How To Be More Productive At Home: 7 Tips for Busy Moms

Want to be More Productive at Home? These Productivity Tips Are a Big Help.

Is your to-do list a mile long and you have no idea how to accomplish everything? You are not alone.

As a mom, I know its important to get your to-do items out of the way so you can have more quality time with your family, but with your insane schedule, it just doesn’t seem possible.

Well, I’m here today to help you be more productive at home so it will be much easier to get through your daily tasks which will allow you to live a more balanced life.

What is the Definition of Productivity?

The Oxford Dictionary states that being productive means “doing or achieving a lot.”  This can also mean having positive results.

Productivity 100% impacts our daily lives. We all wish to achieve and have positive results with our areas of focus, so today I’m going to talk about how you can introduce 7 new ways to be productive at home even when you are insanely busy.

Here are 7 Productivity Tips To Start at Home Today

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7 Productivity Tips To Start at Home Today

1. Prioritize Your Tasks

Dedicate 15 minutes a day (either the night before or first thing in the morning) to create a to-do list and prioritize your tasks.

How do you prioritize when everything seems important?!

You will have some must-do items on your to-do list. These tasks absolutely must happen. You will, therefore, prioritize these to-do list items above everything else.

A great way to prioritize is to focus on these categories first:

1. Items that are time-sensitive
2. Tasks that impact your finances
3. Tasks that impact the important people in your life (including yourself)

Everything else you wish to do is extra and can most likely move to another day if you don’t have time to complete.

Tip: Complete your must-do tasks at the beginning of your day. This is a time that your mind is most fresh. By working on your most important tasks at the beginning of the day also means you can make sure you actually complete these items.

2. Create a Daily Schedule

Once you have prioritized your to-do list items it will be that much easier to create a schedule for the day.

Here’s a great way to set up your schedule:

• Use a calendar or daily planner to take note of your priorities and tasks.
• Start by adding in your must-do items. These are things you absolutely have to do like making dinner, taking your child to basketball or finishing a proposal for your job.
• Make sure to add in one self care item to your must-do list, like going to your weekly yoga class or writing in your gratitude journal.
• Then add in the items you would like to accomplish such as working on an important project, seeing a friend for coffee or calling your mom.

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3. Time Block Important Tasks

If you have something you absolutely must complete getting out your timer and setting it for a specific period of time is a fantastic habit.

All you need to do it set your timer (kitchen timer, phone timer) for a specified period of time, for example, 30 minutes, 1 hour or 1 hour 30 minutes.

Within this period of time (as the clock is counting down), work on your task and don’t do anything else. This means removing all other distractions like social media and notifications from your phone.

So put your phone in a different room and if you are working on your computer close all unnecessary windows that are not related to your task at hand.

You can also use time blocking to complete chores around the house or even to allocate time for self care!

Related: Time Blocking Your Way to a Balanced Life

 

4. Add Self Care to Your Daily Routine

If you don’t have time to unwind throughout your day, your productivity will be affected.

Happiness directly impacts levels of productivity according to a study conducted by The University of Warwick. The study found that “happiness made people around 12% more productive.“

This is why good companies focus heavily on employee satisfaction. We, of course, can also take these learnings and apply them to our home lives.

It’s therefore crucial that you fuel your mind and body. Doing so will give you daily balance so it will be easier to stay focused on the task at hand when you get back to your tasks of the day.

What are some daily self care activities you can try?

• Go for a walk
• Stretch
• Read a book
• Eat a healthy lunch
• Take a mindful tea or coffee break
• Download your thoughts into a journal
• Exercise
• Call a friend

In one of my popular posts Self Care 101, I share 9 other things you can do to make more time for you, so make sure to read this self care list so you can make a difference to your day.

5. Define Work Zones By Your Environment

Lately, I’ve been listening to Atomic Habits by James Clear and one of the key principles he talks about is your environment.

“Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.” – James Clear

The theory is that if you define each environment by different behaviours you can drastically improve your productivity and your mindset.

For example – your bedroom is associated with sleeping, so if you decide to work on your laptop from bed this will mess up two things…

1. The work you are trying to complete on your laptop will not be successful as your brain is hardwired to associate your bedroom with sleeping, hence your productivity will be low.
2. If you begin working from your bedroom regularly it will ultimately affect your sleep habits as you will associate your bed with working on your laptop.

This is why creating defined zones in your home will help you be more motivated and productive.

James Clear even adds to “make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment.” That way it will be even easier to get more accomplished.

How do you create work zones?

Think about where you do things each day and use each place in your home for its optimal use.

Here are some examples:

• Livingroom sofa = relaxation and family time
• Bedroom = reading and sleeping
• Desk = working
• Comfy chair = writing in your journal, reading and relaxing

You don’t need to be 100% stringent with this but think of it more as a mindset for each part of your home.

If you work from home this is especially important.

Create a dedicated workspace if possible. If you have an office this is the best, but if you have a smaller house like myself this might be harder to accomplish. Therefore make sure to create a dedicated space to put your work away each night.

I have a shelf where I keep my laptop, binders and notebooks for work so when I finish for the day the best thing I can do is put it all away so the space (my dining room table) can be used for dinner and family time.

6. Have a Place for All of Your Belongings

A cluttered home is a cluttered mind. So, having a dedicated space for all the items in your home makes being productive so much easier.

Here are two of the biggest clutter culprits that you need to find a home for:

Paper clutter

I will assume that you hate paper clutter as much as I do, so you need to find a home for it. A few ways to do this is to:

• Create a family binder to organize your papers. You can create sections for school, bills, receipts, coupons, etc. Give this binder an easy access home so everyone can use it and refer to it.
• Have an inbox and complete system. All items that need action such as paying bills, completing school forms, etc go into your inbox. Once complete you can put into your complete file or tray to later recycle, file or shred.
• File your important documents in a 25 pocket file organizer and have sections for ‘to be filed’ and ‘to be shredded’ for times you need to put paper away quickly.

Shoes, bags and coats

We have a family of 4 plus a dog and the shoe and coat clutter can be insane – especially in the winter. Add on sports equipment, school projects and the front of our house can get overwhelmingly messy if we’re not mindful of putting things away.

I don’t know how big families have space for everything, so if you are a big family, please leave your declutter tips in the comments below!

Great ways to take care of shoe, bag and coat clutter (especially if you have an older home with suboptimal storage):

• Store your shoes in a good quality shoe storage cabinet in your hallway or basement – this is perfect for shoes that are off-season or only worn for special occasions.
• Only have the coats you’re wearing now in the front of your home. All other coats can go in each individual’s closet or in a dedicated space in the basement or garage. (My husband loves buying storage bins for  jackets, snow pants and other winter items in the warmer seasons).
• Add a small basket for winter items such as gloves scarves and hats
• Weekly sports items can live somewhere other than your front entrance. In the trunk of your car, in the basement or the garage – just anywhere other than the front door!

7. Meal Plan

Meal planning is a great way to ensure you have healthy meals, can stick to a budget and have food available when it’s time to eat!

I don’t know about you, but there have been SO many times at the end of my workday that I have wondered what on earth I’m going to make for dinner. Therefore one of my big goals right now is to create a weekly meal plan and stick to it.

To help, I’ve created this printable weekly meal planning template which includes a full grocery list, to make things easier.

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How To Be More Productive at Home: Conclusion

Being more productive at home as a busy mom directly correlates to creating a better balance in your life.

What can better balance mean?

• Feeling accomplished
• Making a positive impact on your families lives

This results in feeling greater happiness and meaning in your life.

Want more inspiration?

Read these Related Productivity Articles:

• How to Create a Mindful Morning Routine
• 5 Easy Ways to Find Time in Your Busy Schedule
• Simple Ways to Organize Your Home – Tips from a Minimalist
• Time Blocking Your Way to a Balanced Life

What Productivity Hacks Are You Going to Try?

Share in the comments below.

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Yolanda xo