purple Trail reached out to review one of their planners a few weeks ago and so far it is my favorite planner I’ve owned!

They have tons to choose from such as:

Daily
Weekly/Life
Monthly
Teacher
Student
Mom
Wedding

Plus they are all able to be customized and handmade. You can get different sizes, different cover fronts (hard or soft) even some you can add your own photos and your name.

I went with their Faux gold foil triangle quote mom planner – starting at $54.95. I couldn’t resist it since this is my favorite quote off all time!

2 sizes available 6″ x 8″ and 8.5″ x 11″ (mine is the larger one)
12 or 18 months
Sticker pack for an extra charge
Offering plenty of add on pages such as to do list, password list, bill list and many more!

What I love most about the Purple Train planner is how durable is. With kiddos constantly on my desk moving things around I need a pretty heavy duty one and this one does the job!

Customizing and ordering was a breeze as well which is always a plus as a busy mom.

If you are in the market for a new planner I highly recommend you to check out the Purple Trail website for my planner or one of the many they have to offer.