Time is weird when you’re a stay at home mom.
You wake up in the morning with the day looming in front of you – what the heck are you supposed to do with these kids all day?
And then somehow, it’s suddenly bed time and you have no idea what you’ve done with your time.
As a stay at home mom myself, having a schedule of some sort has been key to my sanity. It helps so much to know that there’s a plan for the day when I wake up.
But the schedule is there for me if I need it. And we do often need it! But there’s also room for spontaneity and re-arranging if necessary. The benefit of having a routine like this is so helpful because I mostly know what to do with my time even if I haven’t thought much about it.
At this point, I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a baby. I’m going to share what an average day looks like for me with them right now. You can use this schedule as inspiration in creating your own!
Tips For Creating Your Own Schedule As A Stay At Home Mom
Have Events to Build Your Day Around
Having a reason to get up and get dressed really helps me to manage my schedule as a stay at home mom. It doesn’t matter if it’s a play date or a doctor’s appointment or anything else. Having a goal of getting out the door for a little while in the morning helps me to be much more productive with the rest of the time that I spend at home.
You don’t have to get out of the house every day (that can get to be too much very quickly!), but it’s super healthy for you and the kids to see the outside world a few times a week.
Even just getting my older daughter on the bus every day helped me get us ready for the day earlier than I would have otherwise. We have a lot more time to do fun and productive things throughout the day when we’re all dressed and ready by 8:30 in the morning!
Don’t Get Caught Up In Staying “On Schedule”
It’s totally cool to create an ideal stay at home mom schedule, but don’t hold on to it too tightly. The schedule is there to make your life easier, not more complicated.
So if your schedule says that you’re supposed to get up at 6:30 to work out but you wound up sleeping until 8 because you were up all night with the baby, that’s totally fine. If the kids are extra needy and you don’t even have a chance to look at your household tasks at the appointed time, don’t worry about it.
Just start wherever you are and adjust as needed. You can get your workout done in the afternoon. You can skip cleaning the house for one day. Tomorrow is a new day, and you can do your best to get back on schedule then.
Plan Your Week
You might not think that a stay at home mom schedule would require a lot of planning, but if you want to use your time well, it actually does!
Take a look at your calendar at the beginning of the week and see what you have going on. If you notice that you have a few chunks of time with no plans, decide what you’ll do with that time. Text a friend to see if they want to meet up at the park, or plan an activity that will keep the kids busy so you can spend that time getting some work done around the house.
Planning ahead will make a huge difference in how “in control” you feel about your daily schedule as a stay at home mom.
A Sample Stay At Home Mom Schedule
7:00 AM
My wake up time varies quite a lot depending on how I slept the night before. I’m often up with the baby or awake with insomnia, and I let myself sleep in until it’s time for the older kids to wake up on those mornings.
I’m a huge proponent of waking up earlier than your kids if you can. During seasons that I’m getting enough rest, I love to wake up at 5:30 or 6 and spend time blogging or working out or reading my Bible. It makes a huge difference in my day if I can have that time to myself in the morning!
But getting enough rest is the biggest priority, so I’ve mostly had to let my early mornings go for now. I’ll get back to them eventually!
7:00-8:00 AM
Since I have both a baby and a kid that needs to get on the school bus at a specific time, the morning routine can feel particularly chaotic. I spend this hour rushing around waking the girls up, changing and feeding the baby, supervising the girls as they get ready for the day, getting myself showered and dressed, making sure the dog gets fed and let out, unloading the dishwasher, and making breakfast. It’s a wild time.
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
This hour is when we eat breakfast and head off to school. My oldest is required to be dressed and have her backpack ready before breakfast. It saves us a lot of panic later in the morning when it’s time to get on the bus if she has everything together ahead of time.
I usually do the girls’ hair while they’re sitting down to eat, and we also spend a few minutes going over our Bible verse memorization and cards from Tiny Theologians.
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Once the oldest is off on the bus, I get the baby down for a nap and then spend some time working on household tasks. That might mean doing a quick tidy of the breakfast stuff and other morning chaos, or doing whatever other cleaning task that needs my attention that day.
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
This time is reserved for fun stuff or getting out of the house. We might meet up with a friend at the park, head out for a doctor’s appointment, pick up groceries or run other errands.
If we’re staying home for the day, we might use this time to play outside or bake something together.
12:00 – 1:00 PM
At noon, it’s usually time for lunch. Then I clean up and try to read a couple of books to the kids before they go to quiet time in the afternoon.
1:00 – 3:30 PM
Quiet time is very sacred in our house. I almost never plan any appointments or outings for this time of day in my stay at home mom schedule – it’s a time for rest. Even once they don’t take naps anymore, the kids are required to go to their rooms and play or read quietly without bothering me. If the weather is nice, they’re also allowed to play in the backyard.
This is when I sit down to blog, do my work as a virtual assistant, or do home-related tasks on the computer.
3:30-5:00 PM
Once quiet time/nap time is over, the kids usually have a quick snack. If it’s not too hot or too cold, we’ll go for a walk or play outside once the oldest is home from school. Sometimes I’ll squeeze in a workout while the kids play around me. My husband usually gets home towards the end of this time and we’re always glad to see him.
5:00-7:00 PM
Once the hubby is home, I’ll go start working on dinner while he hangs out with the kids. We usually eat together at around 6, and then we have a little bit of time to relax together in the living room before it’s time for the bed time routine.
7:00-8:00 PM
After a little after dinner play time, it’s time to get the kids ready for bed. I usually put the baby down while my husband works with the girls. They’re all tucked into bed by around 7:45 or 8. The girls are allowed to read in their room until 8:30, and after that, it’s lights out.
Once the kids are down, we spend a few minutes cleaning up from dinner and tidying up the house, and then it’s finally time for us to get a chance to relax kid-free.
8:00-10:00 PM
Sometimes we plop down to watch a show or a movie together, or sometimes we do our own separate activities. If that’s the case, then I’ll usually work on the blog or do some reading before bed.
I usually wind myself down for the night by 10.
That’s pretty much the schedule of my life as a stay at home mom!
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Melinda worked with children for years in a professional setting before becoming a full-time stay at home mom. She currently has three young children, and enjoys sharing tips and ideas about parenting and how to manage a home with excellence. She’s been featured on Heathline and Her View From Home.
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