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A few months ago, I transitioned to being a full-time stay at home mom. I was only working part-time up until then, so I thought it would be an easy change. It most definitely was not. I had to shift my expectations and systems to find a way to get things done without being too stressed. I have 8 productivity tips for a stay at home mom who needs them so you don’t have to figure them out the hard way like I did!

(I’ve previously written about 5 tips for stay at home mom productivity if you’d like to see how my thoughts have changed.)

1. Get Dressed and Ready

Yes, sweatpants and yoga pants are super comfy. But you know what I like to do in them? Lay around. When I get dressed and ready, I feel more motivated to actually get things done, like cleaning my house and running errands. I have found it is just as easy for me to get dressed as it is to put on sweatpants.

I don’t put on a business suit or anything. You need to set your own baseline for what “getting ready” means to you. For me, I have to put on an outfit that makes me feel good but can still be comfortable, like jeans and a cute top or leggings and dress. And I put on very minimal makeup and put my hair in some sort of braid or bun. Easy peasy.

Action Step: Find your “getting ready” baseline and stick to it. Every morning take 15-20 minutes to get yourself ready for the day.

2. Make a To Do List

I am a list maker. I love to make lists and I love to follow lists. I’ve even written about how to make your own cleaning schedule. But there are many days where maybe we have a weird wake-up or I’m super busy in the morning and I think “I don’t need to make a list. I’ll just wing it.”

BAD IDEA. Inevitably I forget something or just end up being really lazy about my day. I would rather have a list to check when I have downtime and figure out what I should be doing instead of scrolling on my phone.

There are several ways you can make a to do list. Obviously, you can just list things. You can make a template that you use each day for things you have to do. You can block schedule your list. (Jordan of Fun Cheap or Free did an awesome video about this where I picked up a few new tips. It is worth a watch if you think block scheduling is for you.)

Currently, I very loosely block schedule. I know that we run errands right away in the morning. During Leroy’s longer nap, Mac and I do home school preschool stuff. And I have a list of chores I do or start right away in the morning. I have a tracker for activities I do every day. I add a sticky note for random things I want to do that day. Here is what it looks like right now.

Action Step: Figure out the best kind of to-do list for you. Then remember to write it down each day!

3. Find Your Mess Comfort Level

When I first started being at home all day, I drove myself insane trying to keep up with the mess. Then one day, I wondered why I was doing that. So I experimented with picking up or not picking up messes until I found the level of mess I could deal with until the end of the day. A few books scattered on the floor? That can hang out for a bit. A few things on the stairs that need to go upstairs? That can wait if needed. Leroy’s entire box of toys overturned? That needs to be put away more immediately.

Don’t get me wrong, at the end of the day and the next morning when I wake up, I like a tidy home. So I find a convenient time to clean up and bring it back to tidy, like nap time or after the kids go upstairs for bedtime. Then I can tidy at a leisurely pace without getting upset with my kids for making a bigger mess.

This is a level of mess that I am currently okay with. You might think “that’s awfully tidy,” but I look at it and immediately see 6 things I need to put away.

Action Step: Experiment and find the mess level you are okay with. Learn to live with some mess and bring it back to tidy at a convenient time.

4. Do a Load of Laundry Every Day

I know there is tons of advice about laundry out there. But I am telling you that this is a piece of advice my mother gave me and it has worked for me: do a load every single day.

Maybe that sounds overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be! I gather the dirty clothes when I get ready in the morning and stick them in the washer. I switch to the dryer around snacktime or lunch time. I fold it while the kids are playing because I can do it while I watch them. I put them away while my husband is cooking dinner or during bedtime.

Doing a load a day means that if there is a weird day where I don’t get a load done, I’m not super behind and I don’t have to spend an entire day just doing laundry.

I split up my loads of laundry so I was a red/orange/pink load, a white load, a dark load, a towel load and otherwise I do random loads of spit-up stuff, cloth diapers, or whatever I have around that could use a wash.

Now I’m a sorter. I got this laundry sorting hamper on Amazon and I love it. It makes it so easy for me to just dump a load of dirty clothes in my basket and move downstairs. There are tons of different sorting hampers, so find one you like!

Action Step: Figure out a way to do a load of laundry every day. Try it out and see if it changes things for you.

5. Find a Way to Have Me Time

Are you a morning bird or a night owl? If you enjoy mornings, try to get up before your kids. If you like nights, stay up an hour or so after your kids go to bed. You can use that time to be productive or to be lazy. You decide; it’s your time!

Personally, I like mornings. I set an alarm for 5 to get up and get things done before my kids get up. I get to put on a podcast that I can’t listen to while they are around, drink my coffee, and work on things without my children constantly interrupting me. (Or occasionally with my children, but that’s okay. It happens.)

If you’d rather go to bed at 8pm like I do, do it. You don’t have to be up late just because other people are. Same with you don’t have to wake up at 5am if you’d rather stay up late.

Action Step: Find a time where you can have some time to yourself and do things at your own pace.

6. Sleep is Important!

I think sleep is important, which is why I routinely go to bed between 8 and 9pm. Surprise! As I talked about before, I would rather get up early. So instead of staying up late, I go to bed when my kids do so I can wake up before them. That way I get 8-9 hours of sleep (Not really though. That is before any nighttime wakeups, which recently has been a lot because of teething. So I probably sleep closer to 6-7 hours a night.)

Prioritize your sleep as much as you can. Safeguard it. Try to not get caught up in the “I could get so much done instead of sleeping” trap like I do sometimes. You will feel better and won’t be living on caffeine and a prayer. If you routinely sleep a good amount, the days here and there where you have bad nights with baby wakeups and sick kids won’t hit quite as hard.

Action Step: Adults need at least 7 hours of sleep. Structure your night so that you get close to that, maybe even more.

7. Be Realistic

It is easy to idealize time at home. Sometimes I’ll decide to try out a new routine or something and all of a sudden I’m deciding to scrub the floor every day and giving myself 30 minutes of reading time. Sorry, but that is totally not realistic.

I’ve realized I need to be realistic about how I can spend my time. I try to evaluate myself week to week to see what I am failing at. Maybe I can’t read for 30 minutes, but spending 10 minutes reading a book for fun could be doable. I can’t scrub the floor every day, but I could probably clean the floor in one room each day.

Action Step: Evaluate your time occasionally. What could you do less of or start doing?

8. Pick One Big Thing Everyday

I am an introvert raising an extrovert. Every day, I make it a point to go somewhere so she can get her socializing in. We go to story time once a week at the library. We might go somewhere fun like the zoo. Leroy might have a doctor’s appointment for his allergies. Or we might just go to Target or the grocery store.

But you don’t have to leave the house to do a big thing. Maybe you have a project you’d like to work on. Besides your regular, everyday stuff like unloading the dishwasher and doing one load of laundry, make it a priority to meal plan for the week, work on Halloween costumes, or clean out a closet.

Try to pick things that don’t have to get done. That way, if you have a weird day and don’t get to work on it, it isn’t that big of a deal. If you can’t work on cleaning out your closet one day, you can try again the next day.

Finding one big thing a day helps your days not become so monotonous. Otherwise, staying at home can become boring because the days just all meld into each other.

Action Step: Make a list of “big things” you’d like to accomplish. Then pick one everyday to work on.

Do you have any productivity tips for a stay at home mom? Make sure to share them below!