Top Tips for Planning Your Day Around the School Run

When you’ve got young children running around at home, life works on their schedule, not the other way around. So when the only free time you have is between school runs, it can feel pressurising to fit everything you want and need to get done in that time.

So how can you strategically plan your time around your child’s school run? 

Our first tip would be not to try and cram too many activities into such a small space of time. It’s tempting to do so, but it quickly becomes overwhelming, and actually achieves less than you’d think. Instead, choose just 1-2 tasks and prioritise them. If you find you have time left over after this, then you can consider doing something else on your to-do list but remember you should schedule in some “me-time” during this period as well!

It's also a good idea to get specific on your overarching goals. Sometimes we’re guilty of adding chores to a list, not because they’re particularly pressing, but because we crave that sense of accomplishment from being productive. Using a goal planner like the Daily Goal Setter, will help us get specific on what we want to achieve on both a daily basis and in life in general.

Using a planner can help you arrange your time more effectively so you can make the most of what you’ve got. Writing down your tasks, meetings, chores, and self-care activities helps focus you and gives you clarity on your work-life balance. Over time you’ll be able to see at a glance if you’re spreading yourself too thin, working towards your goals, or have a bit of extra time to spare. You’ll also get to know which events are truly important and which ones you don’t need to sweat as much.

And don’t forget, being productive doesn’t mean going 100 miles an hour non-stop. Self-care and “me-time” are just as important and just as valid uses of your time between school runs as work and chores are!