Have you ever felt like like you couldn’t figure out where your time went, even if you were busy the entire day? I was like that with my newborn then. I felt like I did a lot of stuff because I was exhausted at the end of the day and yet, how come I feel like I didn’t accomplish anything?! I felt so unproductive, so overwhelmed, and so frustrated. It probably contributed to my depression. I didn’t know then that what I needed was a stay at home mom schedule.
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Importance of a Stay at Home Mom Schedule
There are many reasons why creating a routine or a schedule is important. It’s not just for work or business, or for school or for your baby. As a former SAHM, now a WAHM, here are my top reasons:
Better time management
It helps me organize my time for activities. I create a to-do list for the day (and week!) on my phone, in a notepad app. Since I usually list down activities that I do almost everyday, I have a good sense of how much time I spend on each activity, making it easy for me to understand where my time goes and how I can manage it better.
Helps me focus
I get things done smoothly and efficiently when I have my schedule. I know what to prioritize, what to do next and so on. I rarely sit, look around and think, what do I have to do next, which just makes me feel more stressed and anxious.
Improved productivity
I don’t get stressed out with work deadlines, or when I see the laundry piling up, the dishes in the sink, etc. By the time I finish even just half of my work or chores, it already gives me that sense of accomplishment, knowing that I got some shit done at least, and I didn’t waste my time on seemingly endless chores.
Gives me a sense of control
You know that feeling of not accomplishing anything even though you felt like you did a lot of work that day? I stopped feeling that way when I finally had a sense of structure to my day. If I don’t finish some tasks for the day, I just list them for the next day. I don’t worry about it that much. It gives me a sense of control and I don’t feel overwhelmed and helpless anymore.
How to Schedule Your Day as a Stay at Home Mom
Break it down to the 3 different parts of the day
It’s usually morning, afternoon and evening.
Think of what you usually do during those times
What are the major activities that you do on an almost daily basis? List them down and spread it accordingly, on the 3 different parts of the day.
Allow some wiggle room.
I printed a daily routine during the semi-lockdown before but we never strictly follow it. It only serves as a guide to structure and break down our day.
I always allow for some flexibility whenever I plan anything with my kid because no matter how established our routine is, one can never know what might happen on any given day. My kid might get distracted with a toy and might decide to delay naptime (which always happens, btw). Or she might prefer a quiet time during our supposed to be outdoor/ exercise time.
Whatever the case might be, I always allow for some wiggle room in our schedule.
Print it and put it up somewhere visible
If you have a new routine, print it and put it up in an area where you’ll always see it every day. Get familiar with it, ingrained in your mind and after a while, I guarantee you, everything will be second nature to you. You won’t even be looking at that print out anymore!
12 Stay at Home Mom Schedule From Real Moms
If you want to get some ideas on how to create your schedule or maybe tweak it a little bit, check out samples of stay at home mom schedules below. Most have multiple young kids – with toddlers and babies, 1 preschooler and 3 elementary boys, etc. I edited and shortened some of them but it’s still an accurate version of what their routines look like.
Scroll to the last one to check out the daily schedule we used to have when the semi-lockdown happened and our daily routine after that.
I hope the schedules below can give you an idea on how to structure your time:
Pure Wow
Emma Singer is a mom of 2 – a baby and preschooler and has been a SAHM for 5 years. Here is how her schedule looks like:
Rookie Moms
I can’t seem to find the name of the author but she has 5 kids. If you also have multiple kids, check out her schedule to get some ideas on how to manage your time handling the children and the chores. Below is more or less, her daily schedule for the day. Visit her blog for a detailed description of her stay at home mom schedule.
Your Modern Family
Becky has also multiple kids and she came up with this schedule when her youngest is in preschool and her 3 older boys were in elementary school.
Our Daily Mess
Katie is a former special ed preschool teacher turned SAHM with 2 kids. Below is her schedule:
Rapt Motherhood
Allyson has a 3 year old and a 7 month old. Below is how her daily schedule looks like:
Home By Jenn
Jenn has 2 daughters and here’s how here daily schedule looks like:
The Incremental Mama
Erin has 4 girls, born in under 5 years and is a history professor. Below is her daily schedule for a toddler and a baby:
Our Small Hours
Allison has 3 little boys and this was her schedule before, when her kids were toddlers:
Learning Momma
Holly has 2 little girls and below is her daily schedule:
The Moms at Odds
Rachel has 3 sons and below is her daily schedule:
The Mommyhood Club
Jenni has 3 kids and this is how her schedule looks like:
My Stay at Home Mom Schedule
This was our semi-lockdown daily schedule, when we couldn’t freely go out for more than 2 months:
It’s not pretty I know, but it did its job. I made it this way, not only for my own sanity but to also expose my kid to the basic concept of time, teach her days of the week, etc.
We don’t strictly follow this, it’s just a guideline for me to structure our day. Her morning chinese lesson and afternoon playtime includes TV time, where I get to have a breather and work for my part-time job. But most of my work and some of my chores and errands are done at night.
After the semi-lockdown ended and my kid can go to childcare again, my routine became like this:
Our weekends at home then will be scheduled like this:
Yes, I make my daughter watch TV for more than an hour on weekends. But only on weekends. Weekdays, we have a no TV rule. I want to implement that as early as possible so she’ll get used to not watching TV on school days and just focus on school work and free play.
I hope these examples can give you an idea on how to structure your day. Let me know if you already have one in mind or you’re still trying to figure it out by commenting below. Share also how many kids you have and their ages! I would love to hear from you soon! 🙂
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It is good to know the schedule of so many moms. I really want to implement some of these. Thanks for sharing!!!
An organise schedule, jot it down so that nothing will miss. Thanks for sharing this.
Great post! We have 5 kids as well, so I would say we are more in line with the Rookie Moms schedule!