Time Blocking for Busy Mom’s: Total Sanity Saver

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Friends, allow me to introduce you to time blocking for busy moms, also known as a complete sanity saver. Let me explain a little about what time blocking is and why you need it in your life.

Time Blocking for Busy Moms

If you have been following me for awhile or know me in real life, you know that I thrive on lists, schedules and organization.

But having three very small children has really thrown me through a loop. After I had our first two children, I was keeping up with our organized home. It took a little bit of adjustment, but I was still able to maintain a good routine.

That was until I had our third child and things got a little chaotic. Somehow I lost my rhythm and it took me close to a year to find it again. I had to let go of my old routines and find a new system that works for this new season of life.

As a busy mama, I found my sanity saver. Enter time blocking.

What is Time Blocking and How is it a Busy Moms Sanity Saver?

Time blocking is exactly how it sounds. Blocking chunks of time and utilizing that time frame for specific tasks.

I have always loved to follow a very  specific schedule and routine. But that just doesn’t work for my lifestyle anymore. I have needed to switch gears and create a new routine that will work for this season as a very busy mama.

Time blocking is very flexible which makes it perfect for busy moms!  I’ll share my routine below.

A few notes on our routine.

We are loosely homeschooling this year since my pre-schooler asks often! So, this routine will definitely change next year when she starts more structured lessons.

Weekly & monthly tasks are for the big projects like cleaning out the chicken coop or steaming carpets, for example.

Time blocking helps me keep my sanity because I don’t have to over commit or worry about getting everything done in a day.

I still have my daily cleaning like dishes and sweeping/vacuuming the floors, etc. But I don’t spend all day cleaning.

Following this routine and time blocking this way is extremely flexible for our family and works well for having small children.

It has helped me stay on track, keep my house in order without stressing out or losing my peace. And helps me to be more present with my children.

Time Blocking and Productivity for Working Moms

In addition to this blog, the homestead, trying to keep up with my energetic children and homeschooling, we also have a home based business.

So I need to find times to keep myself balanced. And keep my work times structured to keep up with the demands of my businesses without losing focus from my family.

What helps keeps me on track with that? Time blocking. Within our routine, I have specific times blocked off for me to work on my businesses. 

Time blocking helps me devote certain time frames to ensuring I’m only focusing on certain aspects of the businesses, without worrying too much about the others.

For example, let’s say that on Saturday I devote an hour or two to scheduling out social media posts for the coming week. I will focus only on that during that time.

Then I’ll also work on drafting blog posts, take photos, plan my week, etc during those specific time slots. Each day’s tasks will vary depending on what I’ve accomplished throughout the week.

Time blocking seriously keeps me focused, stay on track, and keep my sanity.

Here’s an example of my day on a recent Saturday. Note, they change weekly and these past few months, our new wake up time is 4 am. 

The trick is to be flexible and schedule within your season of life. 

Getting Started with Time Blocking

You don’t need a fancy planner for this, a very basic one will work. However when you use a planner, one that has individual time slots is key.

I really love using the Erin Condren Life Planners for both home and lesson planning!

They’re super cute and they have a great amount of space for time blocking and keeping notes on each day.

You can download my basic daily time blocking planner (available in my member’s area) for FREE! This area is password protected, so sign up below for access.

In addition, I have many free organizational tools available in the member’s only area!