11 of the Most Important Stay at Home Mom Duties

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If you are new to being a stay at home mom, you may be wondering what you are supposed to do. Unlike a job with an employer, you don’t get a handbook with a list of stay at home mom duties.

There is no dress code, time clock, or job description. So how do you know what your responsibilities are?

Well, I’ve been a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, and I’ve learned a LOT along the way. The things I’ve learned came from other stay at home moms and from personal experience.

The best way to figure out your personal duties is to learn from others and decide what is most important to you and your family.

Most stay at home moms have husband’s who work outside the home, and the mom takes care of the household. I know this is not the case with all families, and I’m not here to argue one way versus another.

I’m here to specifically speak to stay at home moms who’s main goal is to take care of their homes and families well but may feel a little lost.

Let’s jump into a helpful list of responsibilities for stay at home moms that you can refer to.

Stay at Home Mom Duties

Meals

Your family has to eat, and unless your man loves to be in the kitchen, most of that responsibility will fall on you. That doesn’t mean it ALL falls on you. Instead you can certainly recruit help with the various aspects of making sure your family is fed. Here are some things you’ll need to make sure happen.

1. Meal Planning

Plan for at least a week’s worth of meals. It’s help to have a master list of ideas to look at as you plan. If you want to include the rest of your family in this step, that will take some of the pressure off of you.

2. Grocery Shopping

Once you have a meal plan, you’ll need to make a list of all the foods you need for the week’s meals. Always check your current pantry and freezer inventory so you don’t make unnecessary purchases.

You can make grocery shopping easier by using grocery pickup or delivery. Or you and your spouse may decide that he will do the shopping. It’s really up to you.

3. Meal Preparation

Once the groceries are home, you’ll be able to make the meals. I like to prep as much as possible earlier in the day, so that there is less to do at crunch time before dinner.

If you are not a good cook, work on getting better at only a few meals at first. Once you have learned how to make those well, improve other recipes.

You don’t have to make brand new recipes every night or make dinner complicated. As a mom you have a lot to do, so keeping dinner simple is key!

4. Daily Cleaning

Most likely, you’ll be the one cleaning the home. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should be the only one cleaning. Include your kids and spouse as much as possible. As soon as your children are able to walk, start teaching them how to take care of their own belongings.

Children should learn how to:

• put away toys
• put laundry in hamper
• clear dishes from the table
• put away shoes
• hang up jackets and bags

Once your children are older they can take on other age appropriate chores.

Here are some of the main cleaning tasks you’ll want to create systems for.

5. Laundry

I’ve found that doing 1-2 loads of laundry a day is best for our family of 4. That way it never really piles up into an uncontrollable amount of laundry. The amount you do each day will depend on your family size.

6. Dishes

Just like laundry, I like to keep up with the dishes every day. After each meal, I always put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and, if needed, I hand wash the rest of the dishes. It doesn’t take long, but I’m left with a clean kitchen and I have dishes ready for the next meal.

Again, this may be a responsibility you and your spouse or kids share.

7. Weekly and Monthly Cleaning

In addition to the daily laundry and dishes, you’ll want to create a system for your weekly and monthly cleaning tasks. My favorite way to do this is to refer to a master list of cleaning tasks and add them to my planner each week.

8. Errands

There is always errands to be run! Sometimes we do these on the weekends as a family, but as a stay at home mom, you can get these things done during the week and save time on the weekends for fun family activities.

Besides, it’s a lot easier to run errands in the mornings during the weekdays when most people are at work or school. I love that flexibility!

9. Finances

Every family is different, but in our home, I’m in charge of keeping track of the finances. Of course, my husband is still aware of our finances and we make money decisions together.

But it helps to have one person in charge of paying the bills and keeping up with the budget.

10. Teaching and Loving Your Children

You can’t forget the most important reason you are a stay at home mom! Your people!

Yes, you want to keep the house clean and provide meals for your family, but all of that is a waste if you aren’t investing in the hearts and minds of your little ones and showing them they are loved and cared for.

Make sure you intentionally find ways to be present each day with your children. There are so many things you can do at home with your kids, but here is a simple list of ideas.

• read books
• play a game
• take a walk together
• eat a meal together without screens
• go outside
• play hide and seek

11. Homeschooling

As my kids have gotten older, I’ve transitioned into not only being a stay at home mom, but also a homeschooling mom. I was a teacher before staying home, so that gave me some experience.

However, being able to teach my children has been one of the hardest, yet rewarding tasks as a stay at home mom! You can watch some of my homeschooling videos over on Youtube if that interests you.

So there you have it! The top 5-6 duties of stay at home moms. Your list may be slightly different depending on your family circumstances, but these are a great place to start.

If you find it difficult to get all of these tasks done each day, I recommend following a flexible daily schedule. This will allow you to plan out your days and get the most important tasks done and out of the way.

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