Creating A Daily Stay At Home Mom Schedule That Works
“What do you even DO all day??”
Does any other stay at home mom ever get this question? I have before!
And honestly, sometimes I didn’t even know how to answer. We really had no daily schedule. All I knew was the day went by and it seemed I didn’t accomplish much, although my mind and body felt like it had run a marathon.
Bring on the mom guilt, right??
So I started to listen to those lies – Well, I guess I didn’t do anything right or productive today. Is there really a purpose to me staying home? Am I doing enough activities with my child?
God quickly shut those lies down but also encouraged me in that maybe I needed to make a change.
So I created a daily stay at home mom schedule that actually WORKS! And the best part is… you can too!
Daily Stay At Home Mom Schedule That Works
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Baby G and I were used to going with the flow.
I woke up when she woke me up each morning. She napped when she was tired. She snacked when she was hungry and we spent waaaay too much time watching TV and not engaging in a lot of activities.
We didn’t really have a set schedule and I could see how that was affecting both of us. She needed more structure (and ways to burn off that toddler energy) and I needed something to help keep me motivated each day!
God wanted me to be more productive with the time He was giving us.
I asked myself, what would it be like to get to the end of the day and go to bed with a feeling of contentment, rather than stress or guilt? The answer… pretty darn awesome!
I want to help you feel this way too, Momma!!
Let’s look at some of the benefits of a daily stay at home mom schedule + how to create one that works for your family! Plus, I’ve got a free printable stay at home mom bundle to help you get started today. 🙂
Why You Need A Daily Schedule As A Stay At Home Mom
Why even have a schedule?? A daily stay at home mom schedule will help you be more productive and know what to expect.
Your kids will benefit from this too! Babies and toddlers need structure. They need to know what to expect to feel a sense of security.
Plus it’s nice to have a fun schedule printed out for everyone to see – it looks cute as home decor and keeps everyone on the same page!
There are SO MANY benefits to having a daily stay at home mom routine for you and your family:
- You will feel more productive and can accomplish more on your to-do list
- You can create time you didn’t have before
- Enjoy more quality time with your kids and spouse
- You won’t be frantic at the end of the day, trying to squeeze everything in
- Your kids will get used to this routine which will help form good habits (including sleep!)
You can definitely see how creating a schedule can help! So now, how do we do that?
Things To Remember When Creating Your Stay At Home Schedule
As we start making our stay at home mom schedule, there are a few important things to remember!
1. Give Yourself Lots Of Grace
Let me make this SUUUUPER clear…
We do not follow this schedule every single day.
Life happens! Kids get sick, you get sick, you have plans outside of the house, travel, rainy days, etc. And some days you are just tired and need a day with nothing to do. I get it!
The point isn’t to follow everything on the schedule to a “T,” but to give you a guideline for how your day will go. I don’t want to be too strict about the schedule, but I want to see the benefits of a nice family rhythm during the day!
So why make a schedule if it doesn’t matter whether you follow it or not?
When we write something down, we are more likely to do it than if we didn’t write it down.
How much more likely are you to do something if you see it right there in front of you? You may not get to it but you are WAY more likely to do something when you have a reminder OR write it down!
Give yourself lots of grace with this, especially if this is your first time ever making a schedule for your household.
2. Set Realistic Goals
Are you an outdoorsy family? Add some extra outside playtime!
Maybe you don’t want as much screen time or free play? Fill it in with something else!
Do you run errands once a week or do your kids go to a Mother’s Day Out? It can look different for each day, no problem! 🙂
Make sure you set realistic goals specifically for your family! What works for one may not work for the other, and it is all totally up to you and how you want your day to look. The main thing is to create consistency and good habits for you and your kiddos!
3. Be Flexible With Your Schedule
This kind of ties into the previous two statements, but this is super important – you may not follow every single thing on your schedule every day, and that is okay.
Don’t let the thought of something changing or not going according to plan stress you out. You’ll be back at square one where you may as well toss the schedule out the window!
Remember, it’s a guideline, not a hard and fast rule.
Need easy tips for cleaning when you have little kids at home? Check out this post on creating an easy cleaning schedule + free daily checklist!
My Sample Stay At Home Mom Schedule:
Now that we’ve established why you need a routine and what to think about when creating one, let’s make that schedule!
Take a look at what a stay at home mom daily routine with a toddler (3 yr old) looks like…
8:00 – 9:00 AM –> WAKE UP – breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, read our morning devotional for preschoolers, morning responsibilities
9:00 – 9:45 AM –> LEARNING TIME – Flash Cards, Kindle App, Osmo learning, reading books, ABC Mouse
SIDE NOTE: We absolutely love the Osmo! It is super fun and a great hands-on/interactive learning game for toddlers up to 12 years old. I highly recommend this!!
9:45 – 10:00 AM –> SNACK – goldfish, fruit, smoothie, pretzels, apples, strawberries
10:00 – 12:00 PM –> TO DO – errands, groceries, library, park, zoo, play date, or other fun activity – the reason we do this in the morning is so G will be tired out and ready for a nap later!
**We no longer nap but still do incorporate REST time!
12:00 – 12:30 –> LUNCH
12:30 – 1:30 PM –> Clean up lunch, finish up chores, free play
1:30 – 3:00 PM –> REST TIME
3:00 – 4:00 PM –> Small snack + a walk or play on the trampoline – if it’s cold we just eat inside and play!
4:15 – 5:00 PM –> TV time or play on Kindle while I prep dinner
5:00 – 5:30 PM –> DINNER
5:30 – 6:30 PM –> FAMILY TIME – outside play, cards, games, dolls, anything we can do together as a family with no TV or phones.
6:30 – 7:00 PM –> FAMILY BIBLE TIME – read a Bible story, family devo, prayers – I have a post coming soon on how to have effective family bible time with young children!
7:00 – 7:15 PM –> CLEAN UP – pick up toys, clean up dinner, evening responsibilities, etc.
7:15 – 7:45 PM –> BED TIME PREP – bath, brush teeth, bedtime story, prayers – if she isn’t getting a bath we’ll usually watch a little TV and start the bed time process a little later.
After G is in bed, it’s Mommy & Daddy hang out time!!
And as a THANK YOU for making it to the end… I want to offer you my FREE Stay At Home Mom Printables Bundle!
What you’re getting:
- 6 TOTAL pages to help you master your day to day life as a stay-at-home-mom
- Printable schedule, handy activity resource list & daily checklists for you and your kids
- 3 done for you pages + 3 blank templates to fill in and make your own!
- A stay-at-home-mom schedule that has been tested and actually WORKS!
Click here to download your SAHM Printables Bundle!
Creating A Daily Stay At Home Mom Schedule For Toddlers
Congrats! You’ve made your schedule!
That is what a typical day in our house potentially looks like! We don’t follow it every day, especially as I am now working part-time from home (post on that later) but it helps give us a guideline of what to expect for each day. Both G and I are LOVING it!
I pray these tips help you to create a daily schedule that works for your family and keep you motivated!
Do you have a daily schedule you try to stick to? Let me know below!!
I have somewhat of a schedule for our toddler, but it’s not as detailed as yours. It’s more, get up, eat, play, eat, nap, play, eat, play, snack, go to bed, lol
That is awesome! Whatever works for your family is what matters! Eating and sleeping are the most important haha. 😉
Kids need structure at that age. A schedule helps so much.
It really does! I noticed a huge difference in my daughter when we tried to do similar things every day and she knew what to expect!
Putting my kids on a schedule was the best thing ever. Even now that they’re teenagers, I kinda feel like we may need to do that again since we’re all home with this coronavirus quarantine.
Oh definitely! Honestly we have struggled sticking to this since all of this started last month! We’re working our way back on it or at least a modified version now that my husband is home one day a week 🙂
It is quite important to have a framework and so needed to give ourselves room to breathe. Well done with this post. Made me feel easy for sure.
Thanks so much, I appreciate that! We don’t need any more guilt added on us as Moms, but encouragement to make things run a little smoother if possible! 🙂
Realistic goal is the key. And giving grace to yourself as a mom too. You have jotted down pretty much everything in here.
Thank you! Yes for sure, we definitely need lots of grace as Moms! We follow this about half the time but it’s there to help guide us ! 🙂
I love creating schedules it’s sticking to them that I struggle with. I like that you have a “phones away” time built into your every day.
Same here! I notice we stick to it more since we made it than before when we didn’t have a guide! As yes, phones away is so important and something we struggle with, especially with both of us doing work online! It’s easy to be working one minute and then scrolling social media the next ya know?! But we try and make it a point to put them away after dinner! 🙂
Being home with a toddler can be a challenge! These are great tips and having a schedule is such a good thing for being consistent with younger kids.
Thank you so much! I feel very blessed to stay home with our daughter but MAN it is tough sometimes!!! This has helped keep both of us sane 😉
This is such a detailed schedule . Very helpful for reference for SAHM.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
i love these tips. toddler do better with schedules and it helps to keep perspective for us moms working at home too
Thank you! I’m so glad you loved it! They really do, knowing what to expect prevents so many meltdowns! Glad it helped you as a working Mama too. 🙂
We have the kids on a similar schedule. It helps as I work from home and my husband works long hours at the office.
That’s great! It makes such a difference! 🙂
Wow, this is a really detailed and impressive schedule! Mine was never this pinned-down, but yes, we definitely did have one at this age – and still do as we’re doing the virtual homeschool thing for 8yo and 10yo now.
Thank you! It really helped o guide us in our day – now with all that is happening it’s definitely been an adjustment, but somewhat of a routine helps us get by each day! I hope the homeschooling is going smoothly for you all!
I am a scheduler and lover of routine but right now in this time we are not following a schedule and it’s been amazing.
Oh definitely, same here! With all of this going on, we have a somewhat routine in place since I just recently started working part-time from home, but nowhere NEAR this detailed haha more of a get through it ya know? Glad you are enjoying this time!! 🙂
Schedules are so important, not just for the kids routines, but for ourselves!
I agree! It helps me feel better prepared for the day… I am working on a post with my own personal WAHM schedule too, stay tuned! 🙂
This is actually a very good idea.
When do you do your housework?!
Haha that is a good question! I have got a post coming soon that goes into detail of how I fit that into our schedule too, while I am currently working part-time from home! With this specific one, it’s kind of interwoven into our day. For example, when we clean up from lunch or dinner my daughter/and or husband helps clean up dishes and load the dishwasher. Or during her rest time (which she has actually dropped her nap recently, another point I am going to cover in that new post 🙂 ) I will do some laundry or maintenance cleaning. If we don’t have anywhere to go through that 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM mark – which is a couple days out of the week – then I will tackle a room or task like dusting, sweeping, etc. It’s a very flexible schedule so we definitely adjust as needed. Hope this helps!! 🙂
Thank for this! As a homeschool mom of upper elementary and 2 toddlers this is so useful! Will be getting the freebies!
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post!! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Absolutely timely and awesome! Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️💕
Thank you so much! I’m so glad it was helpful for you! 🙂