5 productivity hacks for busy mums

Are you a busy mum struggling to fit it all in?

Do you get up earlier than your family, go to bed later than your family and still not complete your to-do list?

Well my friends, you're not alone.

Until I adopted these five productivity hacks for busy mums, I too was finding it difficult to keep up with the demands of my hectic life. Here's how to get things back under control and claim some time for yourself.

1. stop folding the clothes. 
You know and I know that they'll never stay folded. The first time someone needs something from the bottom of their drawer, all your neatly folded t-shirts and shorts will be all over the floor. Save time by turning shorts inside out and leaving them on their bedroom floors. They'll only wear them anyway.

2. allow your four year old to get her own glasses of water.
Give her an old towel to clean up her spills. This now qualifies as mopping the house. Use the time you'd have spent mopping to take up competitive sports like breastfeeding and make costumes for book week.

3. leave library bags in the car.
Kids are always losing library books and have you seen the inflated "replacement costs" that schools assign their dog-eared books? Save the hassle (and the coin) and leave their library bags in the car. If you're lucky they'll trip over them on a Tuesday morning going to school. Voila, they've remembered borrowing day!

4. don't pack his lunchbox.
Save time by throwing your kids' lunch directly into the bottom of their school bags. His lunch will wind up there anyway. Bonus: the ethylene from his week-old brown bananas will help ripen this morning's fruit snack.

5. cancel plans before you make them.
Something is going to come up; like death, taxes and sports stars disgracing themselves, this is one of life's certainties. Your kids will injure themselves or pick up a flesh-eating bacteria at the last moment. The school will call an impromptu Parents and Friends Association meeting. You will be required to referee a netball carnival/hockey game/chess tournament. Save time by cancelling plans with girlfriends before you make them. Resign yourself to the fact you won't see your mates until sometime in 2026, use the time you'd have spent finding a babysitter then cancelling last minute to bake a great gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free dish to take to the kindergarten disco.

6. start drinking iced coffee.
Every morning you make the coffee. You get called away to find a pair of shorts (on the floor, see point 1) or to fetch a glass of water (see point 2). You put your coffee down, then forget it. By the time you find it its gone cold. Save time and energy by drinking iced coffee. Use the money you save on your power bill to buy the entire box of fundraising chocolates that came from scouts.

are you a busy mum? share your productivity hacks in the comments!