The Best Tips for Working Moms from Working Moms

The wearer of many hats. Juggler of all the schedules. Taskmaster. Expert on the flamingo pose while holding a squirmy infant.  You are a working mom, and the world is on your shoulders. The struggle is real so we’re here to give you support and share tips for working moms with babies and tips for working moms with toddlers.

Working full-time with kids is challenging and exciting, but learning how to balance work and family life is a process. What do you do when you’re a full-time working mom who’s overwhelmed?

Last updated in 2021.

Mothers are great employees because of our attention to detail, dedication, and family values, but we do have a lot of information and tasks to keep up with, and it isn’t feasible to be at 100% everywhere. The mental load of motherhood can get heavy.

I have rounded up the best work-life balance articles and tips written by other working moms to help working moms in our struggles, our daily lives, to help us master our to-do lists gracefully, and in balancing work and motherhood. Keep reading for work-life balance examples, tips, and techniques.

 

 

 

Working Moms Share Their Best Tips

On Mastering Your Schedule

The working mom needs to be master of her schedule, or things start to get overwhelming! Here I have collected all the best posts on getting organized and mastering your routines. First, you have to master your working mom morning routine (and grab your printable) as well as your perfect evening routine. Most of the time this means getting ready for the day, or the week, in advance or the night before. Here’s another sample morning routine from a fellow working mom. Here’s another great workbook for working moms.

Here are more time savers for working moms with ideas of what you can plan in advance. You also need to find shortcuts, hacks, streamline your life, and use the tools available to you. Like this brilliant tip to eliminate laundry time sock issues. See, I’m not the only one who showers at night.

Whether you have a good planner you love, use a household binder, a brain dump notebook, or simply utilize apps like Google calendar (which you can use to organize your entire life, by the way), having a calendar-type to-do list is vital to stay organized. Getting started with bullet journaling is also helpful for busy moms. Lots of moms love to use Trello for organizing mom life.

Here’s a really great example of how one mom breaks out her schedule to get her work, side hustles, and mommy time to get it all done in one day. And if you and your spouse work opposite shifts, schedules can get complicated. Here are some tips on working opposite shifts.

 

On Meal Planning

Sometimes being a busy mom means shopping online so you don’t have to do it in person. If that’s how you roll then do it! I’m 100% an Amazon Prime mom! And a Shipt mom (we use Shipt for grocery delivery; you can also try Instacart). Whether it’s meal planning for the week or even having a freezer meal stash, we need to find ways to simplify and create patterns in your planning.

There are so many wonderful services to help make mealtime easier that you certainly don’t have to feel like you need to do it all yourself! And you really can cook healthier meals for your family with some advance planning and understand your relationship with food.

 

On Productivity

If you work from home, there are a ton of distractions. On days I don’t have to go to the office, I’m always needing to remember to focus on my work and be productive from home. Time management as a work at home mom becomes vital to your success.

I do believe it is easier to stay productive when you’re in the office, surrounded by colleagues you can meet face-to-face. However, it is becoming more and more important to have a virtual working environment as we become a more mobile society (and even more so for us military spouses). I’m thankful my job allows me to work remotely when I need to. And yes, working from home is a real job.

Being productive as a mompreneur is such a recurring topic, that I’m sharing a lot of articles with various tips. And if you do run your own business, remember to take days off! And learn about Hygge.

If you’re struggling with productivity, try using a timer. Or read about ways to be less stressed and more organized.

 

On Family finances

Among other reasons, moms work because money makes the world go ’round. But it also needs to be managed well, whether with a budget or even family budget meetings.  It is so easy to lose track of our finances, and that can bring on a lot of stress, so having a good planner or budget workbook to keep track of your family’s assets is vital.

Another aspect of financial planning that we may not think about often is saving for retirement, especially if you only work part-time, or are self-employed. Having a side-hustle can really help in boosting your savings account or even putting out the debt fires. And you might find this post, showcasing different maternity leave benefits around the world, interesting.

 

 

On Motherhood Sanity

Mom guilt is ubiquitous, but it manifests in different ways for everyone. Here are some tips to overcome working mom guilt and don’t let it steal your joy. Just remember you can’t (and shouldn’t) do it all! Remember that there are advantages to letting your kids see that you work, even though it is tough.

Balancing work and life is not easy, and some may say is not realistic. Sure, it is more of a sliding scale than a true balancing act. Some days you need to focus on your family more, other days work takes priority. And keeping your house clean? Well, that can take a back seat sometimes. Or sometimes you have to use cleaning tech.

You can thrive as a working mom with systems and plans in place.  Just don’t forget to take advantage of weekends. And remember to say no sometimes.

Please don’t forget self-care! I practice it on my commute even. Here is a great list of self-care ideas. Stress can be a good thing sometimes but can escalate quickly into health issues, so finding ways to relieve stress is important. Having healthy habits in the workplace is important and you can be a healthy and busy mom with plans in place.

 

On Child Care

Deciding on the type of care for your child can be daunting. That’s why I have a whole series on nannies and childcare because we all have different opinions and experiences.

I started out with a nanny, then switched to daycare, then switched to a more education-focused early child care center. Read tips on selecting a daycare provider, to help make that transition easier.

If you’re planning to hire a nanny, grab your nanny interview questions checklist! And don’t forget to do a background check and get your nanny contract.

And if you have to have your kids home with you while you work, at least there are some great educational Netflix shows and more educational TV shows that let you get some work done.

Do you need help in balancing work and motherhood?

 

On Pumping at Work

Breastfeeding moms tend to have a love/hate relationship with their pump. Pumping takes time, it takes planning, it requires lugging a device around with you and having a dedicated place at work to do your thing. Don’t forget your pumping bag at home! You can read some tips from experienced moms to make pumping easier. Find out how you can get your breast pump through your insurance to get you ready when you return to work.

Here are some more tips for pumping as a working mom, and more if you’re an exclusively pumping mama. You might also want to know information on thawing breastmilk and travel while being a breastfeeding mom.

 

 

In case all of this isn’t enough, here’s are some more interview roundups of tips from working moms on getting it all done.

 

What are your tips to make working mom life easier? How are you balancing work and motherhood?

Let us know what you think of all these amazing tips for working moms with babies and tips for working moms with toddlers.