9 Effective Time Management Tips for Moms

One of the biggest concerns for mothers these days is "Time management". Being mothers we want to nurture our kids in our best possible way by providing nutritious food, required sleep and physical activity balancing all these things along with our household chores and the demanding job will drain out our energy and time. Many of us struggle to find time for ourselves and are just trying to get everything done.

The following time management tips can be useful for busy moms to create more time and energy.

1. Be Organized:

Being organized with schedule and discipline is one of the best time management tips we can get. This may seem like a lot, but once we have a few plans and systems in place it will become easier to maintain if we set a regular time to check-in with these plans (mostly before bed works well to check on how the day went and planning for the next day).

Make a to-do list the night before:

Start to make the top3 list and then making a try to-do list. Your top 3 list should include the 3 most important things that need to get done . Our try to do list will be all the extras you would like to do if you have time. However, try not to make it long. The list can become so overwhelming and disappointing by not doing anything at all.

Scheduling is not only for you it's for kids, kids need consistency and routine even more than we do.

Have a Routine:

To my idea, Most of us are not naturally morning persons, until we become moms.

motherhood state in life doesn’t allow us to have such a leisurely morning routine unless if we have not been a morning person.

Making the most of the morning hours makes a way toward a productive and relatively stress-free day.

creating a morning routine includes “planing about how you need to get planned things done that day” and “spending 15-30 minutes of quiet time meditation” and“following the exact same routine each day.”This definitely makes your day better.

2. Identify the Thieves of Time:

We all have 24 hours a day to accomplish what needs to be done. When we begin to recognize the Thieves of Time, we can begin to reclaim some of our time. The most common time thieves are procrastination, poor planning, Interruptions. Identifying our time thieves is a must to have control of our time.

3. Avoid procrastination:

If a job appears to be hard or big (a reason we often procrastinate), break it into smaller, manageable portions. Schedule time on your calendar to work on each of the smaller portions. If you still find yourself procrastinating, try to determine why. This might help resolve the issue.

A. Stop being a perfectionist: People procrastinate because they are waiting for the perfect time to work on a project. Sometimes you just have to get started!

B.Give yourself several important tasks to accomplish each day: Some days there are certain tasks that we just aren’t prepared to work on for a variety of reasons. If we have other important tasks on the list, we can move on to one of those rather than ending up wasting time.

C.Change your self-talk to be more positive: Instead of telling yourself, “I have” or“I need” to do a task, say internally, “I want” to finish this task. You will be less likely to procrastinate if your mind sees the task as a positive goal rather than something negative that you are dreading.

4.Simplify, simplify, simplify:

De-clutter your personal and professional life. Otherwise, you'll waste time looking for things that have gotten misplaced under piles of stuff. Less stuff more time and energy to spend our time on more valuable things in life. This is the life-changer for me to be more organized and to make me spend my time on the things which matter the most.

5.Delegate:

To ensure that everything is done quickly and correctly we tend to do all household responsibilities our self, putting some effort into getting partners and children to pitch in can really pay off in the long run. Getting kids into the kitchen has other benefits too...they will learn life skills like measurements, self-resistance, coordination, self-esteem the list goes on...

The trick is to break chores into simple tasks and reward people for doing them.

Multitask—but Only When Appropriate. kids and any work which needs our minds to work on, never go hand in hand.

6.Learn When to Say No:

1. Just Say “I’m Sorry—I Can't Do This Right Now"

2. “Let me think about it and get back to you.” This gives you a chance to review your schedule, as well as your feelings about saying "yes" to another commitment, Most importantly, this tactic helps you avoid letting yourself be pressured into over-scheduling your life and taking on too much stress.

3. If you would really like to do what they’re requesting, but don’t have the time. it’s fine to say, “I can’t do this, but I can…” and mention a lesser commitment that you can make. This way you’ll still be partially involved, but it will be on your own terms.

When Saying "No"

Be firm—not defensive or overly apologetic—and polite. This gives the signal that you are sympathetic, but will not easily change your mind if pressured.

Be clear. If you decide to tell the person you’ll get back to them, inform them without fail. If you lead people to believe you’ll likely say "yes" later, they’ll be more disappointed with a later "no."

No excuses are necessary. If asked for an explanation, remember that you really don’t owe anyone one. “It doesn’t fit with my schedule,” is perfectly acceptable.

7.Be Flexible:

While it’s important to have an idea of how you’d like your schedule to look, it’s important to keep things flexible enough to accommodate the unexpected things that moms encounter like sick kids, spilled milk, and the occasional meltdown. Having a rhythm of the day helps to manage our time more efficiently, a time cushion and some backup plans can take the stress out of the unexpected.

8.Take Care of Yourself, Too!:

We always tend to put ourselves last on the list, instead of being the ones who wake up first and last to bed. However, not only is self-care a good idea of physical and emotional health, it’s a good time management tip for moms as well. When we’re tired or haven’t had enough healthy food to function at our best, we’re often less productive and organized. So get quality sleep, eat a healthy diet, do physical exercise, and follow other self-care strategies to have higher energy.

9. Say No to Technology :

We live in a culture that is so attached to technology. Try not to reach for your phone, laptop, tablet, or any other device when you first wake up! So many times when I pick up the phone to see messages received, it ends up binge-watching for another 15-30 min. We may plan to spend 5 minutes browsing social media and end up wasting an hour surfing the web. For me, this is the quickest and easiest way to not only waste time, but lose control of my day.----

Put your phone in another room, or I stack the habit of checking phone only when I have screen time or put a post-it note on it with a reminder so you won’t be tempted to pick it until you made it a habit of checking on specified time. It really amazes me how much more I get done, how much more time I have to spend with my kids, and how much more relaxed I am on the days that I leave my phone alone!

As busy moms, If we aren’t careful our years will get away from us and we won’t even remember how we spent our time. so let's make our moments cherished and memorable by spending time mindfully.