A lot of mums have been asking me how I manage my days and asked me to put

a blog post together. So here is a more practical post on how to look at managing your time! 

 Whether we are a mum with one kid, or 2 kids or 3 or 4, a working mum or a stay at home mum, we are all busy! There are 100 things to do and our kids need attention, as do our husbands and as well as ourselves and we want to do the best for them all!

But as the bible says

“There is an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

So we need to be women who are wise and organised with our time, not wasting it or getting frustrated that we don’t have enough. So how do we balance it all? 

Here are my 5 steps to getting on top of things!

Create routine

The first step seems very simple, routine means for you as well as your kids.Routine provides a sense of certainty and security for kids as well as prepare them for future time management.  So getting up, having breakfast, playing, getting dressed, brushing teeth and going outside is just our simple morning routine but if we don’t stick to this, Kara can become frustrated and time can be wasted with tantrums, (especially if we don’t go outside!) because kids thrive on routine. Kara often repeats the routine to me so she knows what she is doing next, she seems to feel her own sense of control from this. If you don’t have a routine already, I recommend starting just simple routines so your children can anticipate what’s next and so the day’s can run much smoother.

So here is how to break the rest down: Make a list of everything you need to do every week, that looks overwhelming right! Now break that down into daily tasks. These are the things you don’t need to do everyday but would need to be done weekly. And not something you should spend too long on, it should amount to another 15 minutes cleaning.
Other things I build into a routine are meals. Twice a week I will go grocery shopping, and plan the meals for the week. A lot of people now a days do meal prep, I don’t do this since I enjoy cooking and I’m a stay at home mum so I have time, but if you are a working mum that is also something you could look into!
I also plan for crafts and activities I want to do with my kids, even if that’s just a trip to the park, I put that on my schedule.
Make a plan of your week and you will feel a sense of achievement when you achieve your goals. 

Teach our Kids to Play Independently

Teaching our kids to play independently, not only leaves us hands free to do some jobs, but is also good for them. You may feel a bad mum if you are not playing with your kid constantly, but that is not true.

Whilst I’m cleaning Kara will be playing with her animals. And whilst I am cooking dinner Kara will read books buy herself, or do coloring or play dough on the floor.  It took time to get her to this stage, but this stage is important for her to learn skills to play by herself and not always need me, as well as for me to get things done.

You may need to start with just 5 mins independent play at a time and stretch it longer and longer each time if your child is really clingy. You will also need to teach them how to do Independent play. That means how to play.

I spent many a time enthusiastically on the floor transporting her animals in cars from “Gruffalo island” to “Crocodile island” running away from the impending crocodile, putting them to bed in their farm house, hiding with them under the kitchen table chairs, making them climb mountains all in their little cute voices. Kara joins in with me and often tells me what I can’t do, but after doing this a few times, she enjoys to do this by herself! Whilst I watch her in the kitchen, I hear her repeating the same phrases I did!

Make the most of your free time 

This means that I try to maximize whatever free time I have as well as create more free time!

Multi-tasking 

Motivate Yourself

The last thing I need to ask is how are you motivating yourself? Of course we sometimes all have lazy days! And that’s OK, I love a good lazy day when I stay in my pj’s all morning! But especially if we are a stay at home mum, it can become a habit when we don’t have anyone to tell us what to do! And procrastination is a killer to your schedule! Nowadays our social media and phones can often get in the way of that too! Sometime even just getting out of bed or off the sofa can be difficult. So you need to figure out what motivates you!