The 3 Mistakes I Made That Caused Me Stress in My SAHM Routine

For the first four years of being a stay-at-home mom, I never had a written-out routine.

I just... winged it. Day by day. Maybe I’d think the night before about whether we’d go to the park or not, but mostly? Things just happened, however they happened.

And honestly, when you only have two kids under two, you can kind of get away with that.

But then I got pregnant with my third. My oldest was three and about to start “homeschool preschool.” And suddenly, winging it wasn’t cutting it anymore. The house was a mess. I was exhausted. I couldn’t keep up with the cleaning.

So I did what most moms do: I looked for help.

Now, 11 years as a stay-at-home mom and 6 kids later, I understand how important a routine is to keeping our household running.

But here’s the thing, when I first started building routines, I made three major mistakes that caused me even more stress than having no routine at all.

I’m sharing these with you today because I don’t want you to go through the same overwhelm I did. These mistakes are exactly why I created the 5-Day Routine Challenge. So you can skip the frustration and build a routine that actually works from the start.

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Mistake #1: I Copied Another Mom’s Routine

When I finally decided to create a routine, I did what felt natural: I got on YouTube and watched other stay-at-home moms.

I found one mom in particular who had everything laid out. She was so organized. Her life looked perfect. Her routine was detailed, pretty, and functional.

So I thought, “Perfect! I’ll just do exactly what she does.”

And I failed within a week.

When her perfect routine became my nightmare

Her routine had her waking up at 5 am, before her kids, to clean and get a head start on breakfast.

Turns out, waking up at 5am before my kids was impossible for me. When I did manage to drag myself out of bed, they’d wake up early too. So now we were all exhausted, me because I’d barely slept, them because they didn’t get the full rest they needed.

I wasn’t getting ahead. I was just tired and frustrated.

What I missed about her “perfect” life

Here’s what I didn’t understand at the time: Her life wasn’t my life.

The number of kids you have matters. Their ages matter. Whether your spouse is home in the mornings or already at work, it all matters.

I was trying to force a routine designed for someone else’s family onto mine. And it just didn’t fit.

The truth that changed everything

You can absolutely get inspiration from other moms. In fact, I encourage it! Seeing what works for others can spark ideas.

But you can’t just copy-paste someone else’s routine and expect it to work for you.

Your routine needs to be built around your family’s reality, not someone else’s highlight reel.

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Mistake #2: I Made an Hourly Schedule

Okay, so after I realized copying someone else wasn’t working, I decided to create my own routine from scratch.

Great idea, right?

Except I made it an hourly schedule.

7am: Wake up
8am: Breakfast
9am: Clean kitchen
10am: Educational activity with kids
11am: Snack time

And so on.

I was so proud of it. It looked organized, like I had my life together.

But it made me even more stressed than before.

I felt like a failure every single day

When you have babies and toddlers, every day is unpredictable. Some mornings your baby wakes up at 6am. Other mornings it’s 8am. Some days your toddler is cooperative. Other days, your toddler is melting down over the wrong color cup.

I found myself constantly racing against the clock, trying to hit each time marker. And when we inevitably fell behind (which was every single day), I felt like a failure.

I was always impatient. And began snapping at my kids to hurry up.

The flaw in my perfect plan

I was trying to control something that couldn’t be controlled. Young kids don’t care about your schedule. They don’t understand time. They’re just trying to be kids.

And the more I tried to force them into rigid time slots, the more we all suffered.

What actually works with young kids

Hourly schedules create stress, not structure.

What I needed and what eventually changed everything was a block schedule instead.

Instead of “9am: Clean kitchen,” it became “Morning block (7am-10am): Breakfast, get dressed, tidy up.”

This gave me the structure I needed without the pressure of hitting exact times. If breakfast ran long, that was okay. If we got dressed quickly, great. We still had the same goals, but with breathing room.

Flexibility within structure that’s what actually works with young kids.

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Mistake #3: I Was Too Rigid (And Didn’t Plan for Real Life)

Even after I switched to a block schedule, I still struggled. Because I made another mistake: I was too rigid.

I crammed too many tasks into each block. I didn’t account for interruptions. And I definitely didn’t plan for the reality that some days just wouldn’t go according to plan.

3 Days of planning, gone in 1 Week

A few weeks ago, I spent three days creating a brand-new routine. I was so proud of it. It was organized, realistic, and customized for our family.

Within 3 days, it completely fell apart.

Not because I did anything wrong. Not because I wasn’t following it.

But everyone in the house got sick.

One by one, each of my six kids came down with something. Then my husband got really sick. Then I started feeling symptoms too.

And suddenly? The routine didn’t matter. None of it mattered.

What I forgot to plan for

I had built a routine for perfect conditions. I hadn’t accounted for sickness, bad days, unexpected appointments, or just plain exhaustion.

In my earlier stay-at-home mom years, I operated with an “all or nothing” mindset. This situation would have made me feel like the whole routine was pointless.

What a good routine actually looks like

Life happens. Kids get sick. Plans change. Some days are just hard.

And that’s not a failure. That’s just reality.

The goal isn’t to create a routine you can follow perfectly every single day. The goal is to have a flexible framework that guides your day but doesn’t control you.

Some days you’ll nail it. Other days, you’ll barely hit the basics. Both are okay.

A good routine bends without breaking.

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Why I Created the 5-Day Routine Challenge

After making all these mistakes, I finally figured out what actually works.

And I don’t want you to waste years like I did, spinning your wheels and feeling more stressed.

That’s why I created the 5-Day Routine Challenge.

It’s designed to help you avoid the mistakes I made and build a routine that actually fits your life from the start.

Here’s what makes it different:

✅ It’s customized to your family’s reality
✅ Structure without stress
✅ Accounts for real life
✅ Takes just 5 minutes a day to complete the daily challenges

Building a routine that works takes trial and error. But by learning from my mistakes, you will build something that works right from the start.

By the end of the week, you’ll have a routine that actually helps instead of adding more stress.

Ready to build a routine that works for YOUR life? Learn about it in this post below!