10 Easy Time Saving Tips for Working Moms

So many times when I've heard time saving strategies, time management, lessons, tips, tactics, hacks, whatever it is, they're not super applicable, especially when you are maybe working from home, when you have kids, when you have a life outside of business. I once heard one of my friends say that he wouldn't take time management tips or strategies from someone who didn't have kids. And I think that there can be a lot of wisdom in that, but I've spent the last few years looking for fantastic ways to become more efficient with my time, more productive ways to make time management work for me, a mom of three. And so I've compiled a ton of strategies that are super, super helpful for actually effectively managing time. Now, quick disclaimer, I am a mom of three. I am not whole time home with my kids while I'm working at home. We do have a nanny. And I share that because I know a lot of times we see people giving us all of this advice and they don't share that they have support. So I want to be super transparent that I have a lot of support when it comes to watching the kids. However, I chose 10 fantastic time saving strategies, time management strategies, productivity strategies that work even if your kids are at home. All right. So I wanted to share these today. I know this is going to be so powerful for so many people. So let's dive on in. Number one, this is huge. Set a timer for tasks. Do sprints. Now I have ADHD. I'm personally, this is my own personal choice. I don't medicate it. I've learned how to manage cope, deal with it on like a day to day level. It is a struggle for me because it's like squirrel every two seconds. And I want to do all the things all the time. And these little Pomodoro timers have been so helpful for me. So this one is just a Pentagon Pomodoro timer and you turn it to the amount of time that you want to have the timer showing you. So for example, if I turn it now, it's going to show me a countdown to five minutes and give me a little beep when it's off. And having this visual representation of how much time I have to do a particular task has helped me to get tasks done faster. So for example, while recording this, I might give myself 15 or 30 minutes to get it done. And so this way, instead of accidentally getting lost in the rabbit hole of research and planning and all of those things, this timer is going to ensure that I get it done. And you can decide if you want to reward or punish yourself, depending on how you are motivated with a carrot or a stick. So for example, I might say, okay, I can watch TikToks once I finished this, this video, this podcast episode, or I could say, if I don't finish this in 30 minutes, I can't check TikTok today and my team will change my password. So that's been super helpful. Number two, time block everything. Um, there's this really powerful principle called Parkinson's law. I talk about it a lot for a major reason because it works. Uh, time blocking has been so helpful for me because when I have things on my to-do list and you may experience this too, sometimes it feels like an open ended task. Like, could I get this done in the next eight hours? Do I have the next three days to get this done? But time blocking and then combining that time blocking with a 60, uh, 60 minute timer can be a really helpful way to get things done more effectively. So for example, I might time block an hour for recording all of my video content for the day. So I'm going to turn my timer, set it, but that time block is essential so that I don't accidentally double book myself or put into place, um, a call when I'm supposed to be recording. So time blocking is huge for, uh, kind of assembling like the big rocks of your business before everything else fills in because everything else always will fill in. Number three, multitask on things that are routine. For example, listening to books and podcasts while you're on walks, brushing your teeth while doing squats. Um, this has been something that's been really helpful for me. I learned about this in Atomic Habits and that is the idea of habit stacking or doing things that are second nature to you while doing something else. And I like to think about that a lot. For example, I'm a huge fan of walking. It's one of my favorite forms of exercise. I usually almost, almost every day I do about 60 minutes power walking on the treadmill or outside if it's nice outside. And something that really helps me is thinking about the fact that I don't have to think about walking. So for example, I can learn a language on Duolingo. I can, uh, brush up on a podcast with YouTube. I can engage with people on Tik TOK. I can record podcasts if it's not too loud. There's so much that we can do while we're multitasking and it can be super helpful for us to kind of like stack those habits. So pair something you don't have to think about with something that takes a little bit of brain power and watch how your brain allows you to do both simultaneously. And it's going to save you a lot of time. Number four, learn how to say no. This one was so hard for me. A lot of times people think I don't check email because I'm lazy. The truth is I don't check my email because I would say yes to absolutely everyone and absolutely everything. So my team is amazing at reminding me the power of saying no to things. You cannot say yes to everything. And here's a big hint saying yes to one thing is saying no to another. And it's been something I've had to work on over the years, but I 10 out of 10 recommend learning the power of saying no. Number five, start batching similar tasks together. Now the studies on this particular topic are really, really interesting to me with some experts estimating that you lose as much as 80% of your productivity simply by switching context or changing tasks repeatedly. But most experts seem to agree that you lose 20% of your productivity simply by context switching. So going back and forth between tasks over and over and over again. But when you start batching similar tasks together, you actually can speed up even beyond that extra 20%. So for example, if I need to record YouTube videos, if I sit down and record them all right in a row, I'm going to be on a roll and getting them done so much faster than if I try to each day record a YouTube video, record my TikToks, go to podcasts, go engage in groups, respond to all my notifications, start batching your similar tasks together. Number six, every Sunday night or Monday morning, review the week that's coming and feel free to cancel appointments, calls that are not a good fit or don't make sense at this time. Enough said. Number seven, take calls when you're on walks to get steps in. This is one of my favorites. No one can really hear that you're outside unless you live like by a train. So what's really, really cool is you can actually take your calls while you're on a walk. I do this a lot on the treadmill. I'm a huge fan of getting those steps in a little kind of cool rule of thumb. You have to calculate this for yourself. But I discovered that about every 10 minutes of my power walking is approximately a thousand steps. And I found that out with my I'm not wearing it right now, but my Garmin watch. And that to me was very motivating. So if I take a one hour call and empower walking, that is the equivalent of about 6000 steps just simply for taking that call while walking. And it's a really great way to sneak in a little bit of extra exercise. Number eight. Now, this one has nothing to do with business, but block out family time. Don't accept calls during family time. Have two or three hours that's dedicated to family every evening and especially on the weekends. But sometimes we focus so much on productivity and making time for everything in our business that we forget about the power of intentional unplugged family time. So for example, my calendar is blocked out every day after six. You're not going to be able to get me on a call. I almost never do any work after 6 PM because it's family time and we family hard. We do no social. No one can get in touch with me or my team for that matter in the evenings, but blocking out family time can actually allow you to work more effectively and efficiently because you feel like you had some really great face time with those that you love and care about the most. Number nine, get dry shampoo and wear comfy clothes. Now I say this because there's something so powerful about literally just being able to whip off a sweater and quick whip on a workout tank. So I'm a huge fan of now this is going to sound interesting. Feel free to judge if you want, but I always feel like washing my hair takes so long and I just don't want to spend that time washing, drying, styling my hair. Plus a former hairstylist here, it can cause a lot of heat damage. So I use dry shampoo regularly. I actually have it like literally at my desk every day in case I need a quick touch up. You also in a pinch can use face powder depending on the difference between your hair and face color difference. But I like to use face powder when I'm in a pinch and I'm a huge fan of this because this saves 20, 30, 40 minutes almost every single day. And then wearing comfy clothes allows me to transition from day to evening better. So instead of taking 10, 20 minutes each day to transition from work clothes to workout or family comfy clothes, I like to work like a layer of comfy clothes underneath whatever it is I'm wearing for work for the day. And number 10, this one is a game changer. Turn off all your notifications. Notifications are literally running and ruining your life. Turning off notifications was one of the single best decisions I ever made. I was so afraid like, am I going to forget to check? Am I going to forget to stay on top of things? Am I going to miss communications? And the truth is now I time block for checking all my notifications. And this has been a huge time saving strategy for my entire business because the truth is the more notifications you get, the more impossible it's going to be to break the never ending notification loop. Now, if you want to do something kind of fun or like kind of transform some of your money beliefs and you have like passive products or small ticket products set up with Stripe or PayPal, you can leave your Stripe and PayPal notifications on so you can see those coming in on your screen and it can motivate you to create more and market more and share more and give more value. I hope you have enjoyed these 10 powerful time saving strategies. If you need support with boundaries, time management, and growth as a social media manager, funnel builder, copywriter, or ad strategist, you might just be ready for the next level of mentorship and mastermind. My amazing program, The Social Click could be the right fit for you. In the link beneath this video in the bio and in the pinned comment, you will see that you have the ability to apply for The Social Click and see if it's a good fit. Don't worry, my team is not pushy. They're wonderful and helpful and they will help you to make the best decision for you and your business as a freelancer. I'll catch you guys later. Bye for now.