Top 10 Organizing Tips for the Work at Home Mom

Whether your kids are under 5 and are at home with you all day, or if they’re already going to school, it’s still a tough job to keep your household running smoothly while working online at the same time.

Being a single work at home mom of a 2 and 4 year old, it’s essential that I stay as organized as possible, so I thought I’d share my top tips with you.

1. Have a schedule – Even if I don’t write it down on paper, I still try to stick to a routine. I have certain times of the day when I do laundry, exercising, working, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping etc.

2. Make a list – If you’ve been a regular reader, you’ll know that I’m a crazy list lady. I’ve got lists coming out the whazoo, but I’m not sure I could live without them. They remind me to do things when I would normally forget, and I also love the satisfaction of crossing things off and knowing I accomplished something.

3. Clean house – Having an organized and clean household makes working so much easier. If you stay as organized as possible, your normal everyday tasks take less time. Plus you won’t have that nagging feeling while you’re working at the computer that you should be cleaning.

4. Keep things where you use them – This works for your household items and things at your desk. Keeping cleaning supplies handy in each room saves time when cleaning, and having your paper, pens, printer, calculator, etc. within reach at your desk makes work-life that much easier.

5. Keep emails and RSS under control – Setting rules for my emails and having them automatically sorted into specific folders is a huge time saver for me. Same goes for RSS feeds. I have separate folders for internet marketing, entertainment, design, etc. This is extremely helpful if you have to take a few days off from working and don’t want to come back to a heap of emails and feeds to sort through.

6. Tidy up your computer – Just like keeping your house organized saves time and frustration, so does keeping an organized computer. Everyone is different, so what works for me might not work for you, but I like to have a lot of different folders for different file types. One for PDFs, one for audio files, another for each blog topic. You get the idea. Come up with something that works for you.

7. Have a planner – I bought a $6 planner from Walmart and it has saved my keister many times. I go ahead a few months and write down all the days when bills need to be paid, birthdays, important tasks that need to be done, etc.

8. Delegate – Whether it’s getting your kids to help with chores, or hiring a virtual assistant to help with your website, it’s important to get some help when you can.

9. Plan ahead – You don’t have to go as far as laying out your clothes the night before, but having an idea of what you’re going to do the next day will help with any last minute things that need to be done beforehand. For example, my daughter has preschool on Thursday mornings and I like to get groceries after I drop her off, so I make a list the night before since I won’t have time the next morning.

10. Monthly purges – I absolutely hate clutter. It makes things look messy, it takes up space, and it takes more time to search for things. Therefor, I like to do periodic purges. I recycle and donate as much as I can, and trash the rest. Since we’re always acquiring new things all the time, it makes sense to get rid of old things to make space for the new stuff.

Bonus tip #1 – Live by the motto “A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place.” Since doing this, my life has become so much easier. I’m less stressed and I have more time which is extremely important to me since I want to be the best mom I can be to my kids. You don’t have to be Martha Stewart, but by starting small, you can make big things happen.

Bonus tip #2 – Time yourself. I like to set a timer when doing certain tasks. Knowing that I have a limited amount of time to get something done helps me work a little bit faster. I do this for household chores like washing the floor, and writing articles for my blogs. Try it. It works!

Being a successful work at home mom means learning to balance work and home life, which can sometimes be even more difficult for us WAHMs since work IS at home. Staying as organized as possible helps to save time and create a more peaceful environment to get some quality work done which will ultimately leave more time to spend with your family.

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