How do you do it all?!?
I think all of us has thought this at some point... looked at another super mom and gone "How?!?"
Just being a parent is such a HUGE task... then you add on homeschool, multiple children, keeping a house clean, running a business... AHHH!!!! It's overwhelming!
This is a topic I find myself discussing rather often in real life. It goes something like this-
I'm usually working, setting up a wedding. (I have a business where I do wedding floral design and some wedding coordinating too.) I'll get to chatting with the other vendors, guests, etc.. when it comes up that I have kids... 4 of them (usually the first topic to come up considering most often at least one kiddo has come with me to set up the wedding while Daddy keeps the rest.), then the topic of homeschooling them is usually next... inevitably leading to the main subject here-- "How do you do it?!?!"
So here are my 5 tips for 'how to do it all'! 😉
Tip 1 : You can't. Because no one can.
No one out there is giving everything 110%, all of the time. It isn't possible. So give that notion up first and foremost. If I am rocking it at my business-- then I can promise you that my house is a wreck, kids have been eating takeout, and school has been a joke. I can't be super girl boss cranking out floral amazingness at full steam without letting something go.
Tip 2 : Start in scripture.
There is NO excuse to not be able to spend some time in scripture every morning before anything else gets your attention. When you take a little bit of time even to connect with the Lord and let Him fill you with His word-- it makes a HUGE difference in the rest of your day! This is a MUST!
Tip 3 : Get you set!
After you get up and spend time in scripture, take just a few minutes to get yourself dressed & ready to take on the day! You feel so much better when you're dressed, maybe even slapped on a little makeup instead of just looking like s hot mess all day in your ratty pj's. It doesn't have to be a big deal- just 10 minutes even to get yourself ready and feeling good.
Tip 4 : Minimalism
You knew this was bound to be in there... MINIMIZE! This will help with the overwhelmed, anxiety ridden life so many of us find ourselves in. When there is less stuff cluttering your home, less appointments on your calendar, less less less... then you can be more, more, more! Clear the clutter in your home, scale back the amount of things you sign the kids/family up for, don't commit to things that aren't on your top priority list, heck-- we have have a super minimalist menu plan that makes my life WORLDS easier! There's really no area that this can't be put into practice on.
Tip 5 : Have a daily rhythm!
A rhythm is more relaxed than a schedule, but still keeps you in focus. Especially when you're trying to homeschool and work and keep your house in order and and and... I find that filling up the kids in the first part of the day with my attention leaves them filling full of love and more able to play on their own in the afternoon so I can work. Therefore my day revolves around one on one time in the morning and then mommy work time in the afternoon. To help get myself into this daily rhythm, I have done two things-- I have reminders pop up on my phone every hour from 8 AM to 8 PM to remind me of what my focus for that hour should be on. The other thing is that I have assigned a main focus for each day. Instead of trying to run a business, run this website, vlog, blog, etc... a little of each task every day, I have instead taken each task and assigned it a day that it gets my focus.
Here's my total breakdown:
8 AM: Wake up, feed the baby (3 month old, nurses every 3 hours), eat breakfast while she nurses
9 AM: Bible + Coffee
10 AM: Mom workout then get ready, kids pick up & get ready (Most days they join in on the workouts too)
11 AM: Feed baby, do school
12 PM: Finish school start prepping for my daily focus.
1 PM: Lunch as a family, Daddy joins us too!
2 PM: Kids off to play, I feed the baby and focus on my daily topic.
3 PM: Still working on my topic, I make sure I take a break at this time to go spend 15 minutes out in the sunshine!
4 PM: Finishing up my daily topic, kids are usually starting to get a little restless, their love buckets are getting low.
5 PM: Feed the baby, start prepping dinner! The kids are usually in helping me at this point, therefore refilling their love buckets. :)
6 PM: Dinner! We eat and then cuddle on the couch and all watch a show together.
7 PM: Get everyone ready for bed, they're usually in bed by 7:30.
8 PM: We do family prayers, give kisses, I go sit down to nurse the baby before she goes to bed for the night and Daddy and I can watch tv, drink our tea, and hang out! I'm in bed by 9:30/10 PM usually.
My Focus on 1 Task Per Day:
Monday: Cleaning the house! Nothing else matters today but a top to bottom clean and some minimizing (using the steps in our ebook)
Tuesday: Today is vlog day! I take the afternoon to record the videos I've been kicking ideas around on.
Wednesday: This is business day! All my business computer work gets tackled.
Thursday: I write blog posts to go with our videos and what not today and schedule them to post.
Friday: This is website work day, and also we will read/record the videos for our family Bible study videos on YouTube the correlate with our school program.
Saturday: I edit all the Bible videos and do weddings.
Sunday: More Bible video editing and wedding work...
So that's what we do! I hope sharing that, and how I break it all down might be a help to you! I'd love to hear any tips/tricks that you may have, be sure to share them with us! :) Anything we can do to control the chaos and get it done!! 💪
