7 Ways to be More Productive When You Have Time to Yourself

You know when you have a few hours away from your kids, and it seems like you have a hundred things to do? And there are so many things to do that you end up getting NOTHING done? Yeah.

Here are 7 ways to be more productive when you get a few hours to yourself.

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1. Prioritize What You Want to Accomplish

You’re going to have some tasks that are more important than others so it’s best to get those done first.

When my husband is cleaning up before we have people over, he does the most random things. Good job, Babe. The silverware drawer is organized, but there’s a pile of dishes in the sink.

So if you’re out of clean underwear, do laundry first. Bills due tomorrow? Pay them first. Anything that is time sensitive needs to be done first.

The exception to this rule is you may think that you need to do the dishes in the sink or pick up the toys in the living room first. But you actually don’t. Those are day to day things that you need to do all the time.

These precious hours alone or without a toddler asking for juice can be used to do things you can’t do every day. So leave the dishes in the sink for now, and go clean out the car or purge a bunch of old clothes from your kid’s closet.

Also, cleaning and organizing don’t have to be higher priorities than taking time to relax. If you want to sit down and catch up on This is Us, Suits, or Game of Thrones, by all means. That’s a priority.

2. Can’t Prioritize? Pick a Task at Random

Maybe you don’t have any priorities. You just have a big list of things you want to clean and things you want to do for fun.

This is where I get into trouble. I had a list of 10 things to do in the five hours that my daughter was going to be at my mom’s house today. But I was so worried about what to do that I didn’t do anything for the first hour.

Here’s what you do: go to Wheel Decide and put everything in the boxes.

Then just do what it says. Once you finish, spin it again. Repeat until your your kid comes back or it’s time to go get them.

3. Turn off the TV

If you want to get something done, you can’t have the TV on. I fall into this trap all the time. I always think “I’ll just put The Office on in the background.”

No.

Even if it’s on in the background, it’s still easy to get sucked into it. Even if you’ve seen Friends 400 times, you’ll still lose your focus on what you’re doing to recite all of the quotes. (Trust me, I know. Could I BE any less productive?)

You should only have the TV on if you plan to sit down and pay attention to it. If “watch Suits” is on your to-do list, then Harvey and Donna get your full attention. (Seriously, Suits is awesome.)

And you can keep your TV on if you’re using it to play music. I use my FireStick to play my Spotify playlist on my tv.

4. Listen to Music, an Audiobook, or a Podcast

Ok I know I said you need to focus on what you’re doing and TV is distracting. But listening is less distracting than watching.

I focus better when I have something to listen to. Especially when I’m cleaning.

You can either play music from speakers or your TV (like with a FireStick) or you can use headphones. I have bluetooth headphones so I don’t have to worry about cords getting in the way or carrying my phone around.

For audiobooks, I use Audible. You can get two free audiobooks right now.

Oh and I have lots of podcast recommendations for moms right here.

5. Focus on One Thing or Area

Do you do that thing where you just don’t know where to start and end up half-assing everything all at once? I do.

I’m trying to channel my inner Ron Swanson and whole-ass one thing at a time.

It’s also very easy to get distracted by other areas when you’re organizing. If I pick up a bunch of toys from the living room, I’ll take them back to Toot’s room and then start putting away her laundry. Then I’ll find one of my socks in her laundry and put it back in my room. And before I know it I’ll have 12 random things only partially done.

And that’s how you spend 3 hours cleaning to feel like you got nothing done.

When you go to clean or organize one room or area, bring two boxes or bags with you. One for trash and one for stuff that goes in another room. Once you’re finished cleaning that room, you can take all of the stuff from the go-back box to where they go.

6. Time Block

Time blocking is really helpful for when you’re planning to add some relaxation time into your time away from kids.

It’s easy to spend way too much time relaxing and not enough time getting stuff done. I accidentally spent one day entirely watching Suits. (I LIKE SUITS, OKAY?)

Set a reasonable limit so you know you have time to get stuff done. On my days without Toot, I limit myself to an hour to watch TV.

On the flip side, you might be one of those moms who does ALL THE THINGS and forgets to leave time to sit and read a book. Block off an hour to just sit and read or do whatever you want.

7. Stay Off of Social Media

Do you know how much time you spend on Facebook or Instagram in a day? If you have an iPhone you can go to settings and then into screen time and it will tell you!

In the last 7 days, I’ve spent 17 hours on social media. That’s a part-time job. (Okay, so social media is literally part of my job, but most of that time I spend just reading comments on Scary Mommy posts and watching celebrity Instagram Stories.)

Social media is a HUGE time thief. If you want to get anything done, you need to stay off of it.

Set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes if you want to take a break and scroll Instagram. That way you won’t accidentally spend an hour going down a rabbit hole.

How Do You Keep from Wasting Your Time Away From Your Kids?

Let me know in the comments below how you stay productive during your alone time.

I panic every time I have alone time because I have so much to do. I’ve been getting better about getting everything done and feeling more accomplished by the time I go pick up my daughter.

If you have any more productivity suggestions I’d love to hear them!

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