I started with zero idea what I was doing. Now I can’t imagine a day without it.

When I first heard people talking about AI, I assumed it wasn’t for me. It sounded technical, complicated, like something that belonged in a Silicon Valley office rather than a school-run morning with a to-do list as long as my arm.

I was wrong.

I started experimenting — cautiously, clumsily — and somewhere along the way it became part of how I work every single day. Not in a sci-fi way. In a completely ordinary, genuinely useful way.

Here are the five things I actually use it for.

1. Planning My Week

Sunday evenings used to be the worst. That low-level anxiety of knowing Monday was coming and having no real plan for it. A list of things to do but no idea what to tackle first, how long things would take, or whether I was being realistic about my time.

Now I spend five minutes on a Sunday telling AI exactly what I’ve got on — my priorities, my hours, the school run, the life admin — and it plans my week for me. Day by day, time blocked, tasks prioritised. It tells me what to do first and why.

I haven’t had a chaotic Monday morning since.

2. Writing Content In Half The Time

I run a blog. I create Pinterest pins. I write product descriptions, email newsletters, social captions. Before AI, this took up the majority of my working time — staring at blank pages, second-guessing myself, rewriting the same sentence four times.

Now I give AI a brief and it gives me a first draft. I edit it, make it sound like me, and I’m done. What used to take two hours takes forty minutes. That’s not a small thing when you’re fitting work around school hours.

The key is learning how to brief it well. The better the prompt, the better the output — and that’s a skill that takes about a week to pick up.

3. Researching Products Without The Rabbit Hole

I used to spend ages researching things. Googling, reading reviews, falling down Reddit threads, ending up more confused than when I started. AI changed this completely.

Now I ask it directly. What’s the best red lipstick for cool skin tones? Which skincare ingredients shouldn’t I mix? Is Baccarat Rouge 540 actually worth £280? It gives me a clear, specific answer in seconds — and it explains the reasoning, so I actually understand why rather than just taking someone’s word for it.

Half my blog posts started as a question I asked AI out of genuine curiosity.

4. Drafting Emails I’ve Been Putting Off

We all have them. The email to a difficult client. The complaint that needs to be firm but not aggressive. The follow-up you keep meaning to send. The message where you know what you want to say but can’t quite find the right words.

I tell AI the situation, what outcome I want, and the tone I’m going for. It drafts the email. I adjust it, send it. Done. Things that used to sit in my drafts folder for days get dealt with in ten minutes.

This one sounds small but the mental load it removes is enormous.

5. Organising My Thoughts When My Brain Is Full

Mum brain is real. There are days when I have twelve half-formed ideas, three decisions I need to make, and zero capacity to think clearly about any of them. I used to just push through and make poor decisions while exhausted.

Now I brain-dump everything into AI. I type out the mess — all of it, unfiltered — and ask it to help me make sense of it. It organises my thoughts, identifies what actually matters, and helps me figure out what to do next.

It sounds strange to outsource your thinking. But it’s not outsourcing — it’s having a patient, non-judgmental space to think out loud. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

Where To Start

If you’re reading this thinking this sounds useful but I wouldn’t even know where to begin — I’ve been exactly there. The learning curve is genuinely much smaller than it looks from the outside.

I put together a beginner’s guide specifically for people who have no tech background and no idea where to start. Plain English, no jargon, just the things that actually work. If you want to give AI a proper go without the overwhelm, it’s the place to start.

Grab the AI Beginner’s Guide here — £9.99

Abi x

P.S. If you’re already using AI and want to get more out of it, I also have a pack of 50 prompts for busy mums — the exact ones I use every week. £7.99 and genuinely worth it.