Effective Time Management for Busy Moms: 10 Top Tips

There’s no doubt about it. In general, moms are busy. Everyone is busy. Too busy to enjoy life. Maybe even too busy to have enough time to build quality relationships with your family with family time. So, what are some time management tips for moms? Are you looking for how to stop being busy?

Even as a stay-at-home mom you can become overwhelmed by the busyness of your life, but what if you’re a working mom as well? You may be involved in a church small group, MOPS, or homeschool co-op, volunteering, kids’ sports, and/or music lessons. This doesn’t even account for grocery shopping, other errands, schooling, house cleaning, etc.! 

It doesn’t have to be this way! There are ways to simplify and manage your time more effectively.

Time Management for Moms

You may be wondering, how can I stop being busy all the time? How do I manage my time? You’ve already determined that your life is too busy, so let’s jump into the following time management tips for moms. These will help to simplify your schedule so you’re not so busy.

We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day, so take your time figuring these things out and prioritizing your schedule. Unfortunately, just reading about managing your time doesn’t equate to things actually running more smoothly!

1. Know the benefits of time management

Often as moms, we don’t even take the time to think about how our lives could be different if we practiced time management. Personally, I used to kind of drift through life doing things as needed, but I didn’t have a plan. This led to so much stress in my life.

That’s why I want to share these benefits of time management with you. Knowing how time management can help you will help you be more motivated to put in the work to manage your time better. This list isn’t exhaustive, but will give you an idea of what you can look forward to!

Less stress

Unless you’ve already simplified and streamlined your life, you probably are having a good bit of stress. Like being too busy, stress has negative impacts on our physical and emotional health, especially over time. Less stress is a fantastic benefit of time management.

Greater productivity

Did you ever get to the end of a day and feel like you did nothing? Even though you were busy all day? By putting time management into place, you are more likely to actually be productive. You won’t just be busy.

More time

By managing your time well, you will be more likely to have more time to spend in other ways. You will have more time to relax, more time with your family, and more time to focus on your work or ministry.

Fewer distractions

When you don’t have a plan, it’s so easy to get distracted. By using good time management practices, you will be less distracted by things that don’t matter. You will be more focused on what needs to happen in a particular time.

More confidence

Many moms tell me that they struggle with time management. This can have a negative impact on your confidence. However, as you manage your time well, accomplish more, and live more purposefully, your confidence levels will increase.

Time Management for Moms pinterest pin with picture of clock and clipboard

2. Prioritize your to-do list

I have mentioned prioritizing before, but make a list of the people and activities that are of top importance to you. The non-negotiables. Relationships are what add value to life, so schedule your time to prioritize relationships over activities and things. For example, people to prioritize could be your immediate family, extended family, and a close group of friends or church group. Activities will greatly vary by person and time of life. Examples could be church, Bible study, healthy meals, homeschooling, and family night; or volunteering, mom’s group, family hikes, and kid sports. This will also change as you go through different seasons, so re-evaluate from time to time. You want to live intentionally.

3. Start Meal Planning

I love meal planning! Meal planning was one of the things that made a huge difference when I felt so overwhelmed as a mom. In fact, it’s one of the things I make sure the moms I work with know how to do! If you haven’t yet done this, be sure to start. Part of meal planning will be making your grocery list and doing your grocery shopping to get what you need.

Effective Time Management for Christian Moms course picture

4. Know your limits

You are different than I am and may be able to handle more busyness in your life without becoming stressed. You may be more extroverted and thrive on interaction with others. Or, you may be more introverted like I am, and love being home most of the time.

There’s no right or wrong here, but you need to figure out yourself. At what point is your mind just jumping to the next thing instead of living intentionally right where you are? Are you noticing that you’re more impatient with your children? Do you have time to just relax at home? How many evenings a week are you okay with being on the go? These are ways to help you notice if you’re too busy. I have learned that I can’t handle too many extras, so I try not to be involved in too much as a family.

5. Have a daily routine

Having routines is crucial for effective time management. In fact, this is one of my favorite time management tips! Have a morning routine, evening routine, a routine for household chores, exercise routine, etc. By building routines around the tasks you do on a regular basis, you are sure they get done. It also takes the decision out of it, and you know we have enough decisions to make in our lives, right?!

6. Schedule your time

Maybe you’re like me and are not a “schedule” person. Trust me though, it will help to just have something basic to help you in scheduling your time. I still love my wall calendar! Whether you like a paper planner or a digital calendar, write down your weekly non-negotiables If you like to have some days with nothing extra, schedule them! Schedule a family day/evening or monthly extended family get-together. 

Having a weekly planning session to plan your entire week can be super helpful. Many moms like to do this on Sunday nights. You can try a written schedule that’s just a list or something like a block scheduling. You are much less likely to waste time if you have things planned out.

7. Minimize extra errands for time management

Another great time management tip is minimizing extra errands. You don’t need to stop at the store every 2-3 days to grab dinner if you have planned ahead. You don’t need to go to the grocery store one day, the post office another day, and the thrift store a third day. To simplify your schedule, try to run errands in one day by combining them into one bigger trip. 

Yes, this can be trying if you have littles, but plan a time when they’re generally happy…and it’s not nap time! Mornings worked best for me when my children were young. This is a great time management strategy.

8. Learn to say no

Some of us love to please or help others. We hate saying no and possibly hurting someone’s feelings. However, you won’t be able to simplify your schedule if you say yes to everything! Remember your priorities. Have a line ready to go when someone asks you to do something. “Let me get back to you about that.” “Let me check my calendar, and I will get back to you.” “I need to pray about this before I commit.” Take time to ask yourself some hard questions before you commit to something new.

Want to learn more about living a simple life? Maybe you want to live more intentionally or find easier ways to do things. Be sure to learn how you can get started today!

9. Minimize social media

It’s so easy to waste a lot of time on social media! In fact, you may not even realize how much time you’re actually spending on there. If you need more free time in your day, cutting out (or even just way down) on social media can really help.

10. Ask yourself the hard questions

As you finalize your schedule or have the opportunity to add something new, ask yourself some tough questions to help you determine if it is a priority of yours and belongs on your schedule. You are not able to practice time management skills when you are running from one activity to the next.

  • What do I really wish I had time for?
  • If I say “yes” to this, what will I be saying “no” to?
  • Does this fit in with my top priorities and personal values?
  • Does this help me accomplish a goal I have set for myself?
  • Will this bless/benefit others, or is it just for me?
  • Who am I trying to please? Am I doing it because that’s what “everyone” else is doing?

By asking yourself these questions, you are able to focus on the most important things. You are able to spend less time on the things that don’t really matter and more quality time with the most important people and things in your life. Cutting things out of your life may be the biggest challenge, but it’s so worth it!

Effects of being too busy

Are there effects of being too busy? For sure! Being too busy has detrimental emotional, physical, and relational effects. Busyness also causes stress, anxiety, incompetence, headaches, insomnia, detachment, and feelings of being devalued; and these are just a fraction of the symptoms! However, when we slow down, we will notice the opposite of these symptoms. That sounds great to me! So, what are some ways to schedule your time in order to simplify your life?

Stop Being Busy

Okay, busy mom – take an evening this week and sit down with your calendar with the goal of prioritizing and simplifying your schedule. Stop being too busy and take the time to enjoy your life and relationships. Be a good steward of your time as you manage it more effectively. 

If you need a little bit more help, be sure to check out the Effective Time Management for Christian Moms course mentioned above. In this course, I spend time walking you through different stages of learning to manage your time with tips and tricks along the way. You will also get a workbook to go with it.

You may also like:

Why Simplify? 8 Compelling Reasons

15 Ways to Simplify Your Life

45 Brilliant Mom Hacks to Make Life Easier

Author

  • Aimee Niblack

    As a mom for 19 years and a mom coach for 3 years, Aimee shares her expertise with young Christian moms via her blog and coaching business.

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About Author

As a mom for 19 years and a mom coach for 3 years, Aimee shares her expertise with young Christian moms via her blog and coaching business.

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