How To Be A More Organized Stay-at-Home Mom: 17+ Practical Tips

SAHM organization, How to be more organized. stay-at-home mom

Are you wondering how you can become a more organized stay-at-home mom? If so, then you’ve come to the right place.

Staying organized is one of the biggest challenges stay-at-home moms face.

There is always so much to do in a day.

Things can become overwhelming pretty quickly when we are chasing after kids, doing chores, and running other errands.

I used to struggle with staying organized as well when I became a SAHM. Through trial and error, I found some ways that worked for me.

In this article, I’ll share those tips with you. I hope it helps you in your life as a SAHM.

Let’s get started!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. For more info please see the disclaimer

How to be a more organized stay-at-home mom

The best way to be a more organized stay-at-home mom is to create a schedule that works for every aspect of your home life. You also need to find ways to reduce your workload.

This involves reducing the amount of laundry and decluttering toys. Using a to-do list, planner or calendar will also help you stay more organized.

Let’s break each one down for more details

Using Productivity tools will help you be a more organized SAHM

Use a calendar every day

Calendars are an essential item to help you become a more organized stay-at-home mom. Make a habit of putting appointments, family visits, playdates, work schedules, and other chores in your calendar every week.

Make sure the calendar syncs between you and your spouse’s phone. That way, he can add events without having to go through you.

When your kids are old enough, you can sync the calendar with their phones too. They’ll be able to input their own events. This will save you time, and make them feel more responsible. The whole family will be on the same page

Have a consistent routine

Routines program your brain to engage in a task quickly and more efficiently. I have a morning routine, night routine, and weekly routines as a stay-at-home mom.

Check out the article below for ideas on creating a schedule/routine

A Stay-at-Home Mom Daily Schedule Template That’ll Help You Organize Your Day

Simple Stay-at-Home Mom Weekly Schedule For Kids Under 5

Stay-at-Home Mom Schedule With Newborn and Infant

By having a consistent routine, your family will know what to expect from you daily. So that they will be able to jump in to help when needed without missing a beat.

Make to-do list

To keep track of all you need to do in a day, a simple to-do list will work. I use sticky notes to write out all I need to do in a day. I try to only write 5 items on my to-do list so I’m not overwhelmed.

If I complete all the tasks, then I’ll add more. Being able to check off a physical paper makes me feel very accomplished.

Use a timer

Part of being a productive mom is being able to hold yourself accountable for all you need to do. One way to hold yourself accountable is to use a timer when you’re doing chores.

The next time you need to clean your kitchen, set a 15 min timer before you begin. Clean as much of the kitchen as you can before the timer goes off. When it does, stop and take a break.

After your break, you can go back to cleaning the kitchen for another 15 minutes or do a different task on your to-do list.

One reason we’re not always productive is that we try to do too much. When you chunk tasks into manageable pieces, you’ll be surprised how much more you’ll accomplish.

Use productivity apps on the AppStore

Why not take advantage of all that technology has to offer to help make our life easier? I use a lot of productivity apps daily to make my day go smoothly.

Some of my favorite apps are Flyladyplus. It gives you a designated cleaning task each day, plus motivational statements to help you get started. I also like Zenden which helps you share a to-do list of tasks with the whole family and assign chores.

To see the complete list of apps I use as a stay-at-home mom, check out 29 Stay-at-Home Mom Apps That Will Help You Simplify Your Life

Decluttering will help you be a more organized stay-at-home mom

Reducing the amount of clutter in your home will help you be a more organized stay-at-home mom. You will know where everything is in each section of your home. Your kids will also be able to help clean up when they know where things should go.

Below are some ways to reduce clutter in your home

Donate or sell old toys

One of the biggest things that cause clutter in our homes is our children’s toys. We buy them more and more toys when they get bored with what they have. Every holiday and birthday, they also get toys.

Before you know it, your house is overflowing with so much clutter. Do your kids really need all these toys? To start decluttering toys from your house, start by putting the toys they’re too old for in a box to donate or sell.

Toys that are age-appropriate, but haven’t been used in over 3 months should also be donated or sold.

Practice toy rotation

Toy rotation is when you put away 90 percent of your kids’ toys and only bring out a few toys for them to play with. It’s completely up to you to determine how frequently you want to rotate their toys. In my home, I bring 5-8 toys out every month.

My kids are still toddlers so they have a short attention span. Toy rotation has many benefits for both you and your kids. It helps reduce clutter and saves you money since you don’t have to buy new toys all the time.

According to firstcry, it encourages kids to use their imagination more. This is because they have to find creative ways to play with an old toy. It also increases their attention span which will result in increased playtime.

Use a toy organizer

When toys have no designated place to go, they end up all over the house. My suggestion to reduce toy clutter is to use the humble crew toy organizer from amazon. It has enough space to store large toys as well as books.

Share Me!

Reduce your laundry load to be a more organized stay-at-home mom

Do laundry twice a week

When you do your laundry twice a week, you will find that there will be less clutter. Doing a small load of laundry twice a week takes less time and effort compared to doing a huge load of laundry once a week.

Consider creating a capsule wardrobe to reduce laundry

A capsule wardrobe is simply a small set of clothes that can be easily mixed and matched to create a complete outfit. For example, a neutral-tone blouse will go with any color of leggings, shorts, or jeans. That’s what a capsule wardrobe should look like.

Capsule wardrobes reduce the amount of laundry you need to do each week. This is because you’re reusing the clothes in your collection. It also saves you from spending money on clothes all the time.

To learn more about how to build your capsule wardrobe, check out Simple Stay-at-Home Mom Capsule Wardrobe Ideas For Spring, Summer, and Fall

Other ways to be a more organized stay-at-home mom

Set your bills on autopay

Having your bills on autopay will reduce your worry about forgetting to pay an important bill. As long as you have money in your account, you’ll always be on time for payments.

This will help free up time for you to do other important things.

Clean when the kids are in bed

One other way to keep your house organized is to clean as you go, especially when the kids are in bed. If you have little ones then you know nothing ever stays clean for long.

When they’re in bed, you have the chance to put your house in order in preparation for the next day.

Teach your children to do chores

When your kids are able to do their chores correctly, it’ll take a huge weight off your shoulders. Start when they’re younger. That way, they’ll get better with age.

I started teaching my kids to do chores as young as 15 months old. They helped me empty the clean dishes from the dishwasher, and refill it again with dirty dishes.

Whenever I was folding laundry, I would give them a small pile to fold as best they could. As they got older, they got better with the task.

Plan Your meals a week in advance

Meal prepping saves time and energy. When you know what you’re making for breakfast, lunch, and dinner then you’ll spend less time stressing.

I have a master list of meals that my family loves to eat. So far there are 30 items on the list. Whenever I try a new recipe, I add it to the list as well.

To make my meal plan, I go through my master list and pick out some food for breakfast lunch, and dinner for the whole week. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

The app MealLime also help me come up with some new recipes to try at home.

You may also like: 16+ Easy Lunch Ideas for Busy Stay-at-Home Moms

Meal prep dinner a day in advance

One thing I try to do is to prepare part of dinner the evening before. Let’s say we plan to have Mexican rice, beans, and pork for dinner on Tuesday.

On Monday evening, I’ll cook the pork and save it in the fridge. This will save me a lot of time on Tuesday because I’d only need to cook the rice and beans.

Wake up early before your kids

By waking up before your kids, you will be more productive. You’ll have enough time to make breakfast, drink some coffee, plan the day’s activities and relax a bit.

You’ll also have enough time to write your to-do list and get started on them. If your kids are school-age, that’ll be the time to pack their school lunches.

Use grocery delivery to cut time on food shopping

Grocery deliveries like instacart, amazon fresh and Walmart have been huge time-savers for me. All the items that I can’t do without are placed on automatic delivery every month. That way, I don’t have to worry about things running out

Buy groceries in bulk

I shop at Costco because I can buy things in bulk. It saves money compared to buying at a supermarket. The items we can’t finish in a week are stored in the freezer for future use.

Frequently asked questions on being an organized stay-at-home mom

How should a stay-at-home mom set a schedule?

To set a daily schedule as a stay-at-home mom list out your top 5 priority tasks for the day. These could be getting kids ready for school, running an errand, self-care time, and making lunch and dinner.

The next step is to get a planner and write these things out, along with the time block you will do them. For example; from 6-7 am, you’ll get the kids ready for school. 7:30 am is school drop-off.

8-11 am is errand time. 12-1 pm is lunch prep. 1-2 pm is kids pick up. 3-5 is homework time and rest time. Dinner prep will be 6-7 PM. After dinner kids get ready for bed. At 9 PM will be your self-care time.

How can a stay-at-home mom stay focused on tasks?

After you’ve set your schedule for the day, you’ll need to find ways to hold yourself accountable. One way to stay focused on your task is to carry your to-do list on your phone. This way, you can always refer back to it.

Another thing you can do is use a timer when completing a task. Do not stop what you’re doing until the timer goes off. This will help you stay focused on completing tasks on time.

Conclusion

Whether you’re a new stay-at-home mom or a veteran, it’s never too late to start becoming more organized. There are many benefits to being an organized stay-at-home mom.

Some of them include more free time to do things you love, a cleaner home, less stress with meal planning, etc.

I hope this article has given you enough tips on how to become a more organized stay-at-home mom.

How To Be A More Organized Stay-at-Home Mom: 17+ Practical Tips

How to be a more organized stay-at-home mom