8 Time Management Tips for Work-at-Home Moms

Back when I was a new blogger, I came across Tina’s blog Life Without Pink. I thought, man, this girl and I would get along great! Almost 1.5 years later we DID meet and guess what? HIT. IT. OFF. Tina is a smart, savvy marketer and does all of her marketing and social media genius-doing while working at home. She’s bringing you some great tips today (and some helpful apps to boot)!

Time management is a real issue for moms that work from home.

Most of us are trying to build a successful business while balancing household chores and our growing families, the reason we decided to stay home.

But it’s not easy working from home, especially if you have young children like me.

Most days I feel like I’m running from one thing to the next without stopping to catch my breath. However, I find it quite rewarding at the end of the day when I am able to cross even two things off my list and get to spend the day with my adorable boys.

Having a schedule is crucial but we all know with kids things don’t always go as planned. Between colds, stomach bugs, bumps and bruises and overtired children, we have to learn to roll with the punches.

It is still essential to have a general schedule to keep everything flowing and so you can cross items off your list.

Here are a few things I’ve found that help me manage my time while working from home with little ones.

Tip #1: Establish a schedule. This really helps so that you can outline school times, meals, nap, errands and work.

For example, my oldest gets on the bus at 11:15am. I try to get up early to check and respond to emails before the boys get up. Then I know from about 8:30am – 10:30am we do breakfast, get dressed and play. After my oldest is on the bus, my little guy and I do errands and I am back home at 1pm to work for two hours.

Tip #2: When do you feel MOST productive? Figure out what time of the day you get that burst of energy. Is it in the morning around 10am? Or maybe right after lunch? Or perhaps you are a night owl?

Schedule the most important activities that you MUST get done during that time.

Tip #3: Use a timer. When you sit down to do a task set the timer. Turn off Facebook, Twitter, Email {aka time suckers} and focus on that one task. Give yourself 15 – 20 minutes to accomplishment and cross that item off your list.

Tip #4: Create a designated area for work and play. This is so important. I used to work from the dining room table but found I was disorganized and would get more distracted.

Find a place in your home where you can create a work place. It could be as simple as a small corner tucked away in your bedroom {like I have} or maybe one room dedicated to your work.

Tip #5: Use productivity apps. I don’t know about you but I live by my iPhone. All of my appointments, deadlines, school activities, etc. go into my calendar on my phone.

Here are a few apps I’ve found very useful:

1. Cozi: Manage a shared family calendar, shopping lists, to do lists, and family journal while you’re on the go.
2. Milebug: Great way to track your mileage, tolls and parking.
3. Wunderlist: A list manager that runs on the web, mobile devices and on the iPad. You can connect with it anywhere – such a great tool!
4. Time Log: Perfect for anyone who needs to track their time especially when managing a few different clients.
5. LockBox: Lets you store and protect sensitive info such as credit card numbers, bank accounts, passwords, pin numbers, private notes, and any other secret information.
6. A Personal Assistant: Access and manage all your online accounts in one place with this free app.
7. Bump: Great tool when you are a networking event or conference. Quickly exchange contact information by bumping phones. Easy and convenient!
8. Intuition: A personal assistant designed by moms for moms to help you get things done.
9. Drop Box: Let’s you share your files with friends, family, colleagues and bring them with you when you’re on the go.
10. Dragon Dictation: Quickly converts your voice to text. You can use your voice to send emails, write a text, tweet and so much more. Up to 5x’s faster than typing!

Tip #6: Identify daily time wasters; try to eliminate. We all have them. Maybe it’s the TV, the cell phone, or email.

What do you get distracted by? Identify these items and make sure to eliminate them as best as you can.

For me, it’s Facebook and Twitter. I have learned if I want to get anything done, I need to turn them off. Crazy how much I can get done when I’m not tempted to tweet or check my fan pages.

Tip #7: Make time for the kids. It’s so easy when you work from home to always be thinking about deadlines, emails you need to respond to, posts that need to be written and calls that need to be made.

Trying to work with little kids around is not easy especially if they feel they are being ignored. I always try to set aside time in my day {morning, mid-day and after dinner} to turn everything off and just be with the boys.

We play, color, read books, and even dance around the kitchen. Then when it’s time to work, they’ve usually had their “mom” fill and are happy to play by themselves.

Tip #8 : Reward yourself! Mothers have a hard job no matter if you work out of the house, in the home or do a little of both.

We need to stop every once in awhile, step back and realize all that we accomplish in a day. It’s pretty incredible if you think about it.

We deserve a nice reward every once in awhile to help relax and rejuvenate ourselves. It can be simply picking up a book we’ve been meaning to read, getting a nice pedicure, taking a long hot bath or maybe buying ourselves a new outfit. Whatever it is, don’t forget to pamper yourself.

Remember it’s impossible to do it all but with a little planning, organization and prioritizing, it can help make things more manageable.

Do you have any tips to add?

Tina Seitzinger is a work-at-home mom of two very active little boys and the voice behind Life Without Pink. With over fifteen years experience in Marketing Communications, Tina has worked with businesses to lead branding, communications and online community development. She is the co-founder of Girls’ Lunch Out {GLO} – a network for women in social media and the Social Media Marketing & Branding Director for The Momiverse – launching soon! When not writing, tweeting or socializing online, Tina can be found trying a new recipe of the week, watching bad reality TV or playing Super Heroes with her two boys.