Juggling family responsibilities while working full-time can be exhausting at times. If you’re not careful, all your mom duties, household work, and hectic work schedules could eat into your mental and physical well-being and leave you with stress and burnout.

To spend quality time with kids without neglecting responsibilities at the workplace, every busy mom must have a few tricks up her sleeve to manage time effectively. Here’s what we suggest you do to get more done in your time without compromising your health or your family’s needs.

 Get Organized

Sprucing up your organizing skills will go a long way in helping you become efficient.

Remember, clutter doesn’t just look chaotic. It can prevent you from thinking clearly or focusing on the task at hand. A disorganized space also makes it extra difficult to function, especially when you have no idea where things are. Overall, it can make you inefficient and unproductive, unnecessarily wasting your precious time.

So, start by clearing out clutter in your home and workplace and find a logical system to organize each area to find things quickly. Make use of storage solutions and keep items you need regularly at easily accessible locations.

 Prioritize the Essentials

If you constantly find your plate full, keep in mind that you can only achieve so much in a day.

No one has superhuman powers. So, manage your expectations and prioritize what must be done today. This might mean letting go of non-essential tasks or even disappointing certain people.

However, assessing what you must prioritize and focusing on getting them done is the only way to prevent exhaustion and burnout that arise when pursuing unrealistic goals.

 Plan Ahead

Planning your day, week, and month allows you to coordinate your time and determine how best to complete the relevant tasks in the days and weeks ahead.

Get yourself a planner and note down the key appointments, events, and activities that need your attention during the month. Set monthly goals you can realistically achieve, and schedule all the tasks you must complete at least a week ahead.

 Prepare Lists

Lists are an excellent option to save a ton of time for busy moms.

But what type of lists? For instance, prepare a grocery list each weekend based on a weekly meal plan. This can help you prevent multiple trips to the store every few days.

A cleaning list is another example. By creating a weekly cleaning activity list, you bring clarity to the process, ensuring no related chores are forgotten. It also enables others to easily take over on the rare occasion you’re unable to attend to them.

Similarly, you can create lists for every activity that is part of your regular routine.

 Delegate

This is a vital skill every busy mom should master.

Remember, you don’t need to shoulder family and household responsibilities on your own. By sharing them with your partner, you can significantly ease the workload.

Get the kids to help out, too. Give them small tasks first, such as setting the table or folding the linen. And reward them for jobs well done.

 Get Outsourced Help

What you pay for outsourced help could be worth much more when you consider the opportunity cost, especially when it comes to your inner peace and health.

So, hire a part-time babysitter to look after the kids while you’re away running errands. Get a pet sitter or dog walker if you have pets.

Look for someone to clean the house over the weekends so you can save that time for other critical tasks. You can even find people to do grocery runs and perform many other essential chores you struggle to find the time for.

 Keep the Phone Away

Your mobile phone can be a huge distraction, with social media, telemarketing calls, online games, and news alerts all using up a significant part of your productive time.

If you want to be efficient, keep the phone away in silent mode when attending to key tasks at work and home.

Return missed calls during breaks. If there are calls from unknown numbers, check them on Nuwber before calling back to avoid wasting time on telemarketing, spam, and scam callers.

If you feel excessively addicted to social media, removing the relevant apps from your phone is also worthwhile.

 Learn to Say “No”

When you keep accommodating every request that comes your way, you’ll quickly find yourself biting off more than you can chew.

This is why knowing how to say no at the right time is crucial. Of course, you’ll end up disappointing a few people. But you can also avoid unreasonable requests and over-exhausting yourself with more than you can humanly handle.

Avoid Multitasking

Many busy moms resort to multitasking when they’re pressed for time. But, studies demonstrate that this practice can reduce productivity by as much as 40%.

This is because constantly shifting your focus between several tasks can take you longer to complete them.

Therefore, avoid the temptation to tackle multiple activities at once. Instead, select one and focus on completing it faster.

 Practice Self-Care

When your mental and physical health is not at its best, you’re unable to carry out your work and personal responsibilities at an optimum level.

So, practice self-care, no matter how busy your schedule is.

Ensure you get sufficient sleep each day, exercise regularly, eat healthy and well-balanced meals, and avoid alcohol and smoking. Meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, and spending time with nature are equally essential.

To become effective both at home and work, every busy mom must know the best tips and tricks to manage her time.

Getting organized, prioritizing tasks, planning ahead, and creating lists should be top priorities for maximizing your time. In addition, delegate chores, get outsourced help, minimize phone-related distractions, avoid multitasking, and learn to say no. You must practice self-care, too, if you want to prevent stress and burnout.