How to be productive as a stay at home mum
How I learnt to be PRODUCTIVE as a stay at home Mum
‘I used to be an organized person.’
‘What happened to all your lists? You used to be so organized!’
That was me, in the midst of the hectic, crazy life of babies, toddlers, more babies and kinder kids.
How on EARTH do I be productive as a stay at home mum? How do other Mums stay organized? I thought.
I can’t even get the washing done, stay on top of dishes, let alone actually think about what’s for dinner… and it’s already lunchtime! *facepalm
Organization, for me, has always functioned quite well in my head (like a diary of the week’s activities) but as for achieving tasks, I have always liked daily lists like this to-do printable I can use daily!
But for awhile there, it was too much of a job to actually write a list.
I couldn’t focus my brain on it. I was too needed, too busy, too reactive to what was consistently going on around me at home.
(Just quietly, those who wonder what a Stay at home Mamadoes all day, need to just watch them sometime. It’s definitely not just drinkcoffee with friends.)
So I was struggling with my organization-and then I suddenlyhad a few brainwaves.
There were a couple of major reasons I was struggling.
1: I was still working from my ‘none or one child’ mentality.
This for me meant putting ‘1 load of washing’ on my listmight be great for when I had just the one child, whereas now I need to do 2most days to keep up!
It also meant that when I get meat out of the freezer todefrost for the night’s dinner, it doesn’t work if I’m too late, as we needmore meat so it doesn’t defrost in time now. Just another example.
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2: My expectations of myself were WAY too high!
(This was the main reason I was struggling so much)
I was still expecting myself to actually achieve a lot inthe daytime. Now, I have a child at school as well as one who needs a sleep inthe daytime, and one who is in between. School runs are crazy and take up SOmuch time usually; not to mention the two tiny humans who are my constantcompany throughout the day.
I don’t know about you, but it’s HARD to achieve anything when your 16 month old son is climbing everything-and when he’s not, he’s following his sister and taking her toys. (He’s learning, yes, but he’s still a tiny kid!)
See my post here about '3 Ways to Stop Destructive Behaviour in your Toddler'
I’m on call 24/7, basically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOHbyCvJSoY
Whenever I start anything, I am quickly reminded that I need to be watching, available all the time in case:
-Miss 3 needs help in the toilet
-Mr 1 is eating/throwing/taking/climbing/drawing onsomething he isn’t meant to.
-When Miss 6 is home she often wants to ask me deepquestions amidst all this
-I still need to cook dinner, listen to a reader, take kidsto swimming, playgroup, dancing, mop the floor….
Yikes!
how to be productive as a stay at home mum
Do you ever feel like this? The list just goes on!
So how do I be productive as a stay at home mum?
Here’s what I came up with:
1: My expectations of myself need to be achievable and need to be planned accordingly.
My to-do lists are just overwhelming if I don’t get to achieve more than two things each day. So what does this mean? I write down the needed tasks for the day and start to focus on being satisfied with getting these done.
This is what our household needs to run-and as I focus on these tasks with my list, I tend to get them done faster.
2: I do the most annoying tasks first (as much as I can).
I just CANNOT stand the dishes, so I quickly try to just do the dishes first thing, or when I’m cooking tea if possible.
I find even committing myself to washing 15 dishes while I make tea helps me SO much because it’s already completed so much of the job!
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3: I ask for help.
My husband helps me when he gets a chance, but as my children get older they can start to help me. My 6 year old helps with dishes, taking the rubbish out and keeping her things tidy (they never are, but we’re working on it!).
My 3 year old has to straighten the shoes every day before she watches TV. She is small, but big enough to understand and do her part. Being part of a family involves contribution, not just watching parents run themselves ragged, in my opinion. (But neither should a child be taken advantage of and worked hard. It’s a careful balance!)
Lastly, I give myself grace and space.
When I’ve had a crazy day with too many commitments, I find things go a bit to pieces at home. I need to give myself GRACE as I’m not perfect, but SPACE as an intentional thing.
These ways are how I stay (mostly) organized and (generally) productive as a stay at home mum.
And when I fall down and am notproductive for awhile-for whatever reason?
I go back to this basic mentality and pick myself back up.
There is no need for guilt trips here.
No one is perfect-but it IS important to get back up.
Do you have a great idea for staying productive as a stay at home mum? Pop it in the comments below- we can all use whatever ideas we can get!
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