These time-saving tips for moms will save you time and energy every week.
I wonder what I did with my time before I had children. Juggling their appointments, sport, music, and social lives is a full-time job in itself. That’s why excellent time management is a crucial skill when you are a mom.
Time is a finite resource and one we cannot change. We all have 24 hours every day, so it’s important to maximise it. And one of the many benefits of maximising your time is that it frees up time to reconnect with ourselves and those we love.
Running a household is a time-consuming task. Moms seem to have endless to-do lists, but there are ways you can take back your time.
By being intentional and implementing our time-saving tips for moms, you can make time for your favourite hobby, exercise or that much-needed shower. Scheduling will give you the freedom and the structure you need to manage your day while giving you control over your week.
Consider the Bigger Picture
When thinking about how you will manage your time, always start with the bigger picture. e.g. What the most important things are that you hope to achieve, then work backwards from there. That way, you will utilise your time working toward your personal goals and what you want from life.
Setting your intention ensures you are focused and don’t end up in a world of distraction or end up “busy being busy”. Doing lots of things that have no real significance.
By following our time-saving tips for moms, you will gain hours back every week, allowing you to focus on what is important to you.
Strategically plan
Most people live day by day, but time is a precious resource that we can never get back. Whenever we ask moms about their best time-saving tips for busy moms, they suggest three things. Get organised, routines and scheduling time.
Get organised
Constantly having to look for missing items saps precious time. The age-old adage “a place for everything and everything in its place” rings true.
So have a place for everything and put items back, always in the same spot. Being organised is one of the qualities of being a good mom and will give you a sense of empowerment and control over your days.
Schedule time
Time management is a skill, and it takes practice. If you don’t plan your tasks ahead of time, you will live reactively without intention. So, take the time to map out your priorities monthly, weekly and daily.
You can use a journal, a planner, a calendar, an app or a good old fashioned piece of paper.
Sunday night is an excellent night to plan out a weekly schedule. This should include your meals, groceries, laundry, housework, activities, appointments, social commitments etc. A good rule of thumb for planning your day is to do it the night before or first thing in the morning.
Routines
Good morning, evening, laundry, cleaning, exercise, sleep, self-care, and healthy eating routines will help you stay sane. Routines will also ensure your day runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Morning Routine
Finding a quiet moment as a busy mom can seem almost impossible. Using your children as an alarm clock means that your day commences by responding to them, and this can derail your day from the start.
Giving yourself an hour before your children wake is one of the best time-saving tips for busy moms. Rising before your children will allow you to respond rather than react.
You can use this quiet time for exercise, renewal, personal growth, or work on your dreams. In the words of Robin Sharma,
“Winning starts at your beginning. And your first hours are where the great heroes are made. Own your mornings, and you’ll master your life”.
Mornings can be very easy to put off; however, if you wake up one hour earlier every morning, you will gain 15 extra days per year! Mornings are one of the best chances to catch some uninterrupted ‘me time’.
Waking up early gives you time to accomplish the things that are important to you – distraction-free. So, ban your snooze button and when your alarm goes off, sit up, then stand up.
Muster your willpower and think about how you will spend your day. Visit our article on Mindfulness for Moms for more ideas on setting your intention, and reducing anxiety, stress and exhaustion.
Tips for waking up early
Recognise that it will take time for your body to get used to your new sleep pattern. You may like to change your sleep schedule gradually, so it’s easier to adjust.
If you would like to try a gradual approach, start by waking up 15 minutes earlier. You can also try going to bed 15 minutes earlier; however, only do this if you are tired and feel like you can sleep.
Once your body has adjusted to your new wake time, you may find you start falling asleep earlier in the evening.
Try to aim for consistency with your wake times. If you sleep in one day, it will be harder to wake up the next day. So if possible, only vary your wake times by thirty minutes and try to get adequate sleep every night, so it’s easier to wake up in the morning.
Dianne M. Augelli, M.D., board-certified sleep medicine physician at Weill Cornell Medical Centre, advises that ideally, you should expose yourself to light for thirty minutes within the first hour of waking up. Exposing yourself to light first thing in the morning will help your body adjust to your new routine by tapping into your natural sleep cycles. If it’s not possible for you to get natural light, you can use a broad-spectrum lightbox or a specially designed light alarm for a similar effect.
Set Yourself up for Success
Set yourself up for success in the morning by avoiding alcohol and large meals before bedtime. Hydrate well throughout the day and monitor your caffeine intake.
Consume no more than 400 milligrams of total caffeine or even less if you have problems falling asleep in the evening. Avoid screens for the last hour before bed. Or switch to night mode or wear blue light blocking glasses if you have to be on a screen.
Switching to night mode on your device or wearing blue light blocking glasses will help filter out the harmful wavelengths that interfere with melatonin production and circadian rhythm.
Positive Mental Attitude
The key to your success in waking up early is having a positive mental attitude. So make it something to look forward to.
During this magical time, there will be no children vying for your attention, no babies crying, no television and no traffic—just pure serene, quiet. Whether you decide to spend this time in tranquil silence, journaling, exercising, reading a book, enjoying a coffee, feeling gratitude, working on your dreams, or simply watching the sunrise.
Remember, this is time for you. Make it wonderful, so you look forward to it. You might like to try reading a book with a nice cup of tea or coffee for the first few weeks as you adjust.
For inspiration on what to read, visit our article on self-help books for moms. This list covers topics such as compassion, mindfulness, health, relationships, career development, being a good friend, and being a better parent. These self-help books will increase your feelings of joy and abundance and help you accomplish your goals faster.
What do the Experts Say?
Experts recommend applying the 20/20/20 rule during the first hour every morning. If you can’t manage an hour, you can do a 10/10/10 or perhaps even a 5/5/5.
- Move: For the first part, practice intense exercise to improve brain chemistry.
- Reflect: During the next part, be silent, journal, meditate, or plan the day.
- Grow: Lastly, indulge in learning or reading for personal development.
You can read more about the 20/20/20 formula here.
Evening Routine
Another time-saving tip for busy working moms is to set out the items you need for the morning the night before. This includes any sports or music equipment and laying out children’s clothes, if necessary.
Or, if you are planning to do a workout, preparing your exercise clothes will get you in the right frame of mind. You may also like to write your gratitude list and read, or consider your to-do list for the next day.
Time Saving Mealtime Tips
Plan out your meals a full week in advance. Knowing what you are eating every night will save you a lot of stress.
Once you know what you will eat, buy all the items you need for those meals. The best suggestion is to order your groceries online and get them delivered or collect them from the store.
The key here is not to forget anything because going to the store for a forgotten ingredient is a huge time waster. By planning, you’ll likely end up making healthier choices, waste less food and save money by not resorting to fast food options.
Once you have planned and shopped for your week of meals, you may like to consider making two batches of meals, freezing one or repeating the same meal the next night. My brother in law takes this one step further. He cooks three times the recipe, freezes two portions and only cooks every third night.
Meal prepping is not for everyone. I know families who spend a day on the weekend cooking large batches of food, freezing sandwiches or creating meal prep kits (chopping vegetables and preparing everything ready for cooking during weeknights). This approach is not for everyone, so you need to think about what will work best for you and your family.
If you can think about dinner in the mornings and start to prepare, your evenings will run a lot more smoothly. Slow cookers are a marvellous thing if you want to prepare the evening meal in the morning. Otherwise, wash vegetables, get cooking utensils out, measure out herbs and make sauces or salad dressings ahead of time.
Whatever approach you decide to go with, below are some time-saving tips for moms that can make mealtimes, clean up and shopping faster and more efficient.
If you are shopping in person, only shop at one or two stores.
Add groceries to your list in order of the store layout to avoid having to go back for an item you missed.
Keep a running grocery list. You can use an app that the whole family can access or keep a list on the fridge.
Keep dinner menus basic, choose ten recipes and rotate them.
Try to choose recipes that only require one pot, pan or dish.
Use frozen vegetables, fresh pasta from the fridge section, microwave rice, microwave couscous and microwave quinoa.
Instead of peeling vegetables, use a vegetable brush to clean them, so you retain as many nutrients as possible while saving time.
Buy easy ginger and garlic, already crushed, so you don’t have to mince.
Use a food chopper and never chop an onion again. I also use the food chopper to chop vegetables very finely, so my children don’t realise they are eating them.
Use scissors to cut meat into bite-size pieces.
Appliances that can make your life easier include an air fryer, slow cooker, mandolin, thermomixer, pressure cooker, food processor, instant pot, and an extra freezer.
Parboil roasting vegetables or put them in the microwave for ten minutes before roasting to decrease cooking time.
Skip browning meat before adding to your slow cooker by using a little soy sauce and tomato paste to add the same meaty depth of flavour.
Cook breakfast muffins or quiches and freeze for days you are running late and need to give children breakfast on the go.
Put your children’s utensils, cups and plates in a drawer near the floor so they can help themselves.
Read Jaime Olivers 7 Ways to learn the secrets of super delicious fast cooking.
Below are our best time saving-saving tips for moms when cleaning. The biggest one is to delegate! Get your children involved and if you have a partner, make sure you are working in partnership.
Share the load and have some fun with our first four tips below.
Put comfortable clothes on.
Pump the music.
Assemble all the items you need to accomplish your cleaning task, then put them in a bucket or caddy so you can carry them from room to room easily.
Speed clean – set a timer and see how much you can get done in 15 minutes. Pretend you have guests arriving.
Use a microfibre cloth rather than furniture polish, so your furniture gets less dusty.
Use a soap dispensing brush or sponge.
When cleaning fans, use a pillowcase to catch the dust and stop it from falling onto the floor.
For hard to reach places when dusting, use a paintbrush.
Put a doormat on both the inside and outside of doorways to collect dust and dirt.
Group similar cleaning tasks together and do them simultaneously, such as cleaning the windows and the blinds or the floors and the skirting boards.
Clean glass or ceramic nick nacks, including light fittings in the dishwasher.
Use your hair straightener instead of the iron.
Swish your toilet with a brush most days.
Clean blinds by wearing an old sock on your hand.
Get rid of pet hair by using rubber gloves.
If your indoor plants are dusty, pop them in the shower for soaking to freshen them up.
If your vacuum has a short chord, use an extension lead, so you don’t have to keep plugging it in to get to different areas.
Spot clean fabrics with baby wipes – don’t use cleaning wipes as they may have harsh chemicals or bleach.
Ask your children to jump over your mattress. Jumping on the mattress will bring up the dust from inside, so you can vacuum the top of the mattress.
Clean your blender by filling it with warm water and adding soap. Turn your blender on, and voila.
Put your sponge in the dishwasher to get it clean again, or pour your leftover boiling water from the kettle over it to kill the germs.
A microfibre cloth is a great way to get windows clean.
Repurpose your lint roller to collect dust from lampshades, fabrics, and surfaces.
Use playdoh to collect glitter.
Wash kids’ plastic toys in the dishwasher and put smaller lego items in a laundry wash bag.
Appliances that can make your life easier include a window cleaner, stick vacuum, spin mop, steam iron and robovac.
If you are saving your cleaning for weekends, get the whole family involved so you can all enjoy the rest of the day.
Commit to becoming minimalist and fill a donation box every week with unwanted items.
Use a silicone liner in your oven to catch spills.
Keep the cleaning supplies needed to clean each room in or near that room.
Go hands-free and clean while you are on hold or while talking on the phone.
Rinse dishes immediately so there’s less work scrubbing them later.
Time Saving Laundry Tips
The best time-saving tip for moms regarding laundry is to have a routine, either all laundry on the weekend or one to two loads per day. You need to find what works for you and your family.
If you have a busy bustling household that is often running behind, you may like to try a priority laundry hamper. This way your family know if they need a particular item back in two days it will be on priority in the wash.
Personally, if I don’t fold clothes immediately, they get left and pile up. So, what works for me is to fold laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer or off the line.
To deal with the ongoing sock dilemma, hang a wash bag by the laundry hamper and get all household members to put socks directly in the wash bag. Alternatively, buy sock clips to keep socks together in the wash.
Use a wooden bath mat over the laundry sink to create additional space, so you always have a surface to work on.
Install a towel bar, or clothes rack for extra hanging space.
Hang everything on a garment rack, colour coding the hangers. When the garments are dry, get all household members to put away their hanger colour.
Don’t wash clothes that don’t need washing. You can stretch out your jeans, pyjamas and children’s clothes.
Throw a dry towel or a wool dryer ball when you use the dryer. It will help dry items much faster.
Use a handheld steamer in place of iron to reduce ironing time.
Fold laundry immediately to prevent wrinkles.
If you pop your laundry in the dryer for 5 minutes, the dryer will iron out wrinkles.
Use 3 section laundry sorter for colours, whites and darks to save sorting time.
Purchase the largest washing machine you can afford. The bigger the load, the fewer loads you need to do.
If you have a timer on your washing machine, you can load it up in the evening and set it to start in the morning.
Create a capsule wardrobe for everyone in the household.
Time-saving Tips for Babies and Toddlers
Shower with babies and toddlers.
Invest in a hands-free pumping bra so you can multitask.
Use apps to get organised, streamline your life and share information with other carers. We have researched all the very best apps to assist with photos, videos, babies, recipes, productivity, fitness, organisation, weight loss and more. Read our list of the best apps for moms here.
Use a baby swing to keep your baby content for longer, so you have more time to complete chores.
Have somewhere you can put your baby down in most rooms.
Rotate children’s toys. If you are working, put the toys that are easy to clean up out on the days you are working and keep the messy toys for your days off.
Set up a breastfeeding station with everything you need, including water, tv remote, night light, tablet, cloths etc.
Invest in a bedside sleeper, so you don’t have to get up in the night to attend to the baby.
Pump milk from one side while nursing on the other.
If you are formula feeding, you can mix up 24 hours worth of formula at a time and store it in the fridge.
Time Saving Tips for Car
As your children get older, ban eating in the car to keep it clean.
While they are young, a pet travel car seat cover to catch everything.
Always keep a change of clothes, diaper and plastic bag in the car when children are young.
Use silicone cupcake liners in cup holders.
Travel with a first aid kit.
Have a bin bag or invest in a car trash can.
Clean your car while you are pumping gas.
Bills and Money Time Saving Tips
Put everything financial on auto, so you don’t have to think about it.
Automate all bill payments.
Beauty Time Saving Tips
For hair that has not been washed, try dry shampoo, a scarf or a hat.
Dry hair with a microfibre towel, so it dries faster.
Use an in-shower moisturiser such as Nivea Nourishing In-Shower Body Lotion.
Use a tissue, credit card or shadow shield to protect your base when applying eyeshadow in a hurry.
Invest in a hairdryer holder for easy access.
Apply a face mask before you brush your teeth and hop in the shower.
Use multi-purpose products such as tinted moisturiser or makeup with SPF.
Invest in eyelash extensions. They take an hour to apply but last for a month.
Simplify your beauty products, clear out expired products and separate the products you use for your daily routine.
Always keep a hair tie, lip balm and mascara in your handbag.
Smile.
Tims Saving Wardrobe Tips
One of the best time-saving tips for working moms (and busy moms!) is developing a capsule wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothes and accessories that are designed to work together.
A good capsule wardrobe consists of ten clothing items that combine to make 30 different outfits. The interchangeable items combine to make many different outfits, so you have fewer options and can make faster decisions.
Once you have created your capsule wardrobe, you no longer have to shop and will save time getting dressed in the morning as all your items match.
General Time Saving Tips
Time is our most precious resource. The more you can utilise our time-saving tips for busy moms, the more time you will have to spend with your loved ones.
Below are some tried and true ideas for simple things that you can easily do to save time.
Ensure you eat well and get enough sleep, so you have the energy to complete tasks efficiently.
If you are using email daily consider emailing your to-do list to yourself every afternoon so it’s there in your inbox every morning.
Read our 21 life-changing ideas on self-love for moms and prioritise your self-care.
Eat for energy.
Keep a pair of scissors in most rooms.
Be precious with your time, limiting TV and scrolling. Turn off notifications.
If you decide to get some downtime and watch TV, use the time to fold or update your to-do list.
Exercise at home.
Keep snacks in the car.
Record how you use your time for a week so you can cut out time-wasting activities.
Use a telemedicine app for a tele consult over the phone rather than driving to see a doctor. They send a prescription to your closest pharmacy.
Focus on achieving your three main tasks every day and do the hardest job first.
Whatever you dread about your day, complete it first thing when your energy level is the highest, and you don’t have to spend the day avoiding the task.
Try to avoid commuting or use your commute time wisely by taking an online course, listening to an audiobook, writing a gratitude list or journaling.
Related: For ideas on what to buy the new mom, visit our 85 new mom care package and gift ideas here.
Be very protective of your time and learn to say no nicely. By saying no to other people, you are saying yes to yourself. You are saying yes to spending more time on the things or the people you love, or more time to relax and rewind.
Guard your time above all else and make how you spend your time your highest priority. If you are a working mom and would like help managing your house, you can read our cleaning schedule for working moms for further hints, tips, hacks and ideas.
In the words of Brendan Burchard,
“The most crucial task is to forge more life into your day. This does not mean new to-do’s; it means less. It means creating space to think, walk, eat, sleep, read, love, dream.”
The best lives include time for rest, family time, free time and exercise. When we are too busy, we are not present. Using our time-saving tips for moms, you will achieve more in less time and give yourself the personal freedom to enjoy your time.
These time-saving tips for moms will ensure you have more time and energy every week!
