I am a working mom with lots of kids who homeschools… I have to have a to-do list!

What is a To-Do List?

A to-do list is a compilation of tasks that you need to complete in a timely manner. They can happen every day, week, or month.

Why do I need a To-Do List?

• Reminder
• Regulates Stress
• Helps manage our family’s needs

Reminder

I don’t know about you but my brain is always moving a million miles a minute. Things are constantly being tossed my direction and those little tasks can easily become a fleeting thought.

My to-do list serves as a reminder of what I need to do and when I need to do it. It helps me not forget to pay bills, teach a certain subject, or even contact or pray for a friend on a certain day. It helps me to make sure that nothing will fall through the crack resulting in hurting or disappointing someone else or even myself.

Regulates Stress

As those thoughts are flying around in my head, my stress level is mounting as I am trying to figure out a way for me to get it all done. Writing it down or putting it on the to-do list on my phone helps me contain my anxiety. I may not be able to do the task right then and there, but I know I will be finding time somewhere else because it has hit my to-do list.

Helps manage our family’s needs

There are nine of us in this family and that means we have a lot of needs. In order to make sure everyone is being taken care of, I use a to-do list. I have reminders built in for things like drinking water or even reading a book. Whatever my family needs, I will add it to my list so I can make sure we get it all done,

Realistic Expectations

Whoa! This one is a biggie! I’m sure you guys don’t do this, but this is one of my biggest hurdles I face in life. I always think I can do more than I can actually do. This can be very discouraging and disheartening which can derail the to-do list train very quickly.

Learning what you can actually do is something that can only be learned with experience. As you are working your list then you will learn how much productivity you can be expected to accomplish without making yourself crazy or exhausted.

Priorities

I have so many things pulling me in different directions that some days I don’t know which end is up. My list helps me prioritize the things I have to get done versus the things I would like to get done. Sometimes things are moved between those categories based upon whether or not someone will die if I don’t accomplish that item.

For example, paying bills on time is something that is a priority since it could cost us a lot of money if we don’t do that. That would be something that HAS to be done. I like to mop my kitchen floor once a week. However, if I find myself swamped and having to choose between paying the bills or mopping the floor, paying the bills wins.

Time Management

Having a list keeps me focused and aware of what I need to get done. So when I am tempted to sit and play on my phone or look at social media, I can be aware of how much downtime I have before I need to be productive.

I can also look at the daily schedule and see where I am going to have time to do the things I need to do. If I am going to be mopping the floor, I need to make sure I do it when there is no one in the kitchen.

Who does the To-Do Lists?

Everyone in our house except for Georgie Lou, our three-year-old, has a to-do list. One of the ways we make sure everything is getting done is by giving everyone a list to work from every day. I have the master to-do list on my phone and then I delegate to everyone else accordingly.

Paper To-Do Lists vs. Digital To-Do Lists

Paper Lists

I love to write everything down. That’s just how I am built but it gets tricky when I don’t remember where I put all those pieces of paper. However, I like having our children’s to-do lists on paper so they can track what they are doing.

Morning To-Do Lists

Our children have a list of what they need to accomplish in their morning routine before they can move on with the rest of the day. The lists look like this:

• Eat Breakfast
• Chores
• Personal Hygiene
• Bible Devotion
• Excercise
• Drink Water

School Work

They have Monthly Assignment Checklists that they work from throughout the month. You can find out about how we do this and download them yourself in this POST. Basically, it is a school work checklist and it guides them through what needs to be done and when it’s due.

Digital To-Do Lists

Personally, I use a digital to-do list app on my phone. I like to keep things really simple so I don’t get confused. The app I use is called TickTick and I like it for a couple of reasons.

• Daily List
• Repeats
• Sends Optional Reminders
• Sharing is available
• Subcategories

Daily List

It offers a daily to-do list, showing me the things I must accomplish that day. When I mark the tasks as complete, it changes them to the color of gray and moves them to the bottom of my daily list. This way I can see what I have completed for the day.

Repeats

I can set a task to repeat itself whenever I want them too. For example, I have the task “Menu Planning” to repeat itself every Friday so that I don’t forget to place my Walmart Grocery order.

Sends Optional Reminders

I can set it up to send me a reminder of the task whenever I need it too. For example, I set up a reminder for early this morning to get an item to take to our homeschool co-op. When I need to remember to bring something or to do something, I make sure to set the reminder.

I don’t set the reminder for every single task because, well, that would be annoying and then I would want to delete the app. Where would I be then? I just set a reminder for things that are time-sensitive.

Sharing is available

Now, this part can be a good thing or a bad thing. You can share your to-do list with other people. My husband has access to mine but he hardly ever adds anything to it. I could see this being a good option for one of my children in the future if we wanted to turn their paper lists into digital ones.

Subcategories

I really like this particular feature. So many times I have a task but there is more than one step or thing involved in that task. With this app, I can make the task and then break the task down into smaller bites. For example, I have a cleaning checklist for all the things we need to touch up every week. It is broken down into the following subcategories:

• Bedrooms
• Basement
• Van
• Garage
• Bathrooms
• Pantry
• Yard
• Kitchen Floor

When do I compile my tasks for my To-Do List?

Well, the answer to that is simple, all the time! If something comes up, I add it to my to-do list for that day. I may not have the time to do it that particular day but I will figure out a time that I can get it done. Just adding it at the moment ensures that I will not forget out it.

What kinds of tasks are on my To-Do Lists?

I put everything on there! Things like:

• Chores
• Reminders to drink water or read
• School Subjects
• Pay Bills
• Work Tasks
• Reminder to contact someone
• Reminder to bring something
• Library Visits
• Write Thank You Notes
• Miscellaneous Household Projects

How do I manage my To-Do Lists?

I review my to-do list every single day. A lot of my recurring tasks are scheduled on Sundays because that is the day I do our family’s weekly schedule. You can read about that in this post called Schedule vs Routine.

When I am doing our schedule, I am scheduling those tasks on the days we intend to the jobs. I am prioritizing those items based upon the amount of time we have available. If there is anything that didn’t make the cut, it is moved to the following Sunday so it can be in the running for the next week’s schedule.

Tips for Making it Work

• Work it
• Mark it
• Move it

Work it

I work the to-do list and if there is anything that I can’t get done then I will move it to another day. I make it a habit to look over it in the morning just so I am aware of what is coming up for the day.

Mark it

There is just something about marking a task complete! I love it! Yes, I am one of those weirdos and I am ok with it. If I am done with it, I am marking it completed.

Move it

Life inevitably happens and things don’t ever go as planned. When this happens and I am not able to get it done, I move it to another day. If I am too tired to figure out where to place the task, I will just move it to the following day so I don’t lose track of it. The key is to move it so you don’t forget about it.

Another reason I prefer my digital to-do list is that I can move things around easily. It’s not so overwhelming to simply switch dates and have it seamlessly moved to the new day. I like to be flexible as much as possible and try to surround myself with tools that make that goal easy.

So if you find yourself on the fence about trying a to-do list, I recommend you give it a try. It definitely makes me more efficient and reduces my stress level significantly. Thanks for reading!