As every busy mother knows, there’s no shortage of tasks to be done when it comes to caring for your family and your home. From preparing meals to driving kids to school and after school activities to homework, work and cleaning, there’s little time left for anything else.

However, with a bit of preparation and outside-of-the-box thinking, you can create a lifestyle, a job and a schedule that fits your needs. Read on to learn more.

Smooth Mornings Start with Preparation
There’s nothing worse than a chaos-filled house on busy weekday mornings. The stress that can ensue from scrambling around, the tears and the tempers can affect everyone in your home and even make your kids late for school.
To avoid this, try keeping a container at your front door or in your coat closet where your kids can keep their outerwear together (nothing like a missing mitten or hat to make you late!). Further, ask your children to keep their school bags by the door once homework is completed so that nothing is forgotten.

Also, preparing lunches after dinner saves time in the morning, especially in the case of a missed alarm. You may even consider making breakfast the night before so that it can simply be reheated.

Additionally, figure out what everyone is going to wear the night before and be sure that anything that needs it is ironed. And for easy dinner ideas, check out these simple crockpot recipes that can cook all day and be ready when you get home.

Seek Flexible Opportunities
Many moms find that working outside of the home isn’t for them, whether it’s because they need and want to be available for their kids’ school functions, they can’t afford the high price of daycare today or the inflexibility of a traditional 8-5 job. However, there are plenty of ways to generate income without committing to a 40-hour-per-week that will allow for the flexibility you need.

For example, TaskRabbit.com is a place that offers paying jobs that range from data entry to making deliveries and running errands and everything in between. This allows you to take on only what you can handle when it works for your schedule. Likewise, Upwork.com is a great freelancing site to find writing, accounting, design and other jobs you can do from the convenience of your home.

Further, an opportunity to “own” your own business as an Amway Independent Business Owner or other home-based businesses offers a plethora of opportunity and reward while being flexible at the same time. If you are a natural leader and enjoy being rewarded for your efforts, this could be the perfect fit for you to sell high-quality products ranging from health to beauty and home care.

All of these opportunities can help you maximize your time while still earning an income. Working from home is becoming more and more popular in today’s entrepreneurial and tech-forward world and allows you to save time on a typical daily commute to work as well as provides the benefit of setting your own schedule.

Make Time for Yourself
Above all, don’t forget to take some time for yourself each day, whether it’s a short walk around the neighborhood, a yoga class, reading a book or spending time on a hobby you enjoy. After all, if you don’t maintain your own health and well-being, you won’t be able to help anyone else.