Previously on mompreneurship:

• PART 1: OUTSOURCING
• PART 2: POST-PRODUCTION
• PART 3: EMAIL FOLDER ORGANIZATION

As a business owner and mom, time is my most valuable asset. Since it never seems like I have too much, I like to categorize my to-do list into the most time-saving methods possible to help wisely utilize the time I have. To help do this, I’ve created a monthly task list. These are tasks that need to be done every month, but not on a daily, or even weekly, basis.

For example, I send out anniversary cards to all of my clients. On the first of every month, I write cards to all of the anniversaries for that month, address the envelopes, stamp them, and put a sticky note on the front for when I need to mail it out. (I try to send it out about a week before the anniversary date.)

The items on my big monthly list aren’t difficult to do and they don’t take a lot of time when done in groups, as opposed to doing them all individually throughout the month.

I call this the “stuffing envelopes” method. It would take far longer to individually print, fold, “stuff”, seal, and stamp 20 letters than it would if you printed all of them, folded all of them, stuffed all of them, etc. You see where I’m going with this.

Here are some of the things I have on my monthly list are:

• Package and mail out bridal gifts for brides in 2 months (so in August, I mail out to October brides)
• Backup and download website and blog
• Prep all anniversary cards for the month
• Update all sales on my sales tax spreadsheet (to make quarterly tax payments easier to manage)
• Send out reminder emails for wedding questionnaires to be completed (two months in advance as well so, again, October brides just got their reminder a few days ago)

I have these all set as reminders on my calendar for the 1st of every month. If the 1st is on the weekend, I either do it the Friday before or wait until Monday.

So how do you figure out your monthly task list?

Notice the tasks that you seem to be repeating a lot throughout the month, especially tasks that could be packaged or prepared ahead of time. (Side bar: I apply this same theory to emails too. If I know I’m sending out a reminder or information, I’ll draft the email in advance and then send it when it’s time.) Are these repetitive tasks things you could do prior to their due date? Would the “stuffing envelope” method save time?

Ultimately, there are day-to-day tasks that can’t be done ahead of time. So find the ones that can and get those done at one time and then enjoy that little bit of freedom for the rest of the month!