I have a natural desire for order and balance, organization and cleanliness. Having a two and a half year old and 7 month old who need me while they are awake requires my time to be flexible. Here are my top tips for managing time with little ones. 

1. Batching my time; do things once. 

2. Routine. So important, try to establish daily habits into a predictable routine. 

3. Plan and set goals. What has to get done, and what you'd like to get done. 

4. But allow for the unexpected, with kids this is inevitable

5. Not over-commiting, this can set you up for unneeded stress, anxiety and potential failure

6. Play. Always make time to play. 

Let me elaborate:

I have started "batching" my time. I don't want to spend all day working on this, that and the other,  knowing there will be more of it to do before bedtime. For example; dishes. We don't have a dishwasher, so that means the sink is routinely full. I could wash dishes 6,7, or 8 times per day to keep the sink clean, or I could wash them once.  I realized I probably spend close to the same amount of time washing them all at once as I would washing them multiple times per day, however I value my time with the girls more than my time with the dishes, so I would rather let dishes pile up and finish them once the girls are asleep.  

Usually, I take some time Sunday evenings to look at my week: what appointments do we have? What are the top tasks that have to get done and what tasks would I like to get done? I try to plan out the days for particular tasks.  For example, Monday & Wednesday mornings are for working on the blog and some other small projects we have. Tuesdays are for laundry, Thursdays are for errands and Fridays are a toss up between playdates and deep cleaning. I try to keep weekends open, knowing that we will have to meal prep for the week, but I don't want any other obligations unless they are fun ones. 

In line with a sense of order is the fact that I literally cannot think straight if the living room is a mess. I can get away with dishes piled in the kitchen, as I don't see them from where I am when working on the computer, but the living room must be organized. So each evening I will take the time to put the toys away, sort the scattered laundry into baskets, put away and odds and ends, just to tidy up. It makes waking early in the mornings and attempting to be productive, that much easier. If all else fails, I grab a laundry basket and cram anything and everything that is not where it should be, in it, place it in our room on the floor to deal with later. 

Each morning, I take a moment before the girls wake up to get an idea of the workload, make a running list of priorities, start if possible and sip on coffee. I also make our bed. I know it's a minor thing, but the state of your bed is the state of your head. Starting the day with a sense of organization makes me feel so accomplished at 5am. 

Then there’s nap time – something that is somewhat routine and necessary for my day to run smoothly. :) This time is key for me to get many personal things done: daily communication emails, paying bills, phone calls etc. 

Meal prep; absolutely crucial for us. We batch cook our meals once, maybe twice per week. I cook and clean up dirty pots and pans once. Our lunches are prepped in containers and the rest is stored as leftovers for dinners. I don't have to set aside an hour to cook and clean up, juggling witching hour chaos with burning the rice. Food is ready, it just needs to be heated up. 

I have also learned that I cannot do everything. I can't do everything I think I need to get done, and I can't do all the fun things.. making cookies, going to the park, mall and two playdates is just too much for one day. I try not to add unneeded stress to my life. 

Other than that, I drop everything for hours of playtime, necessary errands, meals as a family (as much as we can with a baby and toddler) and evening hangout time with my husband. 

 I am also so thankful to be home during this time. A huge round of applause and all the hugs to you mamas that are working while raising tiny humans. Time management is so important, because time is all we really have. As our most valuable asset, it's so important to make the most of it. I'd love to hear your time management tricks in the comments below. ;)

xoxo, McKenzie