Are you a work at home mom with small children? Being a mompreneur is a tough job, but with some time saving productivity strategies, you can schedule time to work on your home, business, and spend time with those you love.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase from my link I may make a small commission at no cost to you.

Being a work from home mom is no easy task, but with outsourcing and organization, I believe you can thrive as a mompreneur and love your family well!

(Did you miss Part 1 on How to Thrive as a Work From Home Mom? You can read about how I manage and schedule my time with three kids as a homeschooling business owner).

Tip One: Outsource Groceries and Housekeeping

One of my favorite things to do is to find a way to outsource tasks that are highly repeatable and require low mental acuity. These are the tasks that don’t require you at all or can be repeated with a few clicks.

One of my favorite things to outsource is grocery shopping. Before our move, I was ordering from Kroger online and paying $5 for pickup. I’d swing by the grocery store during a time I was always in the car anyway, picking the girls up for a weekly activity. I’d schedule a date in my calendar every week to make sure I completed the order (Sunday), and picked up the groceries the same day every week (Wednesday). This also made it easy for my husband to put in requests since he knew which day I’d pick up the groceries.

Before I started working, I’d never spend $5 on a pickup, but once I really saw how much my time was worth (I talk about this in part 1), it was a no brainer. Spending an hour plus dragging my kids through the grocery store wasn’t the best use of my time.

For non-perishable items, I love Amazon Prime. You can order toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, and more with an easy click.

A second area I began to outsource was housekeeping. I found a friend in my church who needed some extra money and was super interested in cleaning! I paid her a great hourly wage (because she was a friend and I valued her time too) to come clean my home every two weeks. Again, when you know what one hour of your time is worth, it becomes much easier to outsource tasks that you don’t have to do. You DO have to be present for your husband and your kids, but someone else can help you with your home. The same goes for lawn care and snow removal.

Tip Two: Wake Up Early

Waking up early is hard, but it is so worth it as a work from home mom! If you have a hard time staying focused or your kids have a very unpredictable schedule, then getting started early may be the ticket for you!

I think the key to really being successful with your morning is to plan, plan, plan. In part 1, I talked about how I use my Simplified Life Planner (grab one here, it’s fantastic!) to schedule my day to day activities.

If you are not a morning person, then I wouldn’t schedule a high mental acuity task in the morning. Give yourself easy, small wins that can get you started for your day. For me, these are repeatable tasks that I do every week. Starting strong in the morning gets my ball rolling to stay productive the rest of the day. Some people are REALLY focused in the morning, so you might save this for items that you really want to accomplish but require peace and quiet (i.e., no sticky hands interrupting you for a snack). My strongest tip for you is to stay out of your inbox, which leads me to tip 3!

Tip Three: Get out of your Inbox

How much time do you spend in your inbox? My inbox used to rule my time, but have you ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? It goes like this:

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”- Parkinson’s Law

What this means is if you don’t designate a specific amount of time in your inbox, it will take as long as you give it space to fill your time. Give your inbox a set amount of time, whether that’s 10, 15, or 20 minutes. Set a timer and aim to get through your emails in that time. Don’t aimlessly sit in your inbox!

Tip Four: Be patient with yourself and don’t compare yourself with others

With the invention of social media, we have never been more aware of what our colleagues and competitors are doing. But, don’t be fooled! What someone chooses to show on social media is never the whole story. I often compare myself to female entrepreneurs who don’t have children at home.  Yes, maybe they do have more time to themselves to work, but if I don’t remind myself of my WHY I am working and serving my family (you can read about that in part 1), then it is easy to get discouraged about my productivity.

Secondly, you never know what someone else is dealing with in their lives. Maybe they are caring for an aging parent, battling an autoimmune disease that leaves them exhausted, or relational difficulties that take more of their work time.

“Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle, or your middle to someone else’s end.” — Tim Hiller

I think this is especially true when you have young children at home. Children change everything and yes, they do take up a lot of your time, but you will never regret the time you invest in their lives.

What about you? Did you find these work from home mom tips helpful? Once I mastered these tips, I found a lot more time to work in my business, but more importantly, create time for rest. What other tips do you have for a mompreneur? Share in the comments and don’t forget to catch up on Part 1 of this mompreneur series here!: 

• 4 Tips for Managing your Creative Business as a Work at Home Mom: Part 1

Like this blog post? I’d love for you to follow me on Pinterest and pin it for later!