How to Be More Productive at Home

Do you know those people that get more done by noon than most people do in a day? My grandma is like that. I don’t know how she does it, but she is incredibly productive. I would imagine that she’s learned a thing or two in her life about managing her time well and how to be productive at home.

Over the years, I have learned a few things too and with my health improving, I am feeling more productive than I have in a long time. However, I also know that a mom’s day is like one of those “choose-a-path books.” You start out on one straight path to productivity, and before 8 am, you’ve been pulled in ten different directions. Maybe these are already things that you do, but in case they’re not things you are doing already, learn how to be more productive at home with these five steps.

Now, there are stay-at-home moms who never seem to have a mess. Their homes are tidy and their children clean up after themselves. These friends clean when they’re stressed. Oh. And having a messy home stresses them out. Sometimes, I wish I was more like that! That’s a great combination! But, alas! I am just really fine with a mess. In fact, often, when I have a clean house, I find that I bark at my children far more than when I don’t because I feel like I’m constantly saying, “Don’t drag that out!’ or “I just cleaned that!”

So, how do people like me, who don’t love to clean or really care that much about having a spotless house stay productive at home?

How to be More Productive at Home with Five Steps:

Make a Plan—

You’ve read it before, but I’ll write it again. Set goals for your day and write out the small steps that will lead you to success in reaching the goal. Check the steps off one by one throughout the day until you reach the goal. If you have time, be sure to set another goal!

Having a plan makes all the difference (Oh! And get dressed all the way to shoes!) I wake up early, complete my part-time work by 8:00, work out, get dressed in jeans (wearing stretchy pants does no one any favors!) and then start school with my kids, working in chores around their independent work time. I accomplish a lot by noon if I do these things and stay focused!

Sometimes, if I really need to be productive, I write down a schedule for completing each chore or task. If I have not finished it by the time scheduled, I have to move on to the next task and come back to finish the ones I haven’t completed during my scheduled “free time.” That’s incentive! I do not want to use my free time to clean the toilets!

Understand the Law of Inertia—

An object in motion stays in motion; an object at rest stays at rest. Oh, my daily life is absolute proof of this! You know exactly how it is—once you sit down, you’re done! Tiredness sets in. Sometimes, I have no idea how tired I am until I sit down.

On the contrary, if you keep working, and don’t sit down until you’re absolutely ready to quit for the day, you will be amazed at the amount of work you can get done! For me, this is a battle of the mind, more than it’s a battle of the body. My body does tire, but mostly, I just want to have time to myself to sit down and do something I want to do. If, however, I don’t sit down and I keep working on my tasks, but listen to something I enjoy while doing it, I still feel like I got time to myself, and I get far more done.

It’s really like exercise for me. Sometimes, it’s hard to get in the right frame of mind to do it, but once you exercise, you feel a lot better—physically and mentally.

Race Against Yourself—

My brother and I made up all kinds of games for doing our chores when we were young. We pretended to be farmers when we worked outside or mowed the lawn. He and I pretended to be the owners of a junkyard with magical water that turned things like old tire rims into shiny kettles while doing the dishes. We frequently made our work into a game.

Just because you’re all grown up now, doesn’t mean you can’t still make your work into a game! Set the timer and race against yourself! For example, it’s four minutes until I have to leave to go somewhere; how many dishes can I wash in that amount of time?

This works with kids too! We set the timer and see how much different the house can look in 7 minutes, for example. Setting the timer gives a concrete amount of time for how long they have to work on something. Using short periods to clean up is far more effective than long periods. We all know how it goes after a few minutes of cleaning up. This is a time when quality is most often more important than quantity. A focused 7 minutes is more effective than an unfocused 15. And this trick helps them learn how to be more productive at home as well!

Manage Your Time Well—

I know there are a lot of studies that say multi-tasking is actually not a positive thing. Yeah. That person could not possibly have been a mom! Multi-tasking is your biggest ally in the fight to be productive! Managing your time well will help you to accomplish far more throughout your day.

Start by getting everything that does itself started. For example, if you’ve got dishes, laundry, and general cleaning to do and dinner to make, start the laundry first. Then, if you have a dishwasher, load it and get it running. Prepare dinner and throw it in the oven or the crockpot and while those chores are in progress on their own, you can quickly do a general cleaning of an area.

Also, when you’re mapping out your day, be sure to prioritize the tasks, in addition to scheduling them in a way that maximizes the time. For example, you need to wash, fold, and put away laundry today. Be sure to wash all the items that your children can put away first. This way, if you’re finishing up after they’ve gone to bed, you probably just have towels left to fold and put away without disturbing your kids.

Reward Yourself!—

This is the one I am most lax about and consequently, it affects my productivity massively! Typically, I am intrinsically motivated; I just feel good about a job well done. However, when life is so mundane and filled with completing the same tasks every.single.day.for.FIFTEEN.years, I don’t know. Pride is not a motivator for me anymore.

So, now I work for rewards. Everyone else gets paid for their work. I don’t. I mean, I used to get paid in hugs and kisses when my kids were little, but now, I mostly get paid in arguing and backtalk. So, I reward myself with alone time. If I complete everything by the scheduled free time, I get my entire block of free time or “me” time. But if I still have tasks left incomplete, I have to choose between using some of my free time to finish, in order to feel good about a job well done, or say, “who cares?” and take my free time anyway.

Instead, I stay on task and meet my scheduling goals. Then, I get the best of both worlds—a job well done and some much-needed downtime.

Maybe your reward looks different. Perhaps you’re one of those moms that loves to clean so de-stressing by having a spotless house is your reward. Maybe you need to reward yourself with a new song for your playlist or chocolate, or a soak in the tub, or whatever that looks like to you. No matter what works for you as a reward, rewards are essential to being more productive at home. You’ll be far more motivated once you set your reward in sight.

These are a few things that work for me to help me stay on task, fit a lot into my schedule, and be productive at home. Some days go more smoothly than others—that’s a given! What are your ways to be more productive? I’d love to hear them and add them to my list!