The Productive Mom
Do you ever feel like your life is going by too quickly? Are you constantly trying to pick up the pieces and you just don’t know how to keep up? If this sounds like something you’re dealing with, this article will give you the tools you need to lower your stress and get the job done.
These steps are not painful, and they won’t take up all your time. They’re paths to success that nearly every person can do, and they won’t leave you feeling tired and exhausted at the end of the day.
1. Decluttering the Home
● You don’t have to live a spartan life in order to be organized. It can be simpler than that. Decluttering is a really good way to start the process of organization. Here are some really good reasons to start your organizational process by decluttering your home:
○ Clutter makes you feel claustrophobic. It can make it feel like the room is caving in on you.
○ It’s been proven -- clutter causes stress.
○ It’s easier to stay organized when you know what you have.
○ Once you declutter, you’ll have more space to work with.
○ It’s easier to clean when you have fewer belongings.
○ You’ll have more time to do what you love when you have fewer things to worry about.
○ Fewer things mean you have less to dust -- who has time to dust every little knick-knack? Not me!
● If you try to take on the whole house at once, you’ll likely feel overwhelmed. Chances are you'll quit before you make much progress. You may be in the spirit to kick out all your rubbish, but take it one room at a time. Try choosing common areas that you use often. Popular places to start are your kitchen or living room.
● Let’s say you start by decluttering your kitchen. Ask yourself these questions about each item:
Do I use this item? Do I like this item? How often do I use it? When was the last time I used it? Do I already have four of the same thing? Do I need that many? Am I only keeping this because someone gave it to me? Can I replace this item with something smaller? I didn’t remember I owned this item, but I love it. How do I fit it into my life?
● As a general rule, if something is broken and can’t be repaired (or would be costly to repair) toss it. No one wants your broken donations. If it’s in great shape but you no longer want it or need it, donate it or sell it in a yard sale or on your local Facebook flea market page.
● It’s 100% okay to keep things that you love. You don’t need to throw away something that holds sentimental value to you or brings you happiness. Just ensure that each item you own has a place. If your children seem to have too many toys that they can’t part with, you can create a toy rotation so that only a certain amount of toys are available to play with at a time.
2. Set Up A Cleaning Schedule
● A cleaning schedule is a fantastic way to help keep your house in order. Your home may not always be pristine, but you’ll be amazed by the difference you’ll feel in your overall stress by implementing a simple cleaning schedule.
● Certain household chores need to be done every day. You can’t wash your dishes once a week and you’ll have a big mess if the kids’ toys aren’t picked up regularly. For other things, you can allocate a day for each task.
● To create a schedule, determine what things need to be done daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. You can decide what works best for you and your family.
● Once you’ve assessed how often you want to do each task, assign a day for them, such as: Mondays are for bathrooms, Tuesdays are for cutting the grass, Wednesdays are for dusting and washing sheets, and so on. For monthly and yearly tasks, write them on the calendar so you remember to do them.
● Many mothers who work or have busy schedules also outsource some of their work. Consider hiring someone to tackle the cleaning tasks.
3. Meal Planning and Meal Prep
● Planning and prepping your meals eliminates a lot of stress. You won’t have to wonder if you have enough groceries or find yourself panicking at three in the afternoon because you forgot to think about dinner. Setting up a meal plan saves time, money, and takes the burden off thinking “what will we eat today?”
● Meal planning is fairly simple -- and it’s entirely relative to how many people you’re feeding, what you like to eat, and how many meals you want to plan. Some people plan each meal for the week including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Others choose to only plan dinners. You get to choose a style that works best for you and your family.
● Once you decide how many meals you want to make, it’s time to sit down and plan. To do this, you just need to write down each day of the week and include whatever mealtimes you’re planning for. Try to choose meals that you know your family enjoys and are not overly difficult to make.
● Another thing to consider is how often you plan on grocery shopping. Some people shop for groceries several times a week and others shop several times a month. If you only go every few weeks, remember to use up your fresh produce early before it goes bad.
● What exactly is meal prep? Some meal preppers make all of their meals at the beginning of the week and store them in their fridges and freezers to use for the rest of the week. Others prepare individual ingredients that can be used to make meals for the rest of the week. There are no wrong answers here.
● The main goal of meal prep is to make things easier for yourself for the remainder of the week. It saves time and energy, and it also alleviates mental stress throughout the week.
● You can do meal prep in a number of ways:
○ Prep Individual Ingredients: This may look like chopping up vegetables, cooking chicken, or cooking potatoes. You can choose which items would be most helpful to prepare in advance or you can prepare an assortment of individual ingredients so that you can mix and match ingredients when it’s time to eat.
○ Batch Meals: Leftovers are key here. When you choose meals that are both tasty and reheat well, you can cook enough for more than one meal.
○ Freezer Meals: When it comes to convenience, it’s hard to beat freezer meals. Many grocery stores have family sized portions so that you don’t have to buy individualized meals.
○ Prepare snacks: You can wash and package up portions of fruit or create serving sizes of snack foods that are easy to grab-and-go.
○ Premade Meals: You may have a local spot that creates premade meals. If not, there are plenty of companies that will now deliver meals to your home (usually involves a subscription!).
● Another option is creating full meals at the beginning of the week that are completely cooked. These could include freezer meals or meals that are stored in the fridge and just need a reheat.
4. Cleaning and Organization with Kids
● One of the best ways to keep the house organized is to get the kids involved with the cleaning and organizing process.
● Even very small children can be included in cleaning and putting things away. You can begin teaching them when they’re very little to be mindful of their toys and to put away something before getting something new out.
● A place for everything. Help kids keep their belongings organized with places to return their things easily -- bins, drawers, and more. You can include pictures or words on the front of bins, so they know exactly what belongs there.
● Organize their school belongings. Have a designated place for their coats, shoes, and backpacks. If they’re younger, help them go through their backpacks each day to sort their paperwork. If they take lunch to school, ask them to unpack it so it can be ready for the next day.
● Help them declutter their own belongings. Help them understand that they don’t have to keep toys that are broken or that they no longer use or want.
● Teaching your kids to help around the house allows them to learn responsibility and lets them know that they are part of the community of your home.
● They’re not only capable of helping out, but it also teaches them lifelong skills, like contributing to a group and thinking about the needs of others. It also helps them develop a work ethic.
● Chores for children ages 2-3:
○ Pick up toys and put them in bins or designated areas
○ Put laundry in the hamper
○ Wipe up spills
○ Help load washer and dryer
○ Wipe walls and baseboards with a wet cloth (they’ll probably think this is fun)
● Chores for children ages 4-5:
○ Put away belongings
○ Help with laundry
○ Carry and put away groceries
○ Set the table
○ Help clear the table
● Chores for children ages 6-8:
○ Help care for pets
○ Fold and put away laundry
○ Vacuum
○ Match socks
○ Wipe down counters and sinks
● Chores for children ages 9-12:
○ Help wash the car
○ Learn to wash dishes or load and unload the dishwasher
○ Rake leaves
○ Learn to wash laundry/switch loads
○ Take care of pets
● Chores for children ages 13-18:
○ Do the laundry
○ Wash the dishes
○ Take out the trash
○ Help prepare meals
○ Clean windows
○ Clean bathrooms
○ Mop the floor
○ Sweep the floor
○ Help with many outdoor chores
● Don’t feel discouraged if your kids don’t seem capable of doing some of the things on this list at any particular age. This is a basic guideline and does not account for many variables. Kids develop differently and not all are able to do the same things at the same age.
5. Digital Organization
● When you think about organization, you may not first think about your digital presence. But researchers are now considering digital clutter as a stressor. Not only that, but digital clutter slows down your digital devices. Cleaning up your digital devices can help make your life more functional.
● Major areas that become disorganized:
○ Hundreds or thousands of emails (many unopened)
○ Messy desktops (loads of files and pictures right on the desktop)
○ Hundreds or thousands of unfiled pictures on smartphones
○ Unfiled documents on the desktop
○ Unemptied download file
○ Desktop and smartphone trash bin
○ Google Drive Storage
● Declutter your inbox. Some businesses send multiple emails every day. Unless they’re your favorite store in the world, unsubscribe. The same can be true for social media updates. What should you do with your remaining emails? If you’ve already read them, delete them from your inbox or file them into categories.
● Delete your extra pictures. Pictures take up a LOT of space on your phones and hard drives. Delete multiples, pictures you don’t like, and pictures you don’t care about. Once you’ve deleted all the photos you don’t want or need from your digital devices, put the “keepers” on your desktop inside relevant folders.
● Empty your downloaded files, trash bins, desktop, and history. After a few years, you’ll be amazed by how many digital files are all over your computer. Most of them can probably be deleted, but the important ones should be filed into their own folders.
6. Organize your time
● Establish a time and place for certain activities or tasks you’d like to accomplish. Time blocking can be a really effective way to create space for focus.
● If you notice a pattern of wanting to accomplish something and it continues to slip your mind, creating a list and scheduling time for specific goals will help you reach these goals. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
○ Establish realistic expectations. If your goal is to read a book, don’t aim to read the whole book in one sitting. A more realistic expectation would be to establish 30 minutes for reading or a certain amount of chapters in one sitting.
○ Identify priorities within your goals. Are you taking on too much? Is there something that you are able to put off until another time? Is there something that takes precedence over other goals?
○ Identify distractions and helpers. Ask yourself what will hinder you from achieving stated goals and what will help you achieve those goals
○ Remind yourself that your time is valuable. How do you want to spend it?
6. Find Time for Relaxation and Rest (The Power of Doing Nothing)
● In order to be productive, you need to rest. It’s important to spend time doing things you enjoy. Certainly, by now you’ve heard the term self-care. It may sound silly to you or you may fully embrace it, but moms need time to recharge and refresh.
● Don’t do it all yourself. Today’s moms try to do it all. Many are working full-time jobs, running to all the practices and after-school events, and still making dinner each night.
○ If you have a partner, work out ways to share the innumerable tasks. You can include the kids as well! Ask grandparents to pitch in if they’re able or hire a babysitter to watch the kids for a few hours each week so that you can do something you love.
● Take breaks during the day. Maybe you prefer reading a book or going for a walk, talking to a friend on the phone, or creating something. Don’t miss out on these small pleasures during the day.
● Decide on a time when you’re done for the day. Pick a time of day when you intentionally sit down and set aside your tasks. Your long list of to-dos will be there tomorrow, but your body and mind need rest.
● Get some rest. If your kids sleep through the night, try to create a habit of getting to bed at a reasonable time. Set aside your screens, read a book, and get some shut eye.
○ If you’re often up with a little one during the night, understand that it is a season of your life. Lower your expectations for the number of things you will accomplish. Take naps when you can and ask for plenty of help.
You can do this.
Productivity as a mother may look different than it did in your pre-motherhood days. Your responsibilities have shifted and it's okay if this shifts your priorities.
Less is more. Less clutter, fewer belongings, and simple tasks will make your ability to feel productive much more attainable.
You were never meant to do it all or do it alone. Challenge yourself to ask for help if it’s not given. Preserving your energy and mentality is just as, if not more important as a mother.
Change takes time. The tips provided above can alleviate stress, but don’t feel like you need to change it all at once. Incorporate these changes at a steady and reasonable pace so that you can experience the long-term change you are looking for. Any small change that benefits you is worth celebrating. You can do this. If you discover that you need some support in this crazy journey of life, I am always here for you to schedule a free first session.