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As a mom of two in her 30s, it feels like time is the most precious thing I have at the moment. And yet it sometimes feels the hardest to manage. 

Our 30s and 40s have been called “the rush hour of life,” which I can absolutely feel. But there are some tiny habits I’ve discovered that truly save me time and help me manage a bit better all the different areas of my life that I want to prioritise—whether that’s my family or growing my business.

I’m sharing them all in this article.

Keep reading below or watch the video:

1. Habit stacking

I came across this idea in the book Atomic Habits, which is one of my favourite books. It made me realise that if I take a habit I already do in my day and add on top of it another habit that I want to build, it’s going to be so much easier. Not only to remember to do it, but also to make it feel a bit more effortless. Habit stacking makes it easier to integrate new habits seamlessly into a routine.

For example, it’s become such a routine thing for me to put dishes away in the dishwasher while cooking dinner. Just putting the utensils or pots and pans in the dishwasher as soon as I’m done with them. And putting the spices away once I’ve finished adding them to the food. 

This way, when I’ve finished cooking the meal, it’s not a whole explosion in the kitchen to tidy up—it’s just a few things here and there. 

Then, in the morning, I will usually empty the dishwasher of all the clean dishes while I’m making my coffee or breakfast.

It might sound silly, but having an empty dishwasher to start the day really helps me set up for a good day. This way, I’ll have space to put dirty dishes in throughout the day. Plus, things just won’t pile up on the counters.

Plus, I’m already making my coffee every single morning anyway. I might just as well add another habit on top of that which just becomes routine. It becomes something I do without even thinking. It’s habit stacking.

2. Keep a clutter-free workspace

This is helpful regardless of where you work from. In my case, I generally work from either my dining table, sometimes from the sofa, or the kitchen table. It really depends on the day. But because I work from home, this is my workspace, so I try my best to keep it clutter-free. This helps not only my productivity but also reduces how often I get distracted by various tasks and piles of paperwork I need to tackle.

If my table is covered in random items and paperwork, and I have to shuffle them around just to get my work done, that’s not the right mindset for me to start working—and I learned this the hard way.

I’m also keeping all of my work things in one area. For example, all of my camera gear goes in one basket in our TV unit. This way, I have everything in one spot. So when I want to film, I know exactly where to find everything I need. It makes the whole process easier.

3. Prep the night before

I have to admit, I don’t always do this, but on the days that I do, it’s a game-changer.

Whether I do it depends on how tired I am. But when I take the time the night before to set out my kids’ clothes—just placing them so they’re ready in the morning—make sure all the shoes are by the door, their backpacks packed for school and nursery, and maybe even pick my outfit for the day, those little things I usually do in the morning, our mornings run so much smoother. I feel less stressed because I know we’re ahead of the game, everything’s ready and set to go, and I can be more patient with my kids while giving myself a bit more time to get ready.

It’s a much better place to start my day rather than rushing around trying to frantically get everything ready.

4. The Sunday review

This is something I try to do every single Sunday. It’s become such a habit that I just do it without even thinking. There are also a few tasks I do on a Sunday that help me set out for a productive week that runs smoothly.

First, I create our weekly meal plan. This usually means sitting down with my phone and choosing five different dinners to cook for the upcoming week. That’s my meal plan — as simple as that. I don’t plan more than five meals since sometimes we have leftovers, or on weekends, we might go out to eat as we’re pretty active on weekends, going out and doing things.

And then I will go into the Tesco app, which is what we use to get our groceries. I will add there all of the items I need for those meals into our food shop. And delivery arrives next day.

Also, on Sundays, I do a brief review of the week ahead. I check my calendar and everything coming up— both work-related and family-related. This way, I see what our schedule looks like, what videos I plan to film, what the kids have going on at school or nursery, and anything else I need to be aware of.

Having a quick look through my upcoming week is really helpful to prioritise the things I will do every day and make sure I don’t miss anything.

5. Create a second brain

I find it really helpful to create a second brain. I’ve heard this term many times, and it makes so much sense to me. I’m more of a type A person, and I have to confess, I have been known in the past to plan what I need to plan and to have lists of to-do lists. But what I realise is that I just need to simplify the process if I’m going to keep it up while staying sane.

This is where I find it super helpful to sit down and plan my weeks ahead using a productivity app for time blocking. This way, I can save hours every single week by gathering all of my productivity tools into one place, to easily keep track of everything at a glance.

For example, I connect my email to my productivity app. This way, I can turn any messages into tasks with just a click. Then I sync up any tasks I create elsewhere to make sure I time block them into my week. And I love creating checklists within each task—there’s nothing more satisfying than ticking those off. 

The app also lets me see stats on how my time is split between tasks. I find this really helpful to optimise my schedule for the future. If you’re looking for help with productivity tools like this, there are plenty of options to explore!

6. Remove app notifications

I did this a few years ago, and it has been a game-changer. As someone who is on social media a lot—with my YouTube channel and Instagram—I get many notifications and emails that can really pile on. So I have reduced my app notifications to a bare minimum, disabling everything unnecessary.

Instagram notifications? Disabled. Same for YouTube notifications and pretty much any social media. Even email notifications. I only keep the really important things—text messages and calls— but anything unnecessary is off.

I find notifications to be so distracting. For example, if I’m trying to film a video and I’m constantly getting notifications on my phone or watch or from all other devices around me, it can really pull my attention and distract me from what I’m trying to do. Then I’m less likely to film a coherent video and more likely to get on my phone and scroll for a few hours instead of finishing what I’m trying to do.

And I’ll be honest, at first that sounded extreme to me—like, how could I not have notifications? I’m going to be missing everything that’s going on. But it turns out that’s not the case. Everything is still there when I’m ready to check it. When I want to check my Instagram, I can easily go on and do that, without missing anything.

If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to give it a try. You might actually enjoy the freedom that turning notifications off gives you.

7. Outsource or delegate

This is something I’m trying to get better at. I’m definitely someone who tends to go and do everything myself. And there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. But sometimes it’s really helpful to outsource some tasks or delegate things that are not that important to do personally.

As a mom, there are lots of things that I still have to do myself. But I’ve managed to find ways to still delegate some tasks in my life. Especially things I don’t particularly enjoy doing, like grocery shopping. Going to Tesco to do my whole weekly food shop with the kids in tow is not my idea of fun. So we get a grocery delivery every single week.

We use the Tesco food shop delivery at the moment, and it’s great. It’s not expensive at all, and it saves me the two hours it would take me to go into the shop and get all the products.

For you, it might be cleaning tasks or whatever you don’t particularly enjoy doing. If you have the budget for it, then delegating things like this can be really helpful.

One thing I’m also trying to do is to outsource a few more tasks in my business. And currently, I’m looking to outsource some of my video editing. So, if you have ever edited a video like this one and would like to be a part of my team, consider applying here to be a video editor for my YouTube channel. 

8. Reduce toy clutter with rotations

I’m not saying using a toy rotation system is going to work, especially with lots of toys. I have done this in the past, and just the thought of swapping them around made me dizzy. In my experience, reducing the amount of toys first or reaching an amount that feels manageable is really important. 

Even after reaching this point, it can still feel hard for the kids to tidy. Or maybe it’s hard for you to manage or keep on top of it, and it just feels overwhelming to see them all over your floors and surfaces all day long. That’s when a toy rotation system comes in handy.

And what we do is we store away some of the toys that I notice my kids are not really keen on anymore, but I know they will very likely play with them again in the future. It might be toys that are still age-appropriate and that they would love if they got them again in a few months’ time. So I take them and put them in a storage bin in the shed or loft. Just somewhere that’s a bit out of reach, so they don’t have access to them every single day.

Then once in a while, I’ll take bring those back, and maybe store away other ones. This gives them a sense of getting new toys to play with that maybe they’ve forgotten about. Having fewer toys currently in use also makes tidying at the end of the day so much easier and less stressful for everyone involved.

9. Say no to unnecessary obligations. 

This has been really hard for me. I’m a people pleaser at my core, and I feel like I’ve always been. But I’m learning to prioritise my own needs more, as well as my family’s.

Over the past years, I’ve been getting a bit more ruthless with the things I say yes to. I absolutely say no—in a kind way, not a rude way—to anything I’m not interested in or don’t feel would benefit us as a family, especially if it might take a lot of my time and energy and leave me with less for my kids. It’s not easy—at least not for me. But saying no to things and obligations we don’t truly need has been a game-changer.

10. Batch similar tasks

This is something that’s really helpful to me. 

For example, sometimes I’ll film several videos in one day, or multiple Reels for my Instagram. It’s easier this way because everything is already set up, so it’s much quicker if I can get it done in one whole batch. Then I just edit them when I get a chance.

Batching small tasks can be really helpful because it creates a flow, and doing similar tasks all at once takes less time.

Let me know what time-saving habits you have because I would love to hear them and get some inspiration.