The Top 8 Planning Tools Every Mom Needs to Organize Her Life
If you’re a busy mom who wants to have a more organized life, you’re in the right place. Most of us can’t find enough resources to help us maintain a consistent and less stressful daily routine.
I know you don’t want another productivity hack because all the ones you tried are completely unrealistic. But I do think it’s important to find an effective way to help you organize your life as a mom.
Even before becoming a mom, I’ve explored and accumulated numerous resources on productivity, planning, and time management- as my bookshelf, computer folders, and previous library loans can testify! But when I decided to share this top-8 planning tools guide, I realized I had some work to do.
So, I reflected on the tools I’ve tried and weeded out all the recommendations that aren’t sustainable for busy moms like us. My goal is to share only the very best ones with you.
This list was the result, providing you with the 8 best planning tools available for keeping an organized life, even with rowdy toddlers and endless responsibilities. Many of these I still use today which is why I’m including them.
Tool #1: TickTick App
This app will help you maintain all of your to-dos, appointments, meetings, and habits in one place. It is the ultimate planning tool. What stands out – and why this is #1 on my list – is that it has everything in one. You can store your calendar, your to-do list, and your habit tracker in one place.
It drove me crazy having my habit tracker separate from my daily to-do’s. Not a problem with TickTick. This app automatically adds your habits to your to-do list for the day.
It’s my absolute favourite planning tool and something I can’t do without. I use it for everything from my personal tasks to my cleaning schedule and daily routines for my toddler.
It makes prioritization fast and easy, too. Automatically, it has categories so that you can organize your tasks based on urgency and importance. You'll never feel stuck on what you should do for the day when you have a huge to-do list.
When you have this in your toolbox the daily grind of motherhood and work life is almost too simple. You won’t find a better tool to organize your mom's life.
Tool #2: Getting Things Done by David Allen
If you’re looking for a more in-depth, comprehensive approach to planning and organizing, you need this book.
It will give you a deeper understanding of planning, not just add fluff knowledge. You won’t feel confused when you try to plan and store everything in your head anymore.
It will give you a deeper understanding of planning, not just add fluff knowledge. And you won’t experience “impostor syndrome” anymore because Getting Things Done will help you learn from the best.
There’s a reason David Allen has been around in the productivity field since the 1980s.
I regularly return to this one to motivate myself to declutter my to-do list and everything I plan on doing someday.
I don’t recommend this book if you’re in the thick of postpartum because like I said, it’s comprehensive. When you’re in a more energized headspace and can focus, his system is quite remarkable and simple once you get past the initial purging of files on your computer and items in your home.
I use the system from this book in my TickTick space!
Tool #3: Notion
Whatever stage of organization you’re in, this planning tool will keep everything in one place for you.
Notion is different from the other planning tools on this list because it’s more of a note-taking tool. You can use it for your to-do list if you like. To me it’s the best for writing, storing articles, and planning projects, all of which complement your to-do list.
The filtered views and sorting functions make it so easy to find the information you need, quickly!
I first used Notion for studying while I was in univeristy. Now, it helps me get clear on my goals and helps me with my creation process in the rare moments when I do get focus time.
I wouldn’t have the success I do now without it.
Read more posts on productivity, time management, and personal growth:
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Tool #4: The Clean Mama Method
If you’re just starting, this is one of my absolute favourite planning tools, hands-down.
Becky, or “Clean Mama,” gives you a great system for keeping your home clean and offers a simple and uncomplicated way to complete tedious cleaning tasks. You can learn her methods in a number of ways, including her podcast, book, blog, and her homekeeping society.
I included this as a planning resource because I think we can all agree that a messy home occupies a lot of headspace and without a clear plan for keeping your home clean, it’s easy for tasks to slip through the cracks.
I encourage you to check her out because she suggests tasks to do daily, weekly, and monthly, and suggests different monthly focus areas.
Pro tip: If you don’t have it in your budget to join her homekeeping society, I suggest buying her book because she also includes recipes so you can DIY your cleaning products. Then, include all the tasks that are relevant to you and add them to TickTick as reoccurring daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
Tool #5: Quick Actions to Handle Mom Guilt and Burnout
There’s so much that goes into planning and organizing and it can be overwhelming.
Back when I was starting to get back on my feet during postpartum, I had no idea how to keep up with everything. I started to feel a lot of guilt when I couldn’t keep up with my to-do list, grocery shopping, taking care of my son, and keeping the home clean.
What really helped me was developing a strategy so that I could let go of perfection and forgive myself when things don’t go as planned.
Today, I use it whenever I find myself being my own harsh critic and my energy is depleted.
It may not be some sort of productivity system like the other tools I mentioned, but what it DOES give you is exactly what you need to handle your guilt, prevent burnout, and shift your mindset so that when things don’t go as planned, you don’t beat yourself up and instead make adjustments comfortably.
For months I ignored the importance of this, thinking it was too simple and that everyone knows this stuff already. Plus who wants to hear from some random mom online? I’m glad I revisited it though - because I find it excels at being super simple and quick. Plus it’s based on my knowledge in psychology and is backed up with evidence.
You’re really going to love this if you have limited capacity to get things done and need a quick solution to help you feel better when your life isn’t always so organized.
This resource is absolutely free. You can print it out or write on it using an iPad if you have one.
If you want to use it too, download it here: https://www.cwserenashop.com/resiliency.
Tool #6: Calendar Blocking
This is more of a technique rather than a tool but it deserves it’s place here.
Calendar blocking is best if you already have some experience with productivity and planning.
It presupposes you have a basic understanding of how to keep track of your schedule, and you're ready to up your game. I find it useful when I need to organize my day in chunks, particularly when it isn’t a work day for me.
Here are three of my favourite ways to use this technique:
- When I need to work on big projects that will take a chunk of time
- To have a general idea of what I’d like to do at specific times of day
- To keep track of how long certain tasks take me
- Letting my partner know when I need quiet time (using a shared Google calendar)
What I love most about it is that it’s flexible. You can block off each hour or you can block off a general time of the day and can’t guarantee a specific time you can start working on something.
Right now, I like to think of my days off work as before my son's nap, during my son’s nap, after my son's nap, and at dinner time.
Tool #7: Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
This book is a bit of an outlier; I haven’t seen it anywhere else. It’s so brilliant and filled with valuable information that packs a punch.
It will help lay a solid foundation for deciding on what to prioritize daily. It will also keep you grounded as you continue to grow in your journey to keeping your life organized.
More than anything else, this is what gave me the 10,000-foot view of my priorities so that I could really take control of my day-to-day responsibilities.
It works really nicely with the other tools I mentioned and it’s unique because both authors give their perspectives on how they use some of the tactics in the book and highlight where they disagree with each other.
Don’t skip over this planning tool!
Tool #8: The DBT Tool “One-Mindfully”
I’ve saved my personal favourite for last. This is one you can use every day to keep your mind focused on the task at hand and stop yourself from depleting. It’s simple and guaranteed to help you enjoy the journey.
DBT stands for Dialectical Behavioural Therapy. No, I’m not necessarily saying you need therapy but I do know that therapy tactics can benefit anyone.
Since I’ve begun using One-Mindfully, I’ve been able to get more done in less time, with less stress. I think you will love it, too.
For example:
Every time I know I need to get my hands dirty and get a lot of work done, rather than switch back and forth between one task or another and feeling confused about where to start, I just pause and tell myself to handle one thing at a time. If I’m cleaning the bathroom, I’m not going to think about the fact that we need more groceries.
There is evidence that shows this technique improves mindfulness and focus. Thus, I truly believe it’s an excellent planning tool, though not traditional.
Conclusion
If you want to have a more organized life, you’ll want to use all 8 of these regularly. I do and credit most of my productivity success to them. But remember that the goal isn't to be as productive as possible, but rather to feel calm knowing your to-do list and other input aren't just being stored in your brain
Which one is your favourite? Have you ever used Notion? Are you going to try reading the Make Time book next? I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments below.
And don’t forget, you can even use my guide that will help streamline it all for you so that you spend less time and energy worrying about everything you need to get done.
**Click here to download the Quick Actions for Handling Mom Guilt and Burnout now so you can get started.**
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