A routine is vital to leading a healthy and stress-free life, especially when you are a stay-at-home mom. Transitioning from being a working mother to a stay-at-home mom was challenging. Going from a set schedule to not having a plan made my overall home experience hit or miss on how I was feeling that day. One day, I was super-mom tackling 1000 to-do items, and the next, it was jammies all day, nothing was getting done, and the house was a mess.
It took some time, but I found that creating a schedule I followed every day was crucial to having a consistent day for me and my daughters. Here is a schedule of a stay-at-home mom with a 1-year-old & 6-year-old.
Schedule of a Stay at Home Mom
Morning
I try to wake up and do my morning routine before the girls get up. Depending on the day, I am good at this. I like to brush my teeth, do my clean, toxin-free skincare routine, do my hair, and get dressed in my gym outfit before I wake up my oldest, Selene.
Get Girls Ready
I wake up Selene around 6:30 AM, and she is fantastic. She gets dressed, makes her bed, and comes into the bathroom to brush her teeth. I do her hair and send her downstairs, where my husband makes lunch and breakfast.
I get my toddler, Sadie, out of bed. Get her an outfit, brush her teeth, and take her downstairs to get her fresh diaper, change, breakfast, and bottle. At this point, I eat my breakfast – usually a protein shake and my coffee and leave to take Selene to school.
Gym Time
After I drop off Selene, Sadie and I head to the gym – where she goes to a fantastic childcare center, and I get to work out. Depending on my class, we are here for about one to two hours. We head home and play a bit. I make her lunch and a snack for me, and then I get her ready for her nap. I put her in her sleep sack and snuggle her while she drinks her bottle, and then she’s down for her nap around 11.
Work Time
Once she is asleep, I get SUPER PRODUCTIVE. The timer is on, and I have like 2 hours to get so much done. I’ve tried a lot of different routines here, but this is the most impactful. I do a quick tidy up of the house – whichever room is in most need. I’ll swap a load of laundry, arrange the pillows on the couch, fold the blankets, grab the random toys and put them away, clean off kitchen counters, etc. I’m not talking about a deep clean. This is about 10-20 minutes. After I clean, I eat my lunch and do something fun for me for 15-20 minutes. Either watching a show, playing Warzone, or reading a book. Then it’s back to work – and I catch up on paperwork for my Real Estate business or work on this blog.
Afternoon
Sadie usually wakes up between 1–and 1:30 PM, so once she is up, I prep her so she is ready to do the pick-up. I get her changed, get her a snack and shoes on, and get the iPad so she can watch something in the car while we wait to get her sister. If we are ready early enough, we swing by Dutchies to get a coffee for me and a not-so-hot for Selene to surprise her when she gets in the car.
Pick Up
Picking up Selene is fun – not. I get there early so I get a good spot and am not stressed out about being late. I don’t want Selene to ever have to wait for me to get there (just how I feel), So I either catch up on emails or listen to a podcast while I wait to make the time more productive and less endless scrolling at reels or TikTok.
Snack Time
After school, we come home, and I make the girls a snack. We have liked little cracker boards with pepperonis, deli meat, cheese, carrots, cucumber, and hummus/ranch. We eat while I help guide Selene on her homework. Once I’ve eaten enough, I usually clean up the kitchen while she finishes her homework. I need a clean kitchen before I can cook dinner. So I do the dishes, wipe down the counters, vacuum the floor, and everything else. Usually, this goes quicker because I already put all the random stuff on the counters away during nap.
Evening
Once she is done with homework, the girls usually play in the playroom, and I prep/start cooking dinner. I have dinner ready around 5 PM. We eat dinner together as a family, and then we like to go for a little walk to the playground by our home. We let them play for about 15 minutes, then walk back home, clean up the kitchen, do baths, and get into jammies.
Tidy Up
Around 7, we start to wind down, quickly tidy the toys, watch a movie together on the couch, and snuggle. We go upstairs around 8; Sadie goes to bed, washes faces, and brushes her teeth, then I read a book to Selene, and she goes to bed.
Spouse Time
Once the girls are asleep, my husband and I like to use the last hour and a half to catch up before we go to sleep. Have uninterrupted conversations, talk about our day, the kids, or whatever is on our mind. Or we read or watch a show or movie that is not Bluey. We just started to do this in the last month or two, and it has been HUGE to feel connected and not just two people trying to raise two children and work and keep the house together. Somedays, we get to talk only 10 – 15 minutes, but I love it, and I look forward to our little pillow talk time.
Make Your Own Schedule Of A Stay At Home Mom
I gave you an example of my stay-at-home mom schedule with a 1-year-old and 6-year-old – now it’s your turn to apply this to your life. Your pick-up and drop-off times are different, or when you can work out and wake up, so let’s put your routine on paper.
How to Create Your Schedule
- Print out a day planner with the times broken down to each half hour. You can make your own on the computer, write it out by hand in your journal, or you can download my free template HERE.
- Time blocks the things that never change. For example, drop off and pick up times for your kids, when you homeschool if you homeschool, if they are in any extracurricular activities, nap times, meals, when you wake up every day, and when you go to sleep. These things are fixed.
- Now, for more flexible things like housework, self-care, errands, workouts, and projects, you can look at your remaining time throughout the day and see where things will fit.
Yay! You are finished. Now, you have a blueprint for your perfectly scheduled day to work around.
Consistency is key
Now that you have your own stay-at-home mom schedule, you need to follow it. Will it be perfect every day? Absolutely not. We all have those days when things don’t go as planned. The most important thing is to follow your new schedule as much as possible every day, and it gets better and better.
If we had to run some errands, or my gym class is later in the morning, we might not hit that 11 AM nap time. I still do my “nap routine” whenever she is napping and for however long she naps. If I get to do everything in my “routine,” great – but if not, I do what I can.
Get started
Just like starting a workout routine or lifestyle change in eating healthier – it’s not all nothing. It’s going to be an adjustment. This blog would not be here had I not started working on my project during nap time 2 months ago. Did I want it to take 2 months to go live – No. I was hoping it would go live much quicker. But I didn’t quit. Some days, I get a couple hours of work done, and other days, I was lucky to get 15 minutes. But I showed up every day.
I believe in you! Let me know how your time-blocking goes in the comments.
