Ways to Keep You Productive at Home

Ally Garofalo
4 min readJul 11, 2022

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By following these simple rules, you’ll stay on top of home tasks and maintain productivity.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska via Pexels

With a full-time job, a blog on the side, and everything in between, it can easy to slip out of routine and make your home feel unkempt.

For many, this can put a wrench into the overall flow of order and disrupt productivity in every form.

I never want you to feel like you’ve got a laundry list (no pun intended) of chores to do each day again!

Plan Accordingly

I like to make every day manageable by planning out specific chores or to-do items for each day of the week. Planning is absolutely paramount in maintaining order within your home.

For example, here’s what my cleaning schedule looks like.

  • Dusting every Monday and Thursday
  • Vacuuming every other day
  • Clean Washrooms every Tuesday
  • Wash the floors every Saturday
  • Do loads of laundry every Wednesday and Sunday

And not to forget, you’ve got items that need to be looked after every day as well:

  • Make your bed (yes, every day, preferably in the morning).
  • Sweep the floors on the main level
  • Wipe down surfaces such as countertops, media units, and desks
  • Declutter areas that accumulate “stuff” and ensure everything has its own home.

Monthly focuses such as projects around the house are easily digestible and more obtainable when you allot a few weeks and a deadline in place rather than cramming it into a day or a weekend to accomplish. Set a new goal at the beginning of each month and work towards it as a team with your partner.

Optimize this system to work with your own schedule

Now that we’ve established our to-dos, you can customize this schedule and tweak it to work best for you. No one is saying that you need to wash your clothes twice a week, especially if you don’t have the laundry to warrant it. Maintaining and establishing a schedule to work with your lifestyle will set the tone and you’ll gain clarity and peace of mind easily by doing so.

Execute the schedule by day

I get it, even though you have a plan in place, it can be difficult to find the time to follow through with it. With other commitments, and just with everything else, it takes dedication and time management to fit these daily and monthly tasks into your busy schedule.

Getting my to-do list done works easily by following the A, B, and C list methods:

An “A” list comprises tasks that must be completed before the day’s end, such as your daily tasks.

Your “B” lists are not as pertinent, but still require attention and should be complete by the end of the week. Even though you have set tasks to do each day, you may be flexible in adjusting and moving these tasks around to accommodate for busier days, as long as they are not neglected.

Your “C” list will be full of items you should strive towards by the end of the month, such as that home project and anything that associates with it.

Manage daily to avoid a pile-up

Think you know how long it takes to complete a task or project? Time yourself next time and determine how long you will need the next time you have to approach it.

By time blocking tasks, it will allow you to stay focused and move on to other items on your to-do list quicker. Managing your to-do lists in a time-block fashion will free up more time to allow you to do or enjoy other things around your home.

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Also — please highly consider following Millennial Mama, a publication documenting my journey into new motherhood!

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