Stay at home mom schedule- How to create one that really works

I wrote a post on 6 things a stay at home mom struggles with which has become like a pillar post on my blog.

If you are a stay at home mom, it will resonate with your daily struggles to be the best you can be for your family.

In that post, I mentioned the fact that one of the struggles of a stay at home mom is being overworked and underappreciated.

While I know that such feelings arise from working so much, I would like to deal with the reason you are overworked.

Being overworked as a stay at home stems from the fact that you are always trying to achieve all things within a small time frame hence making it impossible to get anything completed.

This is why you need a stay-at-home mom schedule because if you do not have one, you will be an exhausted and cranky mama.

When I started staying home to work as a mom, I struggled with this aspect too, I mean where does your work finish and your mom duties start.

I soon figured out that something was lacking, that is a stay-at-home mom schedule.

Without a schedule and a routine, you are practically lost in the sea of trying to do all things at all times and be all things to all men at the same time.

Why you need a stay at home mom schedule

1- It keeps you sane, you are not trying to finish your weeks worth of work in a day.

2- Helps you stay organized, you know what to do per time.

3- You are able to prioritize and know what’s urgent and what is not.

4- Keeps you on track with your goal for your family and home.

5- Eliminates unnecessary waste of valuable time.

You see before I had kids, it was just me and hubby so we managed just fine, the days I did not feel like cooking, we just went out and ate.

But when the kids started arriving, things changed dramatically.

We couldn’t just get up and go out and eat out like that anymore. Because just getting the kids for the outing itself was exhausting.

I am sure you can relate to that battle you have with your toddler when trying to dress him up and he decides that’s the best time to go.

Then you get to pull off the diaper and start cleaning him up again.

To get your home in order as a stay at home mom, here are steps that you need to take to avoid the burn out that comes with being a mom.

1-Study your home

Before you can create a stay at home mom schedule that works for everyone, you have to study your own home, it seems funny but that’s where it all starts.

Even without a schedule, there are certain routines you probably follow in your mind.

Write them down first and ask yourself has this been working out fine? If it has, then there is no need to change it.

What are the characteristics of your household? like who gets to drop to sleep first? who wakes first? and what do they love to do?

For example, my daughter is always the first to sleep off.

Once its bedtime, you can be sure that once her lullaby is sung she will be fast asleep in no time.

But then, that also means she is the first to wake.

Because I know she sleeps early, I used her own sleeping time to set the time for everyone else.

My son does not like to sleep early so I make sure he is in bed and reading a book until he falls asleep.

This leaves me with the toddler who loves to snuggle a bit before going to bed.

My going to bed routines will probably last an hour.

So before you create your own stay at home mom schedule, understand these simple habits of your kids and spouse and then work around it.

2-Design a simple schedule

Oftentimes when you hear about creating a stay at home mom schedule, you may be tempted to jump into creating complex schedules.

You may end up not keeping it, simply because it is too complicated.

How does it become complicated? by trying to pack in too much activity into a time slot.

For example, if you have never created one before, you can create something like this

Wake up time- 5:30 am

Personal meditation and prayer: 5:30- 6:30 am

Kids wake up time and bath: 6:30-7:30 am

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Your schedule depends on how old your kids are.

3-Routinize your activities

Routines give kids a sense of direction on what they are expected to do per time.

It helps them to follow their own flow of activities and reduces stress for everyone including you.

Creating routines for your family activities will help you to plan better.

Before you create routines, the first thing you need to do is to create a goal. That is what you want to achieve per quarter for each routine you are creating.

In my stay-at-home mom planner, I designed a place for your kid’s training where you get to plan what values you are training and imbibing in your kid’s for each quarter.

That way you are able to create a routine for them to internalize that aspect of their life.

If you want to get my stay-at-home mom planner, click below.

For example, if you are starting to potty train your child.

Creating a routine where he goes to the toilet immediately after meals will help him know when to go.

I am currently working to internalize the fact that when you finish eating, you should clear your plates and clean out your table.

I make note of that in my planner and I work towards ensuring that each time we finish eating, it is a routine that you clear out your plate and clean up every mess you have made while eating.

4-Break Your Routine Into Mini-Tasks

Break a big routine like the eating routine into minor tasks.

Taking off from the eating routine, you can move from just clearing your plate aspect, to loading the dishwasher after every meal, or simply hand washing your own plate after every meal.

As you create the routine which is broken into a series of tasks for your kids, you have given them a path to follow when you are not around.

In that way, they are not at a loss of what to do when you are not available to point it out.

For example bathing routine–

Remove your clothes and put them into the wash basket.

Brush teeth

Take your bath and towel dry

Put on cream and wear clothes.

Laundry Routine

Sort clothes out into different types

Load the laundry.

Do the laundry

Sort and iron.

Your routines will change and increase in responsibility level as they grow older.

5-Create your stay at home mom schedule around your routines.

Now that you are through with creating your routine, its time to create a simple schedule around your routine.

Your schedule will allocate time for each activity and routine hence you know when to start.

You can use a timer or simply create it with a planner and add it to your Google calendar. That way your calendar reminds you of the time for each activity.

6-Share your new schedule with your family

In creating your stay-at-home mom schedule, you should know that it’s for the home so everyone has to be involved.

If you have never done this before, it will look strange to everyone.

You can explain to them that you are trying to bring sanity and predictability into the home so everyone can have their peace.

Share with them what you plan to do and get everyone to commit to fulfilling their own part.

If there are changes that need to be done to accommodate certain issues, by all means, be flexible.

Its no use creating a schedule that your spouse does not agree with, he will only end up thwarting your efforts.

But if he is on board with you, he will enforce it even if you are not around.

7-Prioritize all your activity list

In every home, there are things that often take priority above others.

It’s important that you first create time for such activities before you put in the optional ones. One of the most important ones is nap time.

In creating your stay at home mom schedule, you must prioritize when everyone must take that afternoon nap.

This is because a cranky mama does no one good.

You can use their nap time to take a nap or just unwind. That way you are recharged for the evening run.

I wrote more extensively on how to create your priority lists and fill up your schedule in my post on how to kick chaos out of your home

Put yourself first

I know this is a hard one to do, most moms always put their selves last in everything.

This means that they are often tired and cranky by the time they finish with others.

So I am upending that idea by saying put your self first in your stay at home mom schedule.

This means that you do what matters to you first before others are ready to wake.

That way you are happy and feel way more accomplished and ready to serve others.

For example, if you value your spiritual life and I think you should, then find the time to pray and read your bible before others wake up.

It will help you focus more and be able to serve them better.

I once had a routine where I wake up by 3 am to pray and read my bible. It served me well because it helped me to read the bible and meditate before the day begins.

Also because I get to pray without interruption I feel fulfilled having talked with my heavenly father.

I must confess that I have botched that routine for now. But I am willing to look for a better time.

The reason I could not sustain it was because it meant I had to go back to bed again. Which was always not so smooth because it takes time to get back to sleeping again.

I believe that I will shift it up to an hour up and see how it goes.

By putting yourself first in your stay at mom’s schedule, you do others the favor of having a more pleasant mom to deal with.

8-Create cues that will help them follow your schedule

Kids have a perchance for forgetting instructions, the best way to keep your rules reinforced is by keeping a timetable for each activity.

You can also design cues that have simple instructions to help them remember.

For example, to reinforce toilet etiquette, you can keep cue cards that read

After use, wipe, flush and wash, diagrammatic representations will do better as kids easily take to pictures than words.

9-Deal with your meal planning before it upends your schedule:

There is nothing that tanks a stay-at-home mom schedule like not planning your meals.

If you do a one-week meal plan ahead of time, you will save yourself a ton of stress.

For example, you have your schedule all planned and going smoothly until you opened the fridge and your milk is finished.

That’s when you realize that your schedule for the day is about to go out the window.

If you are lucky you can switch the meals you were ready to make and move on.

But if its a must-have which your family is already looking forward to, you will have to dash to the store.

If you have kids at home at that time, that dash may take up to an hour.

So planning your meals is really essential to keeping your stay-at-home mom schedule running smoothly.

A good meal plan well done ahead of time saves you unnecessary heartache.

10-Cinch Up Your Schedule With a Plan:

As a stay at home mom, you will do your self the greatest duty of being intentional with your parenting.

This means you have a goal that you seek to achieve with each activity you do at home.

You are not just running without any plans.

You see, you can create a great stay-at-home mom schedule. But without a plan, it’s at best like fighting a war without a strategy on how to win.

A strategic plan stems from your first defining what is important to you as a family and then implementing it as tasks in your routines.

This will help you to achieve your parenting goals.

For example, you want your kids to have a relationship with the Lord. Then you must create time for prayer and reading the bible.

You want them to learn how to cook, then you have to create the time to involve them in your cooking activity.

Pre-plan all these activities in your planner and then follow through.

That is why you cannot do without a stay at home mom planner, because its the key to helping you to keep abreast of what is happening in your home.

For example, if your kids should have learned a life skill by the end of this quarter.

Planning for it at the beginning of the year will help you keep track of your progress.

11-Be Flexible with your schedule:

We can plan all we can but times change and interruptions happen. Be willing to allow for such interruptions and don’t let them deter you.

For example, this week my kids were under the weather. I could not keep up with my routines and plans because they needed special care. Mama has to be there for them.

Creating a stay at home mom schedule that is hinged on a well laid out plan is the greatest service you can do for yourself as a mom.

It helps you keep all aspects of your home running smoothly and also be able to achieve your family goals.

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