When you are a working mom, staying organized from day to day can be a challenge. Today, Marie from Organized Marie is sharing with us how to be organized as a working mom. I think you will love these time-saving tips every busy mom can use.
Hi Everyone!
I’m so excited to be here today at Smart Mom Smart Ideas! Before I dive into helping you get organized as a working mom, I wanted to give you a little background about who I am.
I’m Marie Jackson from Organized Marie. I’m a working mom to two with a third on the way! I was born and raised in Fargo, ND (yes, like the movie). I’ve lived in seven states and currently reside in Northern California. Sports were a big part of my childhood, I played college soccer until I graduated. I’ve worked in corporate America for ten plus years. Organizing has always been my passion and I realized how important and hard it was to be organized after returning to work from our first-born.
That’s enough about me, let’s get into the topic I wanted to provide some insight on: How To Stay Organized When Working Full-Time.
More and more women are working full-time. After having children, women return to the workforce for two reasons. One, they have too. Two, they have a career to manage.
Regardless of either reason, a mom’s plate is really full when working full-time. Making sure the kids are fed, bathed, ready for school, doing laundry, picking up toys, getting to work on time, prepping for a meeting, grocery shopping, the list goes on and on and on. Time is precious for working moms because the day is not spent with their children, so maximizing time is key as well as staying organized. Time spent being unorganized is wasted time.
9 Tips to Help You Stay Organized When Working Full-time
Delegate
Offload tasks that can be handled with help. Whether it’s hiring a cleaning lady or getting lawn care. It’s worth the investment, those tasks can easily be taken off your to-do list. If you live near family, use their help or find a college student looking to make some extra money. You’ll be happy you did.
Meal Plan
Grocery shopping and meal planning is a process. Going into a week without a plan, everyone fails. Mom’s not happy there’s not much food in the house or she’s not happy because there’s not healthy food. Pick a day of the week that works best for you and stick to it, allow 30 minutes. This will give you enough time to pick out meals as well as figure out what ingredients you already have. Keep your meal plan posted where you can see it. It can be on a door, cabinet, the refrigerator, etc.
Batch process
Instead of doing little things each day, pick one day and get it done. For example, laundry, pick a day and get it all done with. No one likes to do laundry (if you know someone that does, send them my way please!) doing a little bit every day is dreadful. Pick a day and bust it all out. You’ll find yourself more productive when you batch process, this holds true at work too.
One Calendar
Use one calendar for everything. Multiple calendars are tough to manage and things get lost in the shuffle. Most working moms have a work calendar and personal calendar but don’t combine the two because they don’t want their personal on their work computer. Most companies use Outlook for calendar invites as does mine. I do write down all of my work appointments in my paper calendar, it is duplicating work but it has minimized the confusion. Whether you use an electronic calendar or paper calendar, have one master calendar and stick to it.
Kids Help
Babies and young toddlers really can’t help out much when it comes to putting toys away but as they get older they’ll be able to put away some toys. This will save you time from picking up toys and also teach them the importance of putting them away on their own. If they’re unwilling to help, there’s always the threat of throwing it all out, works every time.
Turn It Off
When you leave the office, leave it there. Turn off notifications at night if you need too. Constantly checking your email at night or on the weekend is a distraction. Be intentional about your time spent on the weekends so when Monday rolls back around, you are rested and fully ready for the week ahead.
Also, turn off the notifications on your smartphone. Keep on the ones that are really important to you such as phone calls, voicemails, text messages, etc. Chances are you have at least 30 apps on your phone, go into the settings and turn off the notifications. This is likely going to be really hard since we have become a society addicted to our smartphones. However, you’ll find yourself more productive because your phone won’t be constantly sending you alerts interrupting your day. Plus, you will see your battery life increase.
Write It Down
Using printables is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to become organized. You can use customized printables or just a piece of paper and a pen. Either way, putting it on paper makes it easier and you’ll feel relieved.
If are looking for free organizing printables, sign up here to gain free access to over 20 printables!
Thanks for reading along today! I hope you find these tips helpful!
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