I’ve never been the type of person to carry a planner in my purse, carry a calendar with me wherever I go, or color code my entire life to keep it all together. For most of my life, I just tackled things as they came and kept pretty much everything together in my head. That was, until I became a stay at home mom. I quickly realized that I couldn’t just fly by the seat of my pants anymore, I had to be proactive with the time that I had. The simplest things were starting to overwhelm me, and even though I had a long list of things to be done, they just weren’t getting done. Before I knew it, the entire day had gone by and I hadn’t truly accomplished anything productive at all. Being an organized stay at home mom all came down to being intentional with my time.

When you’re constantly running around and managing a home, small children, and an endless to do list it can feel pretty impossible to be organized. When kids are constantly throwing your schedule off or causing simple tasks to take twice as long, being organized seems like a distant thought. But I promise you, it isn’t impossible. Once you find your organized groove, you’ll be so grateful that you gave it a shot. The secrets to being an organized stay at home mom aren’t as hard to come by as you may think. So what are those secrets? I’m glad you asked…

What are the secrets to being an organized stay at home mom?

Write it out.

You’ll be surprised how organized just writing everything out can make you become. If you feel like time is controlling you more than you’re controlling your time, write down everything you need to get done. What are your must have things you need to accomplish on a daily basis? What about your must haves for a weekly basis?

My typical list would look something like this:

School Drop Off and Pick Up

Devotion Time

Blogging/Ministry

Daily Chore

Family Time

Kitchen Pick Up

Those few things have to happen on a daily basis, either because it’s just part of life, or if they aren’t done it effects the way I am able to do everything else. For example, if I don’t spend at least a few minutes a day to get my kitchen in order it effects everything else. Messy kitchens stress me out and make me ineffective in other areas. When I write out what’s most important, then I can allow everything else to fall in between. Writing it out also gives me a better picture of where my time is going!

Determine your routine.

Even if you aren’t an organized planner kinda gal, you probably have a general routine. What is the flow of your day and how do your kids fit into that? When you are able to semi-predict the general routine that your kids follow, you can determine how best to organize your time. Maybe you need to develop a bit of a routine, or maybe there is one established enough that you can go off of. Knowing what your kids need at various times throughout the day can really help.

Prepare.

The real secret to being organized? It’s in the preparation! Nothing is more disorganized than chaos. So even when the last thing you want to do at the end of the day is straighten up the kitchen, you won’t regret it if you do. Take time to do a light pick up at the end of the day. Go through all those back to school papers and make sure items are set out for the morning rush. When the chaotic school mornings are in full swing, being organized can make things go much smoother. Prepare and plan for what you can and you’ll realize organization isn’t as hard as it seems!

Designate Spaces.

Give everything a place and space! Nothing feels more disorganized to me then a pile of shoes, backpacks, and papers right when you walk in the front door. Designate a space for belongings and get everyone involved in putting things in their place. You’ll be surprised how much this big step can make you feel more organized. You’ll know where to find things when they’ve been put away in their proper place!

These four simple secrets aren’t such a big deal, but when you take a few moments to think them through they make a big difference. Just feeling more organized can make a huge impact in your life as a stay at home mom. You may even start to realize how much time you have to devote to other things when you implement a few of these ideas!

How do you keep organized as a stay at home mom?