10 Simple Ways to Make Life Easier as a Working Mom
Ready to learn the best tips to simplify motherhood? If you are feeling the stress and overwhelm of busy, working-mom life you’re definitely not alone. Having been at the point where it all became too much, I am excited to share my tips to make motherhood easier for you (and me).
How to Simplify Motherhood
I was fully prepared to become a mom (or so I thought).
Both of my pregnancies were planned, I was married to a supportive husband, worked at a job I loved and had a comfortable income.
I had watched all of my friends become mother’s and figured if they could do it – so could I.
But there was something they had neglected to tell me – or maybe they had a different experience altogether. No one had ever mentioned how stressful it could be.
- Running a household
- Working full-time
- Shuffling everyone to daycare, school, work and activities each day
- Trying to eat healthy and exercise
Under the stress of it all I could barely remember who I was – much less find the joy that I had thought was an inevitable part of becoming a mom.
Truth be told, I completely lost it. My health – My happiness – My sense of self had gotten lost under the weight of the expectations of modern motherhood.
Eventually, I climbed my way out. I made the conscious decision to simplify my life and find time to enjoy everything that was precious to me.
And guess what….IT WORKED!
When you simplify your life, you can feel happier, in control, and waste less of your valuable time, and money.
Super bonus alert – all of this will also increase the health and happiness of your family.
How do you balance work and family life?
Before I became a working mom I thought that “balance” meant that I was going to be perfect at every aspect of my life.
As I mentioned above, that didn’t work out so well.
Current research tells us that multi-tasking actually makes motherhood less enjoyable.
When we try to juggle all the tasks of being a good mom, wife, employee and friend all at the same time in an attempt to “do it all” – we are actually sabotaging ourselves.
To really create balance – we have to let go of the idea that we can do everything.
Instead, you need to establish your priorities and values and focus the majority of your time and effort toward them.
Additionally, there are some working mom hacks that will help you to simplify and streamline your life so that you can feel more relaxed and less overwhelmed.
1. Declutter and Organize your Home
As moms we still have all of our typical household responsibilities PLUS the enormous responsibility of keeping another human alive.
Mail, toys and laundry are everywhere! (You can read my tips to simplify laundry here)
The solution is simple; some of this stuff has to go!
Take some inspiration from minimalism you can learn how to purge your home of everything that is not essential.
Want to get started with my checklist of 20 items you can purge from your home in just minutes?
2. Ask for Help
You know that saying: “It takes a village to raise a child?”…..Well, it’s true!
There is no possible way to do this on your own. We all need help when it comes to raising kids and working full-time.
One of your first priorities should be to create a network of support.
This will look different for everyone depending on your family dynamics and social circle, but here are some ideas of people you could reach out to:
- Spouse
- Parents/In-Laws
- Friends
- Co-workers
- Working moms support group
- Church friends
- Child’s teacher/daycare provider
3. Create Routines for a Neat and Tidy Home
Unfortunately, as moms we spend way too many weekends cleaning the mess from the previous week.
You constantly feel tired and like there is something to pick up, wash or put away.
Instead, this time could be used to relax or spend time with our family.
The easiest solution is to use a weekly cleaning schedule that you can print out and follow.
By picking up throughout the day you are able to keep your home mostly clean, most of the time.
Related Post: A Busy Mom’s Guide to a Mostly Clean House
4. Stock Your Freezer with Make Ahead Meals
We all know that busy weeknight dinners can be a huge source of stress.
On top of that, we often feel guilty when we resort to fast food to feed our families on a regular basis.
An easy way to prepare a healthy homemade meal in no time is with these easy make ahead freezer meals that are super family friendly.
5. Curate a Selection of Quick Workouts for Moms
Exercise is proven to improve your mood and energy-level (that sounds like mom medicine to me!)
But it can be hard to find the time to fit in a workout or trip to the gym.
Sometimes a quick YouTube workout is all you have time for, but the benefits are worth it! You can see a list of my favorites below.
Related Post: 20 Minute Workouts for Busy Moms
6. Learn How to Meal Plan
Trying to plan a variety of healthy meals for your family can be overwhelming.
Luckily, meal planning is a simple way to remove much of the stress we associate with cooking.
No more frustration from not knowing what you want to make or not having an ingredient on hand.
You also won’t waste money on food you don’t use.
You can grab your own printable meal plan cheat sheet here.
Related Posts:
More Tips to Make Motherhood Easier
7. Single Task
Multi-tasking is quickly being proven to be much less efficient than we once thought it was.
Mentally and physically switching gears to complete multiple tasks leaves us feeling scattered, chaotic and unfocused.
In my house multi-tasking has resulted in burnt food, overflowing bathtubs and unfinished projects. You too?
When you focus on doing ONE THING at a time, you are often more productive, calm and organized. Here are the steps to being a single-tasker:
- Choose your task based on your daily priorities
- Minimize distractions before you start (no checking phone, make sure kiddos are occupied)
- Re-focus if you find yourself starting to drift off task and
- Continue until it becomes a habit.
8. Get a Handle on the Laundry
Laundry: it’s one thing you can count on to always be there 😉
Follow these tips to prevent the laundry from piling up and these genius hacks to get laundry done faster.
9. Create a Capsule Wardrobe
A capsule wardrobe is a mini-collection of really versatile clothing that you love to wear. Without the overwhelm of deciding what to wear you will have more time and energy for what really matters.
A capsule wardrobe will simplify your life because you will spend less:
- time shopping
- time doing laundry or caring for clothes
- money on clothes that never get worn
- time organizing the clutter created by lots of clothes, shoes and accessories
Take a sneak peek at what I include in my winter capsule wardrobe.
10. Implement a Morning Routine
You wake up in the morning and instantly there are a million things you need to do:
- feed everyone
- pack lunches
- shower
- get everyone dressed
- sign permission slips, finish homework, tie shoes, find backpacks….
Ugh! And this is also before your “day” officially begins.
Following a routine first thing in the morning means you’ll have a more peaceful start to your day.
A morning routine isn’t about rushing to get out the door. It’s about a structured start to your day that creates calm and reduces chaos.
If you are interested in seeing what has worked to transform mornings in our home you can view this post: From Crazy to Calm; A Simple Busy Mom Morning Routine
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There you have it mama! 10 ideas to help create more balance as a working mom
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Life Hacks for Working Moms
These are all great tips! And as a single, working mom of two little ones (who wants to have some “free” time in a day) I’m implementing all of the above into my everyday life. (ok… not the workout part, I admit, but climbing up and down the stairs a million times in a day, plus -occasionally- carrying a 44-pound 4-year-old (hey, don’t judge!) counts for something, right? ? ) Happy holidays! ?
Hey Natasa – You will NEVER get any judgement from me. Luckily my 8 year old is 48lbs so I can consider carrying her a workout too 😉 The only problem is that her legs are getting so long that her feet drag the floor when she asks me to carry her #momstruggles. So glad you found these tips helpful – honestly, simplifying my life is how I was able to deal with a lot of the anxiety I was experiencing as a working mom too. I just want to share anything I can to help other busy mamas out there.
This post is so helpful! Love the morning routine!
Yes! Morning routines rock. One of my New Year’s goals is to modify my morning routine to include more self-care and productivity – but that will require waking up earlier, so I have to work on that 😉
I really love the food planning idea! That is my biggest worry when I have a family. These tips are so great dna really easy to implement thanks so much! I’m currently working on my capsule wardrobe and love the idea of minimalism in your life and home it just makes things so much easier. Thanks so much!
Eliza it sounds like you are way ahead of the game if you are looking at simplifying before you start a family. It wasn’t until I was pregnant with baby number 2 that I realized that I was overwhelmed and that a lot of my anxiety was triggered by too much stuff and too many tasks on my list. Simplifying has really been a lifesaver for me. If you have a capsule wardrobe and meal planning in place before a baby arrives you will be good to go!
Love all the ideas, and especially the general meal planning! I’ve been wanting to implement a meal plan for forever but the super specific stuff just doesn’t end up working for us, but your idea sounds way easier to stick to and remember 🙂
Yes! That is what Simply-Well-Balanced is all about. I can’t do the super specific stuff either. My goal is to share SIMPLE tips that you can actually implement without being totally OCD. The general meal planning is really easy because it gives you a guide, but still leaves enough wiggle room for variety and flexibility.
Great post Lauren thanks! My favorites are declutter and make a daily clean up routine. If I didn’t do those all the time id go bonkers! We just implemented the one in one out rule last year, it was a bit of a struggle to get my then 6 year old to embrace it with toys! But we all held strong and soon it became a habit, and she even has fun decluttering now to make room for all her new. ☺
Agreed – One In/One Out is amazing, but takes some training with the kiddos. Once they get the hang of it is has a lot of helpful side bonuses though. I have noticed that my kiddos really stop to contemplate if they want something new because they know it means that they will be saying goodbye to something else. In some situations they have actually decided they don’t want the new item afterall. At the same time it has helped them to recognize when they haven’t been using/playing/wearing an item anymore and they are learning to let go of items that no longer serve a purpose. Just doing my part to prevent hoarding 😉 Ha!