Time Management Archives - Busy Moms Helper

How to Organize Your Day with a Toddler

September 13, 2019 by Danielle Leave a Comment

The benefits of staying home with your kids are many, but that doesn’t mean everything always goes smoothly – especially when you have a toddler running around. In fact, caring for a toddler all day makes it difficult to get anything else done around the home. So, how do you care for a toddler and do all the other things you have to take care at home without running yourself ragged? Here’s some tips on How to Organize Your Day with a Toddler!

Moms and dads that stay home with their kids have a wonderful opportunity to spend precious time with their little ones that many parents who work outside of the home don’t get. You get to be there for all of the little things that you may otherwise miss. It’s certainly not easy, though, so organizing your day well can make a huge difference in how exhausted you end up when bedtime hits.

Here’s how to organize your day with a toddler:

Start with a simple, flexible schedule. A schedule will help you remember all the important things that you need to get done throughout the day so you can stay on track. By keeping it flexible, you won’t feel overwhelmed when something unexpected happens or when your toddler is simply having a bad day (or you are, because we KNOW that happens) and you don’t get through the list.
Set aside some special time just for your toddler. Use this time to play games, go outside and have fun with your toddler. This will ensure that you do spend quality time with her instead of running back and forth trying to play while taking care of other tasks. We’re all familiar with mom guilt, so this will help with that, as well.
Provide a safe environment with age appropriate activities to keep him/her busy while you take care of business. The activities will keep them occupied and happy while you work. You’ll also get more done because you know they’re in a safe environment where you don’t have to watch her every second (but please do watch as is age appropriate!)
Plan your meals in advance and eat around the same time every day. It’ll help you establish a daily routine that your kids learn to expect, in addition to helping you stay organized.

These simple tips are easy to implement into your daily schedule and they can help you keep your day organized even with a demanding toddler running around.

Ultimate Time Saver App for Busy Parents

August 23, 2019 by Danielle Leave a Comment

Thank you Medici for sponsoring this post. Medici connects doctors and patients in an easy to use app!

Who else is struggling to get through back to school season? There’s so much to take care of, and then once school starts we’re back to insane schedules between classes, homework, sports, and activities! Phew, it can be exhausting, but at least now we can save quite a bit of stress, time AND money with this Ultimate time Saver App for Busy Parents — Medici! It’s not your ordinary app, and let me tell you why…

First of all, Medici is an app you can download to your phone for free, and then connect with doctors, psychiatrists or even the vet without having to make an extra trip. That means skipping the waiting room the next time you or your kiddos need to see a doctor, so you can spend more time with your family. It can be super stressful for parents who are already busy with all life’s demands to try to fit one more thing into their schedule, especially when the office hours aren’t always when we can fit it in! With Medici, you can text, voice or video call with a doctor (or vet) over a secure HIPAA-compliant platform.

It’s easy for doctors to sign up, so if your preferred one isn’t already on Medici (there’s a lot on there) it’s not difficult to find the type you need. One of my favorite things about this is that when my kids are feeling miserable, I don’t have to load them into the car for a drive only to sit waiting at the office. Now they can rest at home while we figure things out with their pediatrician over Medici. That means they’re more comfortable, I can get them the help they need without the hassle, and the faster they can get feeling better and back to play!

If medicine or a more advanced look is needed, you can get ePrescriptions, eReferrals (for those time a specialist may be needed) and even Lab Results right there in the app. Nice and convenient, right? This will be handy for that once a year when at least a few in our family get strep, because our doctor knows this happens and now we don’t have to drive all the way to the office when the second or third person gets it!

Whether you’re a busy parent, pet parent or even just a couple (because we know us parents can get sick just as easy — but who has time for that?), Medici has you covered from pediatrician to vet to OBGYN, so you can have all of your family’s doctors just a text away!

This is seriously the ultimate time-saver app, because most busy parents know all too well that having to switch up schedules and driving to the doctor’s office can really throw a wrench in our already full day. Nobody likes it when someone in the family gets sick, but at least Medici helps take some of the stress and hassle (and even cost!) away with their convenient, easy-to-use app. If you’re looking to conveniently get your basic healthcare needs met without having to change your schedule, I encourage you to download Medici and try it out for yourself!

Family Home Binder Printables

August 5, 2019 by Danielle Leave a Comment

Isn’t it such a pain to sort through a ton of documents and files to find the information you need, especially when you’re in a rush? Now you can keep all your family’s important info in one, easy place with these Family Home Binder Printables! We’ve got everything from medical forms and emergency contacts, to shopping lists and babysitter sheets, plus budgets and more to make your life as a busy mom much easier and organized.

After lots of asking around as to what people preferred, we made our home binder printables simple and clean-looking, while still being stylish with some pops of color. It goes perfectly with our 2018 Free Printable Planner, as well as our awesome 52 Weeks of Meal Plans (with recipes) Book! We tried to include the majority of lists and documents that a busy family would need, helping you keep track of everything in one, convenient place. Once you have the PDFs, you can print off as many as you’d like (such as with the monthly budget sheet or weekly menu and shopping lists) – for personal use only, of course 🙂 We even included several cover options, so you can print off whichever you like best.

What’s included in the Family Home Binder Printable pack?

4 Cover Designs – front and back (front has choice of ribbon decor or plain in that blue label piece)
Weekly Tasks and To Do Spread
Page for listing household Utilities & Services information
School Information
Weekly Menu & Shopping List
Medical Forms
Family Emergency Plan, Map (fire escape route) & Contacts
Emergency Contact Sheet
Monthly Budget – one blank and one with some general expenses filled in
Babysitter Helper Sheet
Birthday List

Family Home Binder Printables

That’s a LOT of pages, but super important to have handy when your family needs them. You can nab the entire set now for just $1.99 – what a deal!

Let’s talk about the individual sheets now, shall we? Since many of us need help getting our tasks organized – otherwise we try to keep all our to do’s in our head – here’s the Weekly Tasks & To Do’s spread:

It has the days listed out along the top, and then to the left it’s divided into AM, PM or Eve (evening) so you can spread it out a bit by times, as desired.

One that many people forget to have on-hand is a list of their utility companies, contact information and account numbers – because we don’t really think about it until something happens and we need it RIGHT THEN. Now you can have them all neatly listed out on this sheet. We pre-filled some of the lines with the general types of utilities many people have, but it still has plenty of lines for adding in others as needed.

I never really thought to have a sheet of all my kids’ school information until we took a ‘parents only’ vacation and my uncles were watching them for almost 2 weeks.

Now you can print off a sheet for each school child, and have everything on there – from their homeroom teacher’s info, to their schedule (including bus) and more.

Along with having that easily accessible when you have a sitter, how about a BABYSITTER HELPER sheet? You can add the details for that particular time, plus things like what they should eat and what times. So useful!

For a long while I was using plain, boring paper to write out our family’s weekly menu – now it’s much more fun (and not such an eye-sore on my fridge) with this cute weekly menu that I can fill in.

This is the same design I use in our Meal Plan on a Budget Book, along with the fun shopping list page.

I’m crossing my fingers and knocking on wood right now as I type this (you know, just in case I jinx myself) – but we’ve only had to take a child to the emergency room ONE TIME. With 5 kids, that’s such a lucky blessing! When that did happen, though, I wish we had this medical form so I could have all of his information in one spot to take with us instead of trying to dig it all out and call hubby back home to find the stuff I just didn’t remember. Super stressful!

You can even use it when going to new doctors and such, since you can put all of their allergies, medications, past surgeries and the like on there. This page alone would’ve been well worth the mere $1.99 cost when we had our ER ordeal – and you can nab the whole set for that cost! Woot woot!

To go right along with that form – other emergencies can, unfortunately, happen to our families. Times like this, we don’t have a moment to spare – so it’s extremely important to have a plan. These emergency pages allow you spots to input your family’s emergency plans…

…including a sheet of more emergency contacts. We also included a mostly-blank page where you can draw out a rough idea of your home escape plan, for instances such as a fire.

This is great to practice with the kids regularly, so they know what to do should the worst happen.

Okay, now that we’ve covered those very urgent, hopefully-won’t-be-needed forms, let’s move on to something a little more fun – a place to put all those birthdays we try to keep in our minds constantly! Whether you just track your immediate family’s special days, or include every aunt, uncle and second-cousin-twice-removed, there’s spots for each month!

I know not everyone likes keeping a budget (I’m actually in love with budgeting, so for me it’s fun), but in case you do there’s a sheet to track all of your monthly finances!

We’ve included a sheet that’s partially filled in with common expenses, but also have one blank in case you really want full control over the items and order 🙂

Phew, that’s quite a ton of papers – but when you’ve got an entire family and household to care for it can be SUPER helpful to have all that information in one place. You can either put it in folders, staple it together, place it in a binder, or even just spiral-bind the packet yourself. Whatever you choose, this family home binder printable set is great for any busy mom, dad or family!

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This is included in our Busy Mom Bundle, along with other fabulous printable packs!

Check out our other products HERE

Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books

2018 Planner & Calendar

Summer Camp Kits or Kid Activity Packs

A YEAR of Meal Plans plus Recipes – on a budget!

Most Helpful Printables for Families EVER!

April 5, 2019 by Danielle Leave a Comment

GUYS – after doing this site for over 5 years now, and all the feedback, questions and thoughts from fellow busy parents everywhere, I decided to do something that will truly be ‘Busy Mom’s Helper’. Ready for it? It’s a complete set of printables that are designed with one purpose in mind: helping busy families! You can nab the entire set, or pick the individual one(s) that you want most. If you’re ready to dive in and check out the Most Helpful Printables for Families EVER, then here we go! (oh, and if you get the whole set, you also get our 2 most popular pdf books as a FREE bonus!)

Nab this ENTIRE set – including the bonus items – for just $5.99 HERE (or see below for smaller sets just $1 each!)

Because one of the whole points of this printable set is organization, I’m going to list out all the amazing pages that are included under their basic ‘topics’ below, so you can search for the ones you’re most eager to see (or the ones that would help you the most). We have practically everything in our 5 sets: Money & Financial, Kitchen & Meal Planning, Scheduling & Time Management, Security/Personal & Home Management, even some fun-but-helpful pages for Trip Planning!

Set 1: Money & Financial
Nab this set for only $1

Debt Tracker
- balances, payments, etc.
Emergency Fund
- tracker for balances, as well as fun chart tracker
Family Budget
- blank and pre-filled
Goals
- track your progress and balances

Set 2: Kitchen & Meal Planning
Nab this set for only $1

Our Favorite Meals
- list out family favorites for easier menu planning
Food Inventory
- pantry, fridge & freezer – keep a running list!
Shopping List
- broken down to store sections: aisles, dairy, meat/deli, produce, frozen & misc.
Weekly Meal Plan
- blank to fill in breakfast, lunch and dinner as desired
Menu
- pretty, styled listing to display your menu for the week

Set 3: Scheduling & Time Management
Nab this set for only $1

Appointments
- such as doctors, dentist, etc.
Birthdays
- list each by month for the year
Blank Monthly Calendar
Goal Tracker
- with steps broken down!
Full page for plenty of notes
Pet Information
- food, medicines, vet contacts, etc.
School Information
- start/end times, bus schedules, checking weather, etc.
Tasks in Minutes
- got a few minutes to be productive – here’s some ideas in 2 minutes or less or 5 minutes or less
- blank and prefilled with some ideas
Weekly Tasks
- 3 different layout/week options (Sun-Sat, Mon-Sun or dates at top and AM/PM/EVE on side)
8 different front cover designs/styles & 4 matching back covers

Set 4: Security/Personal & Home Management
Nab this set for only $1

Babysitter’s Helper
- from contact info to schedules
Chore Charts for Kids
- 6 different color combos
Emergency Contact List
Family Emergency Plan
- including extra sheet to draw out escape plan
Home Inventory
- keep record of your possessions per room – could come in handy for insurance someday
Utilities & Services
- know who to contact for what
Kids Clothing Tracker
- great way to save money – tips here!
Maintenance & Repairs
- keep record of common items, such as replacing filters
Family Medical
- information for each family member
Medicine
- sheet for tracking what’s in your cabinet (and when it expires) as well as tracking dosages
Passwords
- in case your secure digital record gets lost, keep a paper one (in a secure place)
Projects to Complete
- supplies, steps, and progress
Upon My Death
- for those left behind to know where important things are – list for accounts such as banking or investments (blank and prefilled), as well as items such as address book and will (blank and prefilled) – be sure to keep in a very secure location, but where trusted ones know where to find it!

Set 5: Trip Planning
Nab this set for only $1

Note: there is a colorful general trip set as well as a Disney-themed set of each of the below (unless stated otherwise)!

Trip Budget
- blank and pre-filled
Packing List
- essentials, clothing, toiletries, etc.
Trip Prep
- to-do’s 6-9 months prior, 1-2 weeks prior, etc.
- blank (plus a prefilled one for Disney)
Safety Tips
- before leaving, while away & once returned home (colored only, no Disney-themed on this one)

As you probably noticed, several of the printables have both a BLANK and a PREFILLED option – we wanted to be the most help to the most people, so included the prefilled for those that really like having the most common things already there for them. However, we know many will vary in what they’d put, so made sure a blank form was still included. Like we said at the beginning of this post, we’ve been collecting input, ideas, and requests for a LONG time to see what type of printables would really be the most helpful for busy families – we tried to include as much as possible, and any that seemed to be requested by enough people to be seen as a common need.

Get the Whole Pack & Bonus Items!

Did you see the two BONUS items, too?! We’re including our super popular ‘Unofficial’ Disney Autograph & Activity Book (our most popular printable EVER) as well as our extremely helpful (and probably our second most time-consuming project we’ve ever done) 52 Weeks of Meal Plans! That’s a whole year of breakfast, lunch & dinner planned out – including the budget-friendly recipes. I told you I wanted this pack to be as helpful as possible for fellow busy parents, so felt that it wouldn’t be complete without these two great resources! And since we sell those two items individually for $2 each, this is a killer value. I want this to help as many as possible (though I do still have to support my family, of course, otherwise I could list it for FREE) so here’s the deal…..

Nab this ENTIRE set – including the bonus items – for just $5.99 HERE!!!

Yup, we’re crazy – take advantage of it 😉

Even if just SOME of these would make your life a bit easier, that all seems worth it – don’t you agree? I mean, parenting is crazy enough, so even the slightest bit of help can be a huge blessing! Whether you use ten of these sheets or ALL of them, I just hope they bring a little more ‘calm’, organization, time and relief to your family’s busy lives!

Family Home Command Center

January 7, 2019 by Danielle Leave a Comment

With a family of 7, it can be really challenging to keep all of our schedules organized (and not forget all the random events or tasks). Luckily, we spent the weekend putting up this awesome Family Home Command Center that’s been a lifesaver! Not only is it functional, but looks amazing on this big wall on the side of our stairs.

As we’ve been *finally* adding photos and decor to our walls in this house (like our fun entryway with our new family photos), I knew I wanted a central area to help keep our family a bit more organized. A big dry erase calendar was a total MUST for me, because as the kids get older there seems to be more and more activities every month – I need help to stay on top of it all!

And for those of you that are super observant, yes I completely messed up the dates on the calendar at first! My large desk calendar – where I put all my daily to-dos for work, life, and EVERYTHING – starts with Sunday as the first day of the week. I look at this calendar multiple times a day, so that’s what my brain is programmed for – so I went into autopilot when writing in dates. It’s since been fixed, thank goodness, but it’s going to take some getting use to! At the top is another of our fabulous family photo gallery wraps – it’s a bit more goofy, and I love it for our command center.

It took me a bit to decide on a layout – but once I knew exactly WHAT I wanted to put on the wall, it was just a matter of playing with it. I traced everything onto scrap paper and used that taped to the wall until I found what I liked best, then it was easy to put the nail holes exactly where they needed to be, as well!

We’ve been trying something new with our family chores – a sheet with the chores divided up. I laminated it, so each week I just put each child’s marker color by the chunk of chores that they’re in charge of completing that week. Same for who has meal duties (set table, etc.) each meal – just add their marker color. Super easy to switch up, and a nice convenient spot for them to check!

Above that is a cute printable list of the morning tasks all my kids need to complete to kick off their homeschool work for the day – I plan to switch it up each month to play with other backgrounds.

I’ve had my large photo collage LOVE board for several years now, and have always enjoyed it in a central location to look at often, so it was perfect! I plan to start making a new one annually with our family photos from that year, then use numbers to do a vertical 2018 (or whatever the year) in place of the letters. Each year we’ll add to our collection, and the most current will go in this spot on our home command center!

Aren’t my babies so cute? Even the kids really enjoy walking past this and seeing a bunch of photos of the family. This family command center is along our main pathway from the front door to the back of the house where the kitchen/living room are. Across from the wall is the large, open office and homeschool room, so it’s a perfect location for them to check their daily tasks and glance at the family calendar, as needed.

Seriously, I can’t get enough of how great this central area looks – and am loving how convenient it is for our family scheduling, tasks, and chores. Hopefully it continues to keep us a bit more organized for a long while to come!

Do you have a command center? Tell me about it in the comments!

How to Utilize Time Waiting

May 28, 2018 by Danielle

As a busy mom, you have to wait – sometimes a lot. There are probably many times you’ve had to wait around just this week – at the carpool line, at the doctor’s office, while your kiddos have practice. With all of our to-dos every day, we can’t really afford to ‘waste’ that time (although I’m a full supporter of taking some of that for YOU time). If you’re wanting to get more done and make the most of those moments, here’s some tips on How to Utilize Time Waiting.

Other than taking some of these moments for yourself – which I HIGHLY recommend at least occasionally – it’s nice to cross some other productive things off to help you fit more into your day. Here are some things busy moms can do to make the most of that time just sitting or standing around:

1. Go over your to do list. You can write the list, edit the list, review the list, etc. You might carry a small notebook with you, or use a digital to-do list or smartphone app. Whatever works for you, but that time spent waiting is a good way to stay updated on the tasks you need to get done. I know my list changes constantly, so it’s good to stay on top of it before it becomes overwhelming.

2. Catch up on email. This can be a great time to wade through some of those emails you’ve been putting off opening, or to touch base with someone you’ve really been meaning to contact.

3. Review or start a grocery list. You might need to be at home to look in your kitchen and see what you’re out of, but most moms are pretty good at remembering at least some of what is and isn’t in their kitchen. You can also get a list going of potential meals for your next week’s menu, or think of a new recipe to try.

4. Catch up on social media. Need your daily social media fix? Want to see what your friends are up to, but you’ve been too busy? Here’s a good time to catch a peak – just don’t get sucked in too much like many of us do! 😉

5. Take some fun photos! My kids love it when I take time to nab some photos with them (since us moms don’t always get IN the photos), so we’ve started making it a regular thing when we’re waiting somewhere together.

With these tips in mind, you can plan ahead and best utilize time waiting. This will give you more time when you’re back at home for doing other things you need to tend to, and maybe even give you REAL time to spend for yourself!

What do YOU do while waiting around?

How to Truly Find Balance in Your Life

March 30, 2018 by Danielle

Does anyone else experience those times in life when you just sit there thinking ‘how the heck can I handle everything?’ With all that we busy moms are asked to do, it’s an extremely frustrating task to find balance with it all. And not every person has the same responsibilities or desires for their time! One mom may need to provide some or all of the family’s income. Another may be the main household ‘manager’. Still another may be a full-time chauffeur due to their kids’ many activities. Most of us do more than one of those things, too! So how do we manage our responsibilities with spending quality time with our families AND making time to care for ourselves? Here’s a few tips on How to Truly Find Balance in Your Life – hopefully they’ll help us with this stressful balancing act a bit!

We hear a lot of talk about “balance” these days. Balancing your personal life with your mom duties, balancing work and home life, balancing this-and-that – but what does it really mean? The first, and most important, thing to know about balance is that it is not static. It comes and goes and weaves in and out of your life as things change throughout your day, week, and months. You need to understand that it evolves and regularly be aware of it. Learn how to self-check to see if you are feeling balanced.

Just because you “find balance” doesn’t mean you will feel the same tomorrow. You may need to find it again. In time, it will get easier and easier to form good, positive habits that help you maintain balance in your life, but it is still a daily process. It isn’t something you just find and keep forever. It’s a constant struggle, like a constant balancing act we have to do – and it can change constantly as our roles, responsibilities and life challenges adjust.

Next, you also need to know that healthy eating and getting enough sleep each night will help you. It sounds basic – that’s because it is. It’s simple enough, yet many people struggle with it. You need to have your body and mind in the right place and this begins with healthy living.

Don’t be afraid to say no. Many of us moms find our lives getting kicked out of balance because we take on too many responsibilities or try to do too much. It’s important that we learn to say no and be comfortable doing so when the time comes. You can’t do everything, nor should you try.

Okay, so that sounds a lot easier than I think it is – but I think these few things are the most important steps for working towards balance. It’s okay if we don’t always get it perfect, but what matters most is that we’re trying – for our families sakes, as well as our own!

How do YOU best find balance in your life?

Announcing the Busy Mom Bundle!

March 1, 2018 by Danielle

I’ve been working like crazy behind the scenes creating something for all my fellow busy moms out there to make your lives a bit easier, and maybe even more organized. I’m thrilled to finally announce the Busy Mom Bundle! We’ve taken several of our most popular products and are offering them as a complete set for all the parents out there – whether you need help organizing your families important files, want meal plans already done for you for a YEAR, love Disney activities, need a reliable planner, or help planning the best summer camp ever – this Busy Mom Bundle has practically EVERYTHING to help out!

Busy Mom Bundle

From getting all your important files, documents & information together with the Family Home Binder, to having a whole year’s worth of weekly meal plans (with the recipes, of course) already done for you. Keep track of your schedule and tasks with our beautiful planner. You can even earn money hosting an awesome summer (or Spring Break) camp for kids with our FOUR different themed camp kits – or just enjoy them as bonus activities for your own kiddos!

Plus, both the Disneyland-California AND generic versions of our Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books – perfect for that upcoming Disney trip, or just a great booklet for Disney lovers.

These fabulously fun and helpful books and kits sell individually for $2-$10 EACH (except the planner, it’s always free), but with the Busy Mom Bundle you can nab the whole set for just $8 – that’s less than the cost of ONE of the summer camp kits or the meal plan pack alone!

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So let me break it down a bit so you can see exactly what’s included in this incredible printable bundle pack…

Family Home Binder

4 Cover Designs
Weekly Tasks and To Do Spread
Page for listing household Utilities & Services information
School Information
Weekly Menu & Shopping List
Medical Forms
Family Emergency Plan, Map (fire escape route) & Contacts
Emergency Contact Sheet
Monthly Budget – one blank and one with some general expenses filled in
Babysitter Helper Sheet
Birthday List

2018 Printable Calendar & Weekly Planner

also includes 8 different covers (4 styles, each with the option for the stylized ribbon strip or without it)
This is normally a free printable anyway, so we’re just including in here since it’s also a helpful resource for busy moms

Summer Camp Kits – a great way to earn some extra cash!

The 4 themes include: Arts & Crafts, Wizard (aka Unofficial Harry Potter), Science and Superhero
Don’t want to do a camp? They still make great preschool themes, party plans & ideas or just awesome kid activities!
Each has:
- a cover
- tips and ideas for planning & organizing your camp
- themed food ideas
- activities, games, crafts and/or expiriments
- access to LOTS of free printables to assist in your camp, such as invitations, sign in/out sheets, name tags, coloring pages, photo booth cut-outs, banners, drink labels, food cards, etc.

Both Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books (Disneyland-specific, and the generic version)

Pages for keeping memories and records from your Disney trip
Coloring sheets, games & activities
Plenty of styled & themed autograph pages (also work great for photo pages)
Disneyland version includes ride lists & height requirements

Meal Plan on a Budget

52 Weeks (a whole year) of weekly meal plans already done for you
Breakfast, lunch AND dinner
Recipes all included with page numbers for easy reference
Daily food costs average to less than $5 per person per day!
Blank shopping list for easy grocery list planning

Like I said, the Busy Mom Bundle will be only $8 – such a great savings from buying the printable sets individually! But here’s the thing – we’re celebrating this awesome kit by doing a TWO DAY SALE when it’s live – by selling it for just $7! Yup, when it becomes available in our shop next Tuesday, March 6th at 6am until Thursday, March 8th at 8am you can nab the ENTIRE kit for just $7 – that’s less than a single summer camp kit set or the meal plan book all alone.

So mark your calendars, because this amazing, parent-sanity-saving set will be available starting next week and you can save more by purchasing the first two days. WOOT WOOT!

Don’t want the whole bundle? Check out our other products HERE

Family Home Binder

Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books

2018 Planner & Calendar

Summer Camp Kits or Kid Activity Packs

A YEAR of Meal Plans with Recipes – on a Budget!

Which of the printables would YOU most like to have?

How to Fit Cleaning into Your Busy Mom Routine

February 28, 2018 by Danielle

As a mom, one of our big challenges in keeping a clean and organized home. The problem is that it’s just more to add to our hilariously long to-do list, and unless someone invents that wonderful ‘time in a bottle’ that I ask for every holiday, it’s just not always possible to accomplish EVERYTHING we want to get done. That being said, here’s a few tips on How to Fit Cleaning into Your Busy Mom Routine, so maybe you can get a little sweeping done every now and then!

Despite how many of my photos I share on my blog and social channels look, my house is not usually completely cleaned. Yes, we do regular cleaning and chores, but there’s always more I want to do – there’s just never time for it all. There are ways to tackle a few tasks here and there, though, that can help keep your house at least ‘clean enough’ – which is what some of us moms just need to be happy with until our kiddos are a bit older!

1. Make the most of naptime. When your son or daughter is napping, this is a great time to scrub the toilets, clean out the fridge or change the cat’s litter box. The key is to do quiet cleaning while your child naps so that you don’t wake them!

2. Clean while your child eats or watches TV. You can mop the floors while your child is enjoying their lunch or watching an episode of Dora the Explorer.

3. Get some cleaning done before mealtime. This can be a good time to encourage your child to pick up their toys or get your vacuuming done.

4. Do some cleaning after bedtime. After your kids have been tucked in, you might clean up the kitchen, do the dishes, unload the dishwasher or do any other cleaning that needs to be done.

5. Involve your child in cleaning. Even toddlers can get involved in cleaning by picking up their own toys. Young kids may enjoy dusting.

6. Lower your expectations. You have kids, possibly even some pets. Your house is never going to be completely clean – and that’s ok. Don’t stress so much about it not being perfect that you miss out on what’s more important – your family. There will be time later for a perfectly clean, organized home.

These are just some ideas on how to fit cleaning into your busy mom routine. Although it can take some strategic planning, there are plenty of great times to squeeze in a little bit here and there – and it all adds up!

How do YOU fit cleaning into your schedule?

How to Stop Multitasking and Get More Done

February 3, 2018 by Danielle

Raise your hand if you’re a multi-tasker! I sure am – but that’s not necessarily a good thing. As busy moms, we often pride ourselves on our ability to do many things at once – and with all we have to do, it’s not avoidable all the time. But really, we’ve got to learn How to Stop Multitasking and Get More Done!

You may think that multitasking is helping you get more things accomplished in your day, but many studies have shown that it does more harm than good. When you’re doing a specific task, you need to be sure you’re focused only on that specific task and not anything else at the moment. This will help you be more efficient with what you’re doing and you’ll get through things more quickly. It’s also super easy to get started on several things, but they never really get finished because we were handling too much all at once – or we were doing one thing, saw another and remembered it needed to be done and switched our focus, then several items later never make it back to the one we started with. Crazy, frustrating and exhausting, right?! By just focusing on one thing at a time, it not only gets done BETTER, but you can check more things off your to-do list, rather than have many things half started but not completed.

So, if you’ve been overwhelmed and trying to tackle several things at once, it may be a difficult habit to quit. Here’s some tips to stop multitasking and get more done:

Make a list of things you need to do, then prioritize your list. Put time estimates beside each task of how long they will take you. That way, if you find you have about 15 minutes, you can pick something that takes about that long to get done – instead of wondering what you can fit in and simply waste that time not deciding.
Take each task one at a time and commit to doing it until finished. This also frees up your brain power from trying to keep too many tasks ‘open’ in it all at once.
Block out your time throughout the day in chunks, based on your to-do list. I do better with smaller chunks of time, since it doesn’t seem so daunting – you can divide larger tasks up into smaller ones to help this, too.
Allow yourself breaks in between completing tasks. You’ll be more focused on getting it done, and have a chance to refresh knowing you get a rest time when complete.
Practice it until it becomes your new habit. Changes don’t happen instantly, especially with long-ingrained habits like this, so be patient and just keep at it the best you can.

What are your tips to get more done in the day?

Time Management for Busy Moms

January 23, 2018 by Danielle

Us moms have to juggle many tasks and wear many hats, from carpooling and checking homework, cleaning and laundry, managing the budget and shopping, and sometimes even a whole slew of job work! It might seem like you never have time to stop, or even slow down with your enormous to-do list – but it’s important that you manage your time and your busy tasks as well as you can so that you CAN still get quality time with your family, as well as some time for yourself. Here’s some Time Management for Busy Moms to give us ALL a little help!

It’s very important to your well-being, as well as the well-being of those you care for each day, and many moms just don’t make it a priority. I struggle with that all too often myself, so know what you’re up against! Maybe one or two of these time management tips will give you a little help and guidance.

Delegate – Whenever possible, try to delegate some tasks to someone else. Sometimes busy moms try too hard to do it all when there are tasks that others are perfectly capable of helping with. Despite what some husbands might think, they’re perfectly capable of helping with the house cleaning and such. No, they may not load the dishwasher perfectly how you want it – but if the dishes will still get cleaned, great! Are your kids able to help fold the clothes (who am I kidding, we don’t ‘fold’ clothes in our house – it’s wash, dry and put away in drawers or hung in closets!) or maybe wipe down the counters? Let them help!

Create a schedule – You need a schedule and you need to stick to it. It might seem difficult when everything is happening at a crazy, breakneck pace but it’s important you follow the schedule to help manage your time properly. Once you force yourself into a habit of following a schedule, it’ll become easier to do and help you get done what you need to while seeing where you can fit in other things.

Use a timer – Focus on one task at a time and use a timer to block out short blocks of time to get things done. The timer will keep you on task while also helping you see how much time you’re actually spending on things. It’s easier to tackle scrubbing toilets when I have a timer for only so many minutes – I can do REALLY good cleaning for those minutes, then I get a break!

Don’t overcommit – This is a difficult one for most moms but it’s important not to overbook and overcommit yourself. Sometimes you just need to say no because you already have too many things going on. There’s nothing wrong with this at all, regardless of why we tell ourselves we have to say yes or let ourselves feel guilty when we don’t. Us busy moms are AWESOME – but we’re not time lords or anything, so we just CANNOT do everything. Please let yourself say no sometimes.

Y’all remember when I shared how important it is for us moms to have a hobby of our own? I know that it’s easier said than done with how much we need to squeeze into each day – but with these time management tips for busy moms, hopefully we can ALL can keep ourselves on schedule a bit more and feel like we have some downtime now and then, because every mom deserves that!

What’s YOUR best time management advice for busy moms?

List of Our Favorite Free Printable Planners & Calendars for 2018

January 5, 2018 by Danielle

January means planning for a lot of people – looking at the year ahead as we make goals and schedule our events. Online calendars are just great, but there’s just something about the good ol’ paper ones that I absolutely love! I thought it’d be fun to put together this List of Our Favorite FREE Printable Planners & Calendars for 2018 to share with y’all!

Not only do I use my own Free Printable 2018 Planner for my weekly planning and blog scheduling, but I have a big desk one and even use an online Google Calendar – because that’s the only method hubby can keep up with, so I need to add our family things on there as well. Overload, you may think – but this is what works for me and helps me stay on top of my many to-dos and scheduling for family, self and my work. Check out the below list of FREE printable 2018 planners and calendars to find one that fits your style AND your scheduling preferences!

Free Printable 2018 Planner (with 200+ customizable files) from TheHandmadeHome.com