Crayons & Careers

You know that constant background hum in your brain?

The part of your brain where you are running through your kid’s snack inventory, tomorrow’s work meeting, that birthday party RSVP you forgot to send, and the laundry, did I put that load in the dryer or has it been sitting there for two days?

That’s the mental load. And for most working moms, it’s heavy, invisible, overwhelming, and never-ending and it feels like a light that is left on all day and night that you can’t turn off!

But here’s the good news: there are ways you can lightenthe mental load!
Just like you group similar tasks at work to stay focused, you can apply batching and systems at home to free up headspace, reduce decision fatigue, and create more breathing room in your day.

What Is the Mental Load, Really?

The mental load refers to the invisible labor of keeping life going, its planning, remembering, organizing, pivoting and anticipating.

• Knowing what’s for dinner every night
• Keeping track of doctor appointments
• Remembering to buy tissues (again)
• Anticipating when your child will outgrow shoes

Even if you’re not physically doing all the tasks, the responsibility of remembering and managing them is still there. Especially as a parent.

Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work (Even If You Think It Does)

Despite what hustle culture tells us, the brain isn’t wired to handle multiple cognitive tasks at once.

When you switch between writing a report, replying to texts, and checking your inbox, your brain burns through energy just shifting gears. This is called context switching, and it’s a major focus killer.

In fact, research shows it can take up to 25 minutes to regain focus after switching tasks. Raise your hand if you’ve felt this. In my past it summarized me perfectly and was why I could never wrap my head around well, how can people actually implement a shorter work day and still get their deliverables done!

In fact, the constant checking of emails or going to meetings and jumping back and forth felt productive. I mean I was giving my time to everyone and always available so I’m a huge asset to the company and a hard worker, right?

The reality was that the constant multi-tasking and jumping was burning me out. Yes, I gained a reputation for always being available but at what cost. My sanity for one and I had become a workaholic. Yet, it wasn’t providing me with the life I really wanted. The reality was, the multitasking was slowing me down and sending me to a place of overwhelm and burnout faster.

Why Batching Works (at Work and at Home)

In business, batching is the practice of grouping similar tasks together to increase focus and efficiency. For example, instead of switching between writing emails and editing graphics all day, you block time to do all of one task at once. It’s the assembly line that catapulted productivity in the workforce.

At home, batching the mental load means:

• Consolidating decisions
• Creating Repeatable Systems
• Automating or delegating where possible

It takes that running to-do list out of your head and into a routine and a habit. All of these mean less mental load and running to do lists in your head. More space to breathe.

Let’s break down how we can make batching work at home.

5 Ways to Batch the Mental Load at Home

1. Meal Planning Saturday’s

Stop asking, “What’s for dinner?” every night at 5pm.
Pick one day (like Saturday or Sunday) to:

• Choose meals for the week
• Order groceries
• Prep snacks or ingredients if possible
  Tip: create a rotating 2–3 week menu so you’re not starting from scratch every week. List your favorite meals and keep 2-3 prepped and ready in your freezer as well.

2. Weekly Family Syncs

Hold a Sunday Reset, a short 15–20-minute meeting with your partner or kids every weekend to:

• Review schedules
• Note any upcoming events or needs
• Assign household tasks
  This prevents surprises and distributes the invisible planning work.

Everyone is aligned for the week and on the same page. See our blog post and read how!

3. Sunday Prep Day

Spend thirty minutes one day a week preparing for the week ahead. I prefer to incorporate this into my Sunday reset.

• Gather clothes or sports gear for the week and place it at the ready in the mudroom or garage.
• Sign and collect permission slips for the week ahead
• Pull any important paperwork you need for the week

4. Use a Shared Digital Calendar + Home Command Center

As part of your weekly planning and your Sunday Reset. Put everything in one place, appointments, due dates, after-school activities. We use a shared calendar as well as our mudroom to place items at the ready for the day or week ahead.

Tools like Google Calendar, apple family calendar, Cozi, or a physical command board help the whole family share the mental load. Or a skylight calendar that can hang in your command center and also syncs to your phones.

5. Theme Your Days

If your week feels chaotic, create theme days to group recurring responsibilities. List out your weekly responsibilities and look for categories and then assign to a day or a block. For example:

• Mondays = Admin + Meal Plan
• Tuesdays = Errands
• Wednesdays = Laundry + Cleaning
• Thursday = Kids Activity night + crockpot dinner
• Fridays = Fun Night or Takeout
  This simplifies decision-making and keeps things flowing with less effort.

You can see easily that every Thursday is a crockpot meal that can be built into your meal plan and Friday night is take out so no need to plan that! Now just build in meals for Monday – Wednesday.

Bonus Tip: Automate + Delegate Without Guilt

• Automate bills, recurring purchases, or grocery orders
• Delegate tasks to partners, kids, or outsource when possible
• Let go of the idea that you have to “remember everything” to be a good mom

You’re a leader in your home and leaders build systems.
This isn’t about perfection, it’s about lessening the mental load.

🌟 Final Thoughts

You don’t need to carry everything in your brain or do everything by yourself.
Batching the mental load gives you back what matters most: presence, clarity, and room to breathe.

You’ve learned to build systems in your business. Now let’s bring that same magic into your home.

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💡 Want a Free Mental Load Batching Checklist?

Grab the free printable and start designing your weekly home flow today.

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