How To Build A Schedule That Works, Even With Constant Interruptions

Trying to create a stay-at-home wife schedule that works can be really frustrating.

But if you are anything like me. You love a little structure in your days. But the INTERUPTIONS!!!! Lord, give me restraint! I was talking to a friend who was struggling with the unpredictability of her new life abroad as a missionary. And I told her this one thing that has always helped me not feel like a failure.

“Unless you lived on a off grid on a mountain with no people or animals in your life, are you going to have weeks or days that are predictable.“

When you don’t have a daily plan, it can feel stressful. But rather than looking at it as a problem. Let it be a blessing. You still get to choose the order of how you do pretty much anything you want, even if the kiddos have their demands.

Let me remind you to take back control and be the woman of the house.

This is where the magic comes in. I want to EMPOWER YOU to run your home well and with intention. You don’t have to let everything go and throw caution to the wind. BUT you do have to let your expectations be content with knowing YOU DID YOUR BEST with the day you were given. And that’s enough.

You need to happen to life. Life doesn’t happen to you. 

Now let’s see about making the “perfect” stay at home wife schedule. (Notice perfect in air quotes, nothing ever goes perfectly. BUT you can find something that is pretty darn close.)

Before We Go Any Further

You have to know what works for you and fit that into your life. If someone says they have the perfect system for you. RUN!

Some seasons your mind works differently than others, and what works right now for you might not work in 6 months.

My goal is to empower you to be the architect of your own life and YOU start to think and design your own life.

My #1 Strategy That Will Change Your Life

Routines Vs Schedule

A routine is something you do in a particular order. Not necessarily at a set time every day.

This is going to be extremely helpful with mom life in your morning schedule or honestly, for anyone who has and unpredictable schedule. 

A schedule is a sequence of things that you do at a particular time. (This is where a lot of us need to open our hands and let go of control.)

This is more rigid and can be followed much easier by someone who has a 9-5 to go to because they have to be at work at a certain time. But if you don’t have to and you are starting your day at 6:30 one day and 7 the next your entire scheduling time is going to be off and you are going to feel extra frustrated with yourself and those around you. 

This is why I think it is far more emotionally healthy for stay-at-home wives and moms to work in routines and not schedules because you can start right back where you left off if something happens during the day that needs to be dealt with.

 Your Top 3 Tasks By Impact

I promise I am not trying to talk you out of creating a “schedule,” but these habits will create a much more peace-filled life and emotional state if you work WITH the unpredictability rather than try to fight against it. The schedule strategies are coming.

STEP 1: Choose your top three tasks that move the life goals forward. – These are not maintenance tasks. These are things that help you and your family get closer to the life you want to live. Those other things will find their way into your life. But if we don’t make time for these things, we will look up 10 years from now in the same spot.

STEP 2: Order these tasks into one list based on importance and impact. – If there is no real deadline or consequence for getting these things done, then do the one that is more impactful first.

This will help make sure you make progress on the things that matter and you don’t let snack runs and potty trips take their place.

STEP 3: Work the list in order. – If you only get one thing done because the day blew up. You know you got the most important thing done.

Life Is Full Of Seasons And So Is Your Schedule

This is something that I had to accept over the past few years, and that is the schedule you set for yourself now may not be the one you are using next year or even next quarter. It could be. But you have to be open to the possibilities of life-changing and your daily routines changing with it.

Or sometimes your mind shifts, and the system you are using now just isn’t working anymore. There is friction. Pay attention to that and be open to finding a new way of working through your day.

The Tools Don’t Make The Perfect Schedule

When it comes to household chores, cleaning, running a business, and time management, it’s easy to think that buying just the right tool or system will do the trick, and you will magically feel organized and on top of your schedule.

That’s backward.

You need to look at your lifestyle and list out EVERYTHING you do and manage. Then try to find a tool or system that works for you.

And I hate to break it to you, you might have to create your own system. I learned this in business and finding the right systems often came from me building it myself. Sure, it’s much easier for someone else to say “do this,” but it won’t stick because that person doesn’t have your life.

Or you might have lifestyle restrictions that make a tool not work for you. For example, people LOVE ClickUp. But we have rural internet speeds and when the weather is bad. ClickUp wouldn’t even load sometimes. Not helpful.

Create A Schedule That Works With Your Brain

This is something that we paid close attention to as kids when we were seeing a reading specialist. (Yep, I said it. Your girl is dyslexic…. Funny how life works out. Now I make an income using my words.)

This doesn’t work all the time, but if you are trying to do a task that requires math or writing, if at all possible, hold off until your mind is ready to do them. You will have an uphill battle if you force things.

For example, there are days when my mind is focused, and I can write straight through all of nap time. Then there are other days when I can’t focus for nothin’. In those cases, your brain is fighting for its own way. You might be better off switching gears and doing a different productive task that you had planned for a later day.

That is the beauty of creating your own schedule and being a stay-at-home wife. You have the option to do that.

Have Realistic Expectations

Here is a little side note. Don’t cut yourself short trying to do a 3-hour task in 2. It just won’t work. You will end the day frustrated and annoyed at yourself.

On top of that, you need to be realistic about what you expect yourself to get done in a day. So many times, people expect to get 34 hours’ worth of work done in a 24-hour day.

That is why these next few exercises are going to be CRITICAL for you to see what needs to be done and not let unrealistic time expectations become an issue.

Your Baseline Schedule

Now, let’s get into how to create your daily schedule that will be your baseline. Here is why I say baseline.

I don’t care how little outside influence you have on your life. You may not have kids and that’s totally fine.

But something will throw your plans off track every once in a while. Family decides they want to invite you at the last minute to something, and you don’t really have a good way to say no, your husband wants to do something that evening, or your chickens decide to get into trouble with the garden, and you have to replant everything. Like I said before. Unless you live on a mountain top, you will have interruptions.

When you have a “minimum viable plan”, you are able to look at it and pull yourself back on track after you have dealt with the issue.

You are also able to re-evaluate what is most important to get done that day if you have less time than you originally thought.

STEP 1: Create a Baseline Schedule Or “Template” For Your Weekly Schedule

You can do this on a piece of paper, but if you want bonus points. Try it on Google Calendar or your phone app if you do that. It’s much faster and easier to drag and drop things around and get a clear picture of what the minimum requirements are.

STEP 2: Write down your weekly “have to’s” that you have no control over.

These are things you can’t change the time of or the day they happen. Things like the church, volunteer opportunities, things your spouse might need your help with, or things that will affect your time when you plan your own work.

I would also say that this could include feeding time for your animals if you have a small farm. This could also be mealtime if your family likes to eat at a certain time every day.

STEP 3: Write down your regular maintenance tasks that happen on a daily or weekly basis.

These things can change as far as the time they happen, but they still happen every day.

• Shower
• Breakfest
• Dinner prep
• Sweeping
• Laundry

You get the idea. Add those things when they tend to happen each day even if the “routine time” can shift. The idea is to help you see what your week looks like.

STEP 4: Set a Specific Amount Of Time For Each Task In Your Stay At Home Wife Schedule

Whether it’s a 5-minute task or a 3 hr task, give yourself a set amount of time and when the time is up. Then you are done.

This will do 2 things. Help you see what you have time for each day. And also keep you from procrastinating on a task that should only take you a few minutes.

Oftentimes our mind will make a chore out to be longer than it really is because we don’t like it or its boaring.

Use The Time Anchors And Put It All Together

STEP 1: Take the “have tos” and put them into a Google Calendar or your planner. These are your time anchors, or the things you start building your day around.

STEP 2: Look at the gaps in the calendar and create a to-do list based on the time you have left in your day. Be REALISTIC about what you hope to get done.

Choose the top-most important tasks for the day. Get those done first. If you have time for more, GREAT! Go back and pull another couple of tasks and get those done.

Don’t Forget That Little Things Take Time

NOTICE: there are a few minutes in between each section. You will be a few minutes off. Thats ok. Plan for it.

You will notice there are gaps in the times shown above. I do this myself because little things like letting the dogs outside, quick toy pick up, or you need to use the bathroom add up. Sure they may only take 1.5 minutes. But doing those things in between household chores or prep time for lunch can add up to way more time than you realize.

This keeps you from falling behind even by a few minutes in your plan and causing yourself more stress.

Do What Serves Your Family Goals, Not What You THINK You Should Do

There are so many ideas of what a stay-at-home wife’s life looks like. But really, it doesn’t matter. What matters most is that you are creating the life that makes you and your family happy. 

If you don’t care about a “nice breakfast”, don’t waste your emotional energy feeling like you have to.

My husband doesn’t like to eat early in the day and often doesn’t eat until lunch if he is home. So I’m not going to feel like a terrible person because I’m not setting him at the table with his breakfast, coffee, and a paper.

You are not a bad mom for not having loads of crafts for your kids or not making your own bread every day.

Know your family and your life goals. Then build your life around that.

Your Days Are Not Going To Go As Planned

Your days are not always going to go as planned and that’s ok. Give yourself grace and pull yourself back on the path you set down.

Life is gonna life and that’s what makes it interesting. “I can not believe that came out of my mouth”… But it’s the truth.