Tips on Streamlining Your Life and Business

Mamas!

Do you feel overwhelmed at times? Whether you work or stay home, having kids while maintaining a house, cooking, cleaning, running errands, keeping up with school functions and more can take its toll. Add in working full-time or working for yourself, and you’ve most certainly got your hands full.

I’m a working mom of two toddlers (and one on the way!). While I’m incredibly thankful that my schedule is flexible and allows me to mostly work from home, I do still put in a good 40 hours per week at the ‘ol office job. I also try my best to keep up with this blog, make sure my kids have clean laundry and get food on the table each night. If I were to be completely honest, the dinner part is my biggest struggle. We always eat, of course, but I don’t always have a plan and we sometimes have eggs, chicken nuggets, yogurt, or a combination of the aforementioned.

Eventually, I would like my blog to become my full-time business. With a baby on the way, this probably won’t happen for a few years, but I’m hopeful nonetheless. I wanted to provide anyone who might be in the same situation with some tips on how I am currently streamlining my life and my business for future (and current) success.

Tips on Streamlining Your Life and Business

Pick three areas of your life to focus on

Busy moms cannot do it all. Here’s what I mean by this: It is completely impossible to have a full-time job, work out daily, keep the house clean at all times, meal plan, spend quality time with friends, spend quality time with your husband, spend quality time with kids, be involved in church, pursue your own hobbies and passions, etc. all the time. Instead, choose three areas you want to focus on and make those a priority. Everything else – while still important – is second. It’s OK to say “No” to certain areas to make time for what’s important to you.

My three areas are:

• My family (quality time with husband and kids)
• My career (this includes my FT job and blogging)
• My home (cleaning and cooking healthy foods…a goal of mine 😉 )

Fitness is not a priority right now, and neither is socializing with friends all the time. I’m very focused on my family and career at this point in my life, and I’m certainly OK with that.

Improve yourself

Learn how to cook faster, develop a routine that will help you keep your home neat and tidy without spending days doing it, use tools to make your business life easier and more manageable (Tailwind, for example, is a game-changer), become friends with people who share similar interests and can motivate you, read books on improving yourself, and more.

One of my absolute favorite resources is The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle. The bundle is packed with courses, books, guides, planners and more to help moms and homemakers become experts in what they do. There are 93 resources at one tiny price to help you succeed in life and meet all of your goals.

The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle is worth over $1,000 if you were to purchase everything individually. But, of course it’s not going to cost you that much. Instead, the bundle is being offered for one low price of $29.97. You have to act fast, though, as it’s only available from now until Monday, May 2.

Some of the resources I personally cannot wait to dive into include:

• 31 Days to a Clutter Free Life
• Make Over Your Calendar
• Dinner at Home
• 80 Green Thickies Recipes
• The 30 Day Marriage Challenge
• Building a Framework <– Bloggers!!! This book is a MUST-READ!! It’s valued at $25 if purchased separately (which I did, haha)

To view all of the resources you’ll get, click here!!

Get your family to help out

This was a game-changer for me. As moms (or women), we tend to think we need to be the ones to keep the house clean, cook dinner every night, grocery shop, pay the bills, bathe the kids, brush the kids teeth, and more. However, I can tell you first-hand that trying to do all of this yourself will make you crazy. Have your husband pitch in. Sure, you might have to ask him if he’s not used to helping, but I guarantee he won’t mind! And don’t leave the kiddos out. My two toddlers clean their rooms EVERY day before we leave for school, and they are responsible for putting ALL of their toys back in their rooms before bed. This way, our house is clean of toys every morning and every evening 🙂

John is a saint of a husband and helps out so much. However, if I need extra help, I just ask. He gets up with the girls in the morning if they’re up before he leaves for work, and he normally does their bed time routine, too. If I have to work later in the evening or want to blog, he takes them to the park or plays with them in our house. We usually do all of our grocery shopping together, and cooking is a team event (though I tend to cook more simply because I’m home in the afternoons). We don’t keep score, we just do what we can do make each other’s lives easier.

If you feel too busy, let go of something

I learned this the hard way. When I first started my full-time job, I dove head-first into my blog and ramped up freelancing all at the same time. It was sustainable, but I wasn’t exactly enjoying any of those three things. In January, I made the decision to give up freelancing (for the most part). I dropped a handful of clients and kept only one, and with the one I kept, the work is very sporadic (maybe once a month).

I cannot tell you how good this felt. I finally had room to breathe again! I’m obviously bringing in less of an income now, but I’m so much happier in my day-to-day life. A huge lesson I’ve been learning these past few months is that money isn’t everything. In fact, it’s a very small part of my life. It’s important, of course, but it’s not everything.

Final Thoughts

I really encourage you to take a close look at your own life and evaluate what your goals are. Then, spend a little bit of time each day trying to accomplish them. Find a friend who’s in the same boat as you to share ideas and encourage one another.

And finally, take the steps to improve yourself and your life! Check out all the resources that The Ultimate Homemaking Bundle has to offer. Remember, it’s only available until Monday, May 2, so act fast if a couple of the books jump out at you!

How do you streamline your life and your business? Share your tips below!