A stay at home mom schedule for a happy and productive mom

Being a stay at home mom is not always everything it’s chalked up to be. It’s early mornings, late night, lots of messes, diaper changes, and constant snack making.

Not to mention the ever growing mountain of laundry that needs folded, and to-do list that needs finished.

Does this sound familiar?

It is a continuous cycle, and when you are learning how to be a stay at home mom, this is probably not how you initially envisioned it.

You will quickly learn why creating a stay at home mom schedule is so important.

Without a schedule you may find yourself in a never ending loop of starting projects or household chores and not finishing them. You may also find yourself stuffing your schedule so full that you become overwhelmed and overworked.

This can become extremely discouraging and unfulfilling at the end of each day. This can eventually lead to mommy burnout, and possibly stay at home mom depression.

These are all things we want to avoid! By creating the perfect stay at home mom schedule you will find yourself completing tasks more efficiently when there is a goal in mind, finding time for your own interests, and enjoying more intentional time with your family.

Which will hopefully create a happier mom. Isn’t that the goal?

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A stay at home mom schedule will not only make you more productive, it will make you less stressed

As a stay at home mom, it can be difficult to create a stay at home mom schedule that works for you and your family. But with the right tools, it’s definitely doable!

In this post, I am going to help you build your ideal stay at home mom schedule that will make you more productive and accomplished by the end of the day, without sacrificing your mental health.

This will include the things you want to do and need to do, while still incorporating the things that make you happy, so you can be a fulfilled stay at home mom.

At the end of this post I will provide an example of the daily schedule that we follow; this incorporates all of the points that I have listed below. This will give you an idea of what your ideal stay at home mom schedule might look like.

Before I jump into it; I want to remind you that schedules don’t always go as planned.

We can follow them the best we can, but with kids in the mix, some days may go better than others. This isn’t a reason to give up, It’s the exact reason we need to keep going!

(Asking yourself these questions will prepare you to create a schedule that has goal setting intentions in mind. This will be the foundation for creating a day to day schedule that works for you.)

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Ask yourself these questions before building your stay at home mom schedule:

1-What are my intentions for the week?

This is the first question you should ask yourself before a new week starts.

What do you want to accomplish this week? What is something you have been wanting to put your energy into, or a project that needs some attention?

A few examples:

- This might consist of bigger projects that need accomplished; (decluttering, yard work, deep cleaning)
- Spending more intentional time with your kids; (going on a fun outing to the zoo, shopping for school clothes, or simply spending more screen free time playing at home)
- Maybe work is going to be your focus this week because you have a big deadline.

This is what I call “setting my intention for the week”. No I will not be spending my entire week doing this but it’s something I would like to make a priority and be mindful about spending a good amount of time doing.

This will help you plan ahead for childcare if needed, plan that outing you are wanting to go on, or schedule your trip to drop off donations, or carve out the time to finish your project for work.

This will keep your week more organized because you have jotted down your priorities for the week and will make the time to accomplish them.

2-What are my “non negotiable’s” for the week?

This is going to be the backbone of your day to day schedule. These are things that happen weekly, generally around the same time.

These things are usually mandatory and everything else needs to be scheduled around them.

These may include:

- School pick up/drop off
- After school activities
- Breakfast/lunch/dinner
- Nap & bedtime

(This is also where I like to check my calendar for appointments for the week. These don’t always happen weekly or at the same time, but they are another non negotiable that we need to include in the backbone of our schedule. )

Now that we have our non negotiable’s, as well as out intentions or bigger projects set for the week we have a rough start to our daily schedule.

3-What are “little” things in my day that make me happy?

This could be that first sip of coffee in the morning, the moment your baby falls asleep in the afternoon, that podcast you get to listen to while you have your lunch, or the moment your head hits the pillow at the end of the day.

This may be one of the best mom tips I have ever received.

“Me time” looks different for every mom. Not everyone has the luxury of a spa day, or getting there nails done. Sometimes these little moments throughout the day are our “me time”, so let’s not discredit them.

These are important and something that we want to continue incorporating in our day because well, they make us happy. Isn’t that the whole point?

These may seem like “little” things but they can really make a big difference in our day. When we know what these are, we are better able to prioritize them into our stay at home mom schedule with better intention in mind.

Because without my morning coffee, i’m not sure what I would do.

Creating more intention in our lives, and day to day mom schedules is going to make you a happier stay at home mom because we are making sure to prioritize ourselves too.

Mom cleaning bathroom sink with gloves on

4-Do I have a cleaning schedule?

You can have 6 loads of laundry piled up to the brim, but if you don’t know when the last time you cleaned your bathroom was, it’s time to get on a schedule.

Being a stay at home mom vs. a working mom can be a night and day different.

Priorities are not always work (unless you are a working stay at home mom), so being organized and having some sense of efficiency is key.

A cleaning schedule is important so you can prioritize what cleaning task you’d like to accomplish each day.

Maybe you clean the bathrooms on Monday, mop the floors on Tuesday, and dust all the surfaces on Wednesday.

Breaking up deep cleaning and doing one task a day can make it feel less overwhelming when the week is over.

There may be tasks that you do daily such as making the bed, sweeping, wiping down counters, vacuuming, and straightening.

We want to work these into our daily schedules in a way that is not overwhelming or overly time consuming.

The way that we do this is by picking a time each day that these things get done.

These are some examples of how we do it at our house:

- I make it a priority to do two easy tasks before the kids are out of bed; throw in a load of laundry and unload the dishwasher. This takes me 10 minutes and it get’s my morning off to a good start.
- Bed’s made once everyone is awake (get the kids involved if they are old enough)
- Clean and straighten after breakfast (clean the kitchen, sweep, vacuum etc..) This is also when we prioritize picking up toys (get kids involved), and put the house back together after morning play and breakfast.
- Quick pickup after lunch and before nap time (I also switch out my laundry at this time)
- Cleanup after dinner. I always make sure to start the dishwasher so it’s ready to be unloaded in the morning. (playtime for the kids or utilize some screen time)
- The last pickup I do is before I get in bed. I like to reset the house so it is clean when I wake up. Putting everything back in it’s rightful place will make for a smoother morning routine.
- I like to complete one load of laundry a day (load in the morning, switch out before nap time, and fold once the kids are asleep) This helps the laundry from pilling up all week. This doesn’t always happen, but I try my best to get it done!

two little girls talking on playground equipment at the park.

What does play time look like for the kiddos?

Unless you have school aged kids who will be gone most of the day, you will probably want to prioritize time to burn some energy out of the little ones before nap time. It’s also a great opportunity for everyone to get some vitamin D!

Some simple outdoor activities you can include in your day:

- A trip to the park
- A walk through the neighborhood
- Outdoor time in the backyard

It’s ideal to have these activities planned at the same time every day so your kid’s know what to expect as well as yourself!

I always plan to do something outside with my toddlers once we are cleaned up from breakfast. By this time everyone is usually ready to get out of the house for a little while.

Now it’s time to start building your stay at home mom schedule

Now that you have asked yourself all of these questions you should start to have a clearer picture as to what your day’s will consist of. It’s now time to start building your schedule.

We talked about how the backbone of your schedule will be the “non negotiable’s”. Start by filling those in at the times they need done. You can then go in and add the bigger projects you want to accomplish from there. Once you work out a cleaning schedule you can incorporate that as well.

The most important thing is to not overstuff your schedule, leave room for downtime.

Here is a very basis schedule that myself and family follows on a daily basis. Note that this schedule may look different than yours. I have toddlers who are home with me all day (no school aged kids here yet, and no I don’t choose to get up at 5 AM). This is just what works for me!

My sample schedule

- 7AM| wake and unload the dishwasher and start one load of laundry immediately (otherwise I might get distracted). Then I make my coffee!
- 7:30AM| Get myself dressed for the day If the kids aren’t up yet. (sometimes they are, sometimes they sleep later)
- 8AM| Kids wake up (not always at the same time), change diaper/go potty, they play for a little bit before breakfast.
- 8:30AM| Make breakfast
- 9:15-9:30AM| Morning cleanup (Clean kitchen, pick up living room, vacuum, sweep) I can usually accomplish this in about 20 minutes if I can keep the kids occupied.
- 10AM| Kids get ready for the day (dressed, teeth brushed etc…) We also make beds during this time, I try to include my kids in this one)
- 10:30AM| Outdoor time for the kids ( We either go to the park, for a walk or we play in the backyard. If I have any errands to run I like to do it during this time as well.
- 12PM| lunch
- 12:30PM| lunch cleanup and quick house pickup before nap (I usually switch out the laundry at this time, and get in a quick deep cleaning project) Kids either play or try to “help” me. Sometimes we do a little screen time.
- 1PM| Naps for the boys (I work from home during this time or focus on a big project I planned out for the week)
- 3-3:30PM| Boys wake from their naps
- 3:30PM| Snack time
- 4-5:30PM| Playtime or they watch a show while I prep dinner
- 5:30-6PM| Dad get home
- 6PM| Make dinner while dad plays with the boys
- 6:30-7PM| Dinner time
- 7PM| One of us cleans up from dinner while the other starts the bedtime routine.
- 7:30PM| Bedtime routine consists of: Bath a few times a week, brush teeth, Pajamas, stories etc..
- 8PM| We divide and conquer bedtime. My husband puts our 3 year old to bed, and I put our one year old to bed.
- 8:30-9| Hopefully the kids are asleep by now and we can have some time together! We either watch shows or I try to get some work done. ( I usually fold a load of laundry too)
- 9:30| Evening pickup around the house (I always load the dishwasher in the evenings so It’s ready to be unloaded in the morning)
- 10-11| This is when we usually head to bed!

Some other tips for your stay at home mom schedule:

1-Have your morning’s and night’s locked in

If you make sure to stick to one part of your schedule, let it be these two things! When you have a morning and night ritual you will feel more accomplished during the day even if thing’s may have not gone as planned.

2-Don’t fill your schedule in down to the last minute

You will burn yourself out very quickly doing this. Make sure you schedule downtime (maybe half of nap time is spent relaxing) so that you aren’t running yourself thin.

3-Rest when you need to

Easier said than done, I know. But sometimes the most productive things we can do for ourselves is to take a break.

Take a nap yourself (if you are able) during nap time, or sit down and actually enjoy your morning coffee. Sometimes a few minutes of peace and quiet can make a big difference.

4- You will never accomplish everything

No stay at home mom is getting everything on her to-do list done while also entertaining her kids. It’s just not possible. Give yourself some grace and know that you are only one person and you are doing a great job!

Frequently asked questions:

How do stay at home moms survive?

Well… by creating routine’s. It may not be as simple as that, but providing some structure in your day will help things run a heck of a lot smoother. We also need to take time to take care of ourselves by doing simple things that bring us joy. Creating little rituals will give you something to look forward to.

We can’t make everyone else happy when we are lacking in happiness ourselves.

What is expected as a stay at home mom?

We do a lot more then people may seem to give us credit for, thats for sure! Most stay at home moms are in charge of managing their house, cooking, cleaning, kids schedules, bills, groceries, and so much more. It may seem like it’s easy, but I can assure you that it is not.

How to be a more efficient stay at home mom?

Consistency and routine is key. If you have a general idea of when and how long it takes you to do something, you will be more likely to get it done. Having an evening and night routine is an important factor in being a more efficient stay at home mom.

Creating an approachable stay at home mom schedule might just change your life

So there you have it! A very basic schedule for the average stay at home mom! Again, this may look different for everyone. Just find what works best for you and your family and stick to it! Having some sort of routine will help keep you sane during these days!