Six Habits for A Daily Routine that Beats Working-Mom Overwhelm

“You can do anything, but you cannot do everything.”  For an overwhelmed working mom, that message  feels like a big hug.  I’m not sure where exactly we went wrong, but somewhere along the line it was determined that women must have the ability to raise children, be better than all of the men at work, keep immaculate, decorated-in-the-latest-trends homes, and throw Pinterest-perfect birthday parties, all in a killer pair of heels.  I think its about time we get back to reality and acknowledge that moms are amazing, but we can’t keep raising the bar for them.  Let’s recognize that life isn’t about winning the most overworked mom award.  All we are really here to do is love our husbands, raise our babies, and serve our Lord.  So let’s create simple systems and good habits to eliminate this working mom craziness. 

Working mom overwhelm tends to make me a bit all-or-nothing.  I’ll deep clean the floors of my bedroom closet before having family over for dinner, but I also get a really bad case of the f-its on Friday nights (and most other nights after a long day of work).  Do you ever get a wild burst of energy and set out to make a big change to your life, like start keeping a cleaner, more clutter-free home, but end up getting burnt out and give up on the entire idea just a few days later?

This daily to-do list of simple mom habits has absolutely saved me.  I’m ditching the working mom overwhelm and committing to these six simple tasks each day.

#1: Do one load of laundry each day.

Instead of spending your weekends “catching up” on laundry, do one load every day!  I’ve done it both ways and can say that washing, drying, folding, and putting away one load every day is a breath of fresh air compared to laundry day.  I never realized how quickly I could fold and put away a single load of laundry, because I was always dealing with five loads at a time.  It only takes a few minutes, helps my laundry room stay under control (and smell better), keeps us from running out of things to wear and allows us to re-wear items throughout the week.  If you are all caught up and don’t have a load of clothes to wash, use these days to wash bedding, rags, rugs, curtains, etc. or run an empty cycle to wash your washing machine!

This one is first on my daily habit list, because it is helpful to start a load right away in the morning so that it can run throughout your morning routine.  Wash while I drink my pre-workout and dry while I workout.  I like sit with my girls over breakfast and do the folding, and then I usually put the laundry away in the evening when I get home from work.

Disclosure: Just like with everything else, I’m definitely not perfect at this!  I have found this system works really, really well when I stick to it, but I’m still working on turning it into a habit.  Give yourself some grace as you work this step into your routine.  Try to wash, dry, fold, and put away at least one load of laundry each day.  Even if you still have a few baskets of clean clothes waiting to be dealt with, you will be picking away at it throughout the week and will eventually get caught up and into a great routine! 

#2:  Make the bed.

I think of making the bed more as self-care than house work.  Is there anything better than crawling into a neatly made bed at the end of the day??

In my opinion, a made bed is essentially the definition of a clean bedroom.  Regardless of what else you have going on in there, whether or not the bed is made makes a huge difference in how you see and feel in your bedroom.

#3: What’s for dinner?

This might sound weird, but one of the very first items on my to-do list each day is dinner.  Specifically, answering the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?” Start thinking about dinner right away in the morning to prevent the 5:30 pm dinner panic.  

Decide what you want to have for dinner that evening.  If you follow a weekly meal plan, this part is pretty easy.  While you have the day ahead of you yet, determine if anything needs to be taken out of the freezer to thaw or if you need to run to the store to pick up an ingredient before you start cooking.  If there is anything that you can make ahead of time to make your life easier later, do that too. 

Determine what time you will need to start cooking dinner, and then wipe this task from your brain until that time.  If your afternoons get busy, set an alarm as a reminder for yourself to start cooking dinner later.    

Having a plan for dinner right away in the morning allows me to take that item off of my mind for the day and makes my evenings much less stressful.  Also, I am sure to keep this one on my to-do list each day, because at the end of the day, when my family is fed and cared for, I can always at least cross one very important item off my list for the day.

#4:  Run the dishwasher and wipe down the kitchen.  

If you only have one takeaway from this post, let it be this one.  A nightly kitchen reset is a life-changing habit for keeping a tidy home, ending the day with a sense of accomplishment and starting the next with a sense of peace.  It’s also a great one for ditching your late night snacking habit and losing weight – try the “Kitchen is closed!” strategy of cleaning the kitchen after dinner, shutting off the light and leaving the room. 

You maybe have already noticed that this working mom routine is set up to front load your day, and make the evenings as smooth as possible.  There is a lot that needs to happen between 4:00 pm pick-up and 8:00 pm bedtime, and I would like for playing and visiting and evening devotions to be included!  Rather than doing the dishes (put away clean dishes, rinse/scrub dishes from the day, reload dishwasher) all at once, I prefer to get started right away and keep the job from piling up throughout the day.

This is one of my all-time favorite mom-life hacks:  Unload the dishwasher in the morning, so that you can rinse dishes and reload the dishwasher throughout the day!  After the evening meal, simply rinse the dinner dishes, finish loading the dishwasher, and wipe down kitchen surfaces.

#5:  Run the Roomba.

I realize that not everyone has a robot vacuum, but this is a big one for me.  We live in a little old farmhouse with a big old dog and the world’s messiest little girls.  Running the Roomba is a lifesaver for me in terms of keeping up with dust, dog hair, and crumbs.  Before we leave the house each day, I get the vacuum going so that I can come home to cleaner floors and toss a bunch of dust bunnies into the trash.  I don’t believe there is anything more satisfying than that.  If you have trouble keeping up with dust in the house, I highly recommend a robot vacuum.  I have found that that little bit of dirt removal every day really makes a difference in the amount of dust settling in my home.  When I got mine (five years ago), we didn’t have the money for it, so I put it at the top of my Christmas list and our family members pitched in to get it for me.  This is also how I got my dishwasher.  Best gifts ever!

#6:  Set a timer for 15 minutes.

Clean something, anything!  This is not about ending the day with a Pinterest-perfect home.  I am not one that has any trouble sleeping if my house is a mess.  This is about doing a little something every day to keep up on the craziness that is taking care of a home where small children live.  This is about not letting the work pile up until you are drowning in it.  

Set a timer, put in some headphones, grab a cup of tea and get it done.  I find that 15 minutes is short enough for even my most tired evenings.  Although I do have times where I need to clean more than this, 15 minutes helps me keep things under control.  I usually spend my 15 minutes cleaning toilets and wiping down the bathrooms, mopping the floors, decluttering the kitchen, or dusting.

Simple systems and habits are the keys to beating working mom overwhelm.

Cut yourself some slack and recognize that you do not have to be perfect.  Work these six habits into your daily routine to eliminate that “I can’t keep up with my life and this house” feeling.  You can totally do this.  

Share your thoughts in the comments below!  Is there anything that you would add to this list?

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