Productivity Tips and Tools for Busy Moms

“How do you do it all?”

There’s a philosophical answer to this question that has to do with the fact that for some reason God made me a high energy person who thrives on activity and busyness. Before you wish you were wired like that, you can pyscho-analyze all the reasons I am insecure with non-activity.

Photo courtesy of digidreamgrafix | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

However, there are some tools and tips that keep my well-oiled machine afloat.

  1. A great to do list. My favorite right now is ToDoist. It integrates right into Outlook. I can prioritize tasks and view the list by date or by project. Since it’s web-based, I can also access it from my phone and any computer in our house. This keeps all my plates spinning when my memory is failing.
  2. Live by a calendar. With 8 people to keep track of, if it’s not on the master calendar (and sometimes even when it is), we don’t make it. There are so many great options if you want to share calendars across devices and with multiple family members. I use Outlook (synced with Live.com) as our family’s master calendar. It feeds directly to my husband’s and my phone. We use Cozi.com to feed “need-to-know”  events to our kids’ devices. Things like “4:30p Leave for TKD…have dinner packed.”
  3. Project Management. Whether you’re collaborating with friends to plan an event, tracking blog posts from draft to sharing, or running a small business at home, you need Trello. It’s a visual to-do list, planning board, and collaborative tool.
  4. Organize your inbox. Figure out how to set up filters on your inbox so that all those Facebook notifications, rec council newsletters, and school announcements each go to their own folder automagically. That way if you only have a few minutes to check your mail, you can focus on the important stuff. You can also dedicate 10 to 15 minutes at a time to just focus on emails on one topic. Streamlining your thought process can make your more time efficient.
  5. Speed Read. If you love to browse online articles but have trouble tracking the text back and forth across the screen, check out Readline (if  you use Chrome) or Spreeder (if you use another browser or need to copy and paste text from another source).
  6. Cut out the fluff. For us it was TV. We love a good Netflix flick if we’re too brain-dead to get anything else done, but we do not watch TV as a habit. Also, this will sound bad, but I don’t clean. I mean I’ll give the toilet rim a wipe if it grosses me out, and I run the dishwasher every night, but I don’t dust or vacuum or spend time straightening up every day. Our kids help with the chores I don’t do, but my house just isn’t a priority. Before you sign us off, my house is not nearly as grody as I’m making it sound…I hope. The point is, you have to prioritize your time.
  7. Wellness. You have to make time to take care of yourself so your body, mind, and spirit can keep up with your to do list. We’ve been on a journey over the past couple years to clean up our diet, reduce our toxins around the house, and increase our exercise. The result is that I have more energy and get sick less.

What are some of your essentials tips and tools for fitting it all (or as much as you can) in?

Posted in Life, Uncategorized.

2 Comments

  1. Hi! I am a relatively new mommy blogger – and a foster mom with a full-time job and 3 kids in diapers. 🙂

    I continue to struggle with finding a system for blogging consistently.

    Would you be willing to share your process and give a newbie some pointers?

    ~Duck Mommy

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