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As a working mom, it pays to be productive and I'd love to hear about your best productivity tips to manage home and work and stay sane in the process. Is it laying out clothes the night before or using multipurpose beauty products to shave seconds in the morning? What helps you be more productive as a working mother? Do share your comments either here or on our Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mommy-Brings-Home-The-Bacon-written-by-Nikki-Mark/162724077079673) and we'll be sure to feature them in an upcoming blog post on the Mommy Brings Home the Bacon website! Warmly,”

Asked by MommyBringsHometheBacon on 17th May 2011 | 5 replies

5 replies so far...

Thank you so much for sharing your awesome tips, Laurentexas and Jackie Lee.
@JackieLee-- Like the tip about doing the "money" activities first and then, the "busy" ones.
@laurentexas--Awesome tips.. How on earth do you bake muffins in the morning before heading to work? Please share!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by MommyBringsHometheBacon on 25th May 2011
My typical before bed routine is this: Load the dishwasher, put my son in the shower, get him dressed for bed, have him help me pick out his clothes for the next day and lay them out on his desk, read a chapter or two of his current book with him, tuck him into bed, put the dogs in their crates for the night, turn the dishwasher on, take my shower, lay my clothes, accessories, etc. out for the next day (even down to my bra and panties, and I make sure everything is ironed if need be), do my face cleansing, moisturizing, etc. routine, read a bit from my Bible, and it's lights out. In the morning, I dry my hair (if it's still damp from the night before), cleanse my face and moisturize it, apply my makeup, fix my hair (it's naturally straight so I just flat iron it where needed), put my clothes on, head to the kitchen and unload the dishwasher, pre-heat the oven and bake muffins for breakfast (this is what we eat together every morning), wake my son up, get his teeth brushed, clothes and shoes on, eat breakfast and head out the door to school / daycare then work. It ALWAYS helps me to have things laid out the night before, and my shower taken care of the night before because it cuts down on time in the mornings.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by laurantexas on 24th May 2011
My biggest tip for productivity is this: identify the things that actually make you money in your business and do those things FIRST, every day.

So many people spend so much time doing things that mostly just keep them "busy", while not doing the things that actually make them money. Identifying the "money making activities" is HUGE, and then actually doing them is what makes it happen.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jackie Lee on 23rd May 2011
Thanks so much for sharing LB.. Those are great tips and I'd love to share them on our blog. Please let me know if you'd like me to credit you with a link to your blog/site. Thanks again.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by MommyBringsHometheBacon on 22nd May 2011
I'm definately a multi-tasker. Here are my tips:
1) I always have mine and my daughter's outfits pressed, paired, and in order for the entire week, every week (even weekends, and this includes undergarments, shoes - which can be the most difficult to think about in the morning)
2) I use a tray for dinner-time. I put all the items (drinks, salad dressing, extra napkins, etc - anything that isn't already on the table) - on a large tray, and carry it from the kitchen to the table; then back again when the meal is over. It saves a ton of back-and-forth trips, and makes cleaning up so much easier.

3) Clothes pins: I love them. Can't get enough of these cheap due-hickies :) I use them to pin the bottoms of my daughter's outfits to her shirts, I write her name on them and use them as labels, I use them as chip-clips, clips to keep her socks together (so much easier to find a matching pair when their clipped), and also to hang her artwork from long ribbons I have hanging in her room. L-O-V-E clothes pins. How did I come upon these genious little items? I got a ton, I mean a ton, for my baby shower and they just ended up coming in so handy. I even printed the each letter of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and hung them from a clothesline - super cute and uber-cheap!

4) Following a routine; I do this primarly because it makes for a happier baby. My daughter recognizes the routine, and it works for us - bedtime, dinner, etc. is always near-about the same time. But as she grows and time-frames shift I write out a new schedule and make sure my husband is on-board.

5) Planning weekly meals and keeping a running grocerie list; Honestly, I just can't think by the time I get home from work, let alone think on the weekends about what we need. So, we use strip-size post-it's and have accumilated a list of our favorite dinners, and arrange these for each week (usually on the weekend, we plan the next week). Similarly, our grocerie list is based on this, and it makes grocerie planning soooo much easier. We keep a magnetic list on the fridge and add to it when we're out of something, or when we think of something we need. This is nice, too, if I'm at work and my husband is off work and running to the store - I can just ask him to "grab the list."

Those are the biggies I can think of for now. Can't wait to read everyone else's tips!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by LB on 21st May 2011