Productivity tips for busy moms: How to master weekly planning and create a peaceful home

Planning is one key element to being productive and to getting more done in less time.

To truly master weekly planning and create a peaceful home in the process, you’ll not only plan out the week ahead, but you’ll review the prior week. You’ll look back at how things went the prior week and look ahead to the upcoming week. You utilize what you learn from the past and incorporate it into the future. When you do this consistently, it takes less and less time each week and you become more and more productive. With a good plan, you’re able to get more done in less time. And that’s what we all want, to get the obligations done more quickly so that we can spend more time doing the things we enjoy!

As a busy mom, you’re fed up with the mess and chaos of daily life.

You want your home to feel peaceful and welcoming. You want it to be a refuge for you and your family. I’m telling you right now that you can have this. You can have peace and joy and a refuge through organizing, cleaning and time management methods that are created with you and your family at the core. Methods that are simple and focus on the function of your home. But, in order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than what society tells us.

#1 Review last week

This won’t take long, but before you dive into planning the upcoming week you need to review how last week went.

Did you miss anything? What surprises came up? Such as one of the kids telling you they have a concert the next day and need to dress up. If you did miss something like that, how can you find that information in the future? Is it found on the school Facebook page or a school newsletter? Do you see what I’m saying? If something came up that was a surprise, you want to try and make sure that kind of thing doesn’t happen again. This is what can totally throw off our week. When you allocate time to rest or time to clean up the house and instead have to run to the store, it will set you back. It can cause frustration. And that will steal your peace!

Also, take a moment to assess what went well. Your meal plan. Did that all work out? Did it save you time from debating on what to make every night for dinner? Were there new meals that you tried and everyone liked?

When you take some time to look at what went well, you can give yourself credit for that! It’s nice to feel good about things as often as possible versus always focusing on what didn’t work out. Right?!

In addition, when you review what went well you’ll naturally get new ideas to improve upon what you’re already doing. And that will increase your productivity, help you get more done in less time and ultimately help bring peace and joy into your home!

#2 Meal plans

I’m not sure if you have this problem or not, but I used to spend so much time trying to figure out what to make for dinner and it would be when I just got home from work and the kids were STARVING. There was crying, yelling and the result was a fairly unhealthy meal just to get the task done. But this was an every night thing! At the time though, it felt impossible to put together a meal plan for the week. But I now know the time and frustrations saved are so worth it. Maybe it would make sense for me to do an episode about how to create a meal plan. Is that something that you’d find value in? Please let me know by leaving me a 5 star review and letting me know what your question is about meal planning! 

#3 Activities of all family members

What things are your kids involved in? Wrestling, dance, youth group. Maybe you have a play date set up for them. Is your husband leaving for a business trip or is he going to a football game with friends? Do you have dinner planned with friends? I highly recommend you make some time for you to get out and do things with other adults!

#4 Household projects

This is where you can plan out anything that you know you want to or need to get done around the house. I recommend putting in time for cleaning. This helps you create a cleaning schedule that works for you and your family. When you include a review of the prior week, you’ll see what didn’t get done, if anything. Do you need to get an area of your home organized. Maybe your kids' closets are overflowing or your kitchen pantry seems to be in shambles. I want to help you with this. You can download a free home organizing checklist that will help you not only get your home organized, but really put a focus on how to keep it organized. You can go to www.homeorganizingforbeginner.com to download that checklist.

#5 Review for things not necessary or things missing

Take just a moment to look at what is in your schedule that you really do not think should be there. Perhaps you’ve committed to volunteering at school and you don’t truly want to do that, but feel obligated to. Also take a moment to think about what you want to add into your week. Not tasks to do, but instead things that you wish you had time to do. What this does for you is helps you realize that you can say no to some things in order to make time for the things that are more important to you.

One of the main things that I wish I’d done before having kids...

is have a conversation with my husband about what we as a family would value. Then plan to have that conversation regularly as our lives change. When you take the time like this, you’re intentional about things that matter. And having a peaceful home is truly built on what things matter to you! I truly could go on and on about this too, but it’s a super deep topic and would be so beneficial in conversation versus me just talking to you!

If you want that conversation, reach out. We’ll talk about how we can work together in a way that meets your specific needs. Email me. tammy@homeorganizingforbeginners.com.

Set a day and time for your weekly planning. Try to be consistent with it. You have to remember that this task does take time, but as you are more and more consistent with it it will take less time. The benefits are huge, not only in terms of productivity and time savings, but more importantly in terms of mental peace, a calm home and simplifying your life overall!

Are you to the point where you just want someone to come into your home to get it clean and organized?

I get it. Daily life so easily has us feeling like we’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off. What if you could learn how to clean and organize your home in a truly effective and lasting way? In the online course Home Organizing for Beginners that is exactly what I teach you. It’s so important when cleaning and organizing your home to consider how you and your family live life each day. It’s a must to set yourself up for success with a home that you can whip back into shape anytime life gets out of control.

Home Organizing for Beginners will give you:

• Confidence in your ability to organize your own home. Allow your new found confidence to show your children that they can be organized too. (even though they’ll fight you on it!)
• Fool proof steps to creating a clean and organized home that you will be proud to welcome others into even when they stop in unannounced.
• Time to spend how you choose. For me the extra time has been spent with the Lord. This has helped me bring true peace and joy into my home.

To learn more go to homeorganizingforbeginners.com.