6 time management tips for work from home Moms

Sitting here trying to type out time management tips is just utterly comical.

I’ve got my two older boys downstairs fighting over who’s turn it is with the TV, and my toddler up here in the playroom across the hall coming in to serve me dinner with his play food every 2 minutes.

Working from home with kids, especially as your own boss, can be tricky, especially when said kids don’t go off to school or daycare (I am suddenly re-thinking this homeschool bit – maybe).

While it certainly isn’t EASY, managing your time effectively is definitely a possibility when you have kids under tow.

So, take it from a Mom who’s done this deal for the past 6 years with kids of all ages – mostly small ones, toddlers, and newborns.

It can be done, but you gotta have the focus and the drive to do it. You in?

Know your kids

This might seem silly, but knowing your children’s personality, habits, and what makes them tick will be a lifesaver when it come to time management.

If your kid is super clingy and needs constant attention, knowing how to sever this tie, even for a few minutes, can be the deal breaker in getting any work done.

Perhaps you have a child who struggles to play on their own for long period of time. Finding a way to keep them entertained so you don’t have to keep breaking your work cycle will come in handy.

I personally have kids of all personalities, so knowing their individual strengths has been the best for finding ways to keep them entertained, happy, and out of my hair will I’m doing that Momboss thing!

 

Have a plan

This is crucial.

If you sit down to work, but then clam up and not know where to start, then what’s the point?

Consider everything you need to work on.

What are your short term goals? What tasks need to be done today? What can be put off until next week? How does your marketing schedule look like for the month?

Consider drafting out a plan for the week, and focus on the less tedious tasks first, then move on to the bigger and more involved things.

I like having a content and marketing plan already put onto paper 6 months in advance so it’s easy for me to put into action.

After I have my overall plan for the month, then I can break that into weeks, and from there, divide what I need to do into days – and so on.

Having lists is also super critical for time management.

I personally use a content calendar that lays out all of my content for the month. A weekly calendar for what tasks I need to work on each day, and a daily list of more tedious and small tasks that I keep by my side and check off as I go.

When it comes to planning, productivity, and time management, one cannot have too many lists!

Related: 3 ways to plan 6 months of content for your business

 

Business systems

Want a sure-fire way of managing your time the best?

Having systems put into place will help tremendously. It might take some time to create systems for your business, but they are 1000% worth it in the long run.

Think about all of the things you do in your business every single day, week, and month. Then, you can start drafting out a more streamlined way of accomplishing these tasks without spending as much time on them.

This is called workflow.

My business (and my sanity) couldn’t survive without a workflow, and neither can yours – unless you always want to be disorganized and running behind in your work.

Knowing your priorities & having a schedule in put into place will help ensure the best business systems.

Here’s an example of ONE of my business systems: I am terrible at managing money, so I like to track and record my business sales and expenses once a week – this happens to fall on a Monday. All of my finances are tracked from Monday-Sunday and are recorded the next week. I go through my bank accounts, payment gateways, and receipts to collect all of my data. Then I cross reference all of this data into my Quickbooks account to make sure it’s all there and recorded. I also make sure to set aside enough extra money for taxes – this ensures that come tax time, I am prepared and not scrambling to find funds to pay them. Because I am NOT a money person, this helps me keep track of my finances, plan ahead, set financial goals, and keep tabs on my income and spending.

Having systems in your business will only save you time, so start them now if you haven’t done so already!

 

Set goals

Trying to be productive and managing your time the best without setting goals is like starting a new sport you’ve never played before.

Yeah it might be a fun and exciting thought, but once you get put into said sport without any experience or knowledge, you’ll soon be sweating and scrambling to figure it out as you go.

Goal setting is a MUST in business, especially when you want to be as efficient with your time as possible.

Just like with list-making, goal setting helps you outline what you need/want to accomplish that will only help you with staying on track and reaching those goals.

If you have a goal in mind, you’ll be more likely to work harder and quicker to reach said goal.

If you’re just kinda winging it, then don’t expect any real sort of success along the way. The most successful entrepreneurs have a clear vision plan, business goals, set systems, and schedule put into place to help them work effectively to reach success.

Aim high, gain high, and that starts with setting goals!

 

Be flexible

We are Moms, so that means (or should mean) that we always put our children before business, no matter what.

Some days you will need to be flexible with your goals and schedule to accommodate the needs of your kids.

Whether they are sick or just need extra attention, you must learn to twist and pivot your lifestyle in accordance with having kids with a business.

I can’t tell you how many times I have done everything by the books (set my goals, planned around my kid’s schedule, lists in place, systems ready to go, etc.) but all that comes to a crashing halt one week because my kids need me more than my business does.

It can be hard to pry yourself away from work when this happens, but that’s life.

Moms (and Dads) who work outside the home deal with this as well. Sick kids get sent home from daycare and school, so parents must take on the responsibility to put their children first, and their jobs second.

Keeping an open mind and knowing your perfect plan could change at any given moment is the best (and most practical) attitude to have when working from home with your kids.

 

Stay focused

When it comes to working from home with your kids, if you aren’t already, you’ll soon learn that some days it just doesn’t go your way.

You’ll learn that you might only get a small sliver of time that you can dedicate towards your work – and this is what I like to call the ‘golden hours’.

Having all of your systems and lists put into place will make you work better and more effectively when it comes down to it – even if you only have 30 minutes to spare.

It’s pretty amazing what you can accomplish in 30 minutes if you apply yourself and stay focused.

If you need to be scheduling your social media posts, try not to indulge in skimming your news feed while doing so – this is a huge time-buster and will eat away at your precious golden hour (or minutes) if you let it consume you.

Closing out other browsing windows and only focusing on the task at hand will help you work quicker and will ensure that you get your most important tasks done for the day.

What also might help you is setting a timer.

If you have a small window to work in the morning before your kids wake up, set a timer & get to work. Pound out as much content that you can during this window to make the most of this opportunity.

This is the time in my day where I like to blog and write my newsletters – when my kids are awake, it never fails that I get interrupted a dozen times while writing – and that only breaks my concentration.

Then once they are awake, I move on to more tedious tasks like creating graphics for social media, editing photos, and planning out new sales and promotions.

Staying focused can be hard sometimes, but you will thank yourself at the end of it.

Working from home with your kids under your wing can certainly be crazy, but it doesn’t have to be complicated!

What are some ways that help you manage your time more effectively while working from home with your kids?

Start the discussion below & let’s all encourage and help other Moms like you faced with this challenging juggling act!