Prioritizing Mom Life with Everything Else
Mom Life
Being a mom has been the biggest blessing of my life. With that said, it can be really hard to balance mom life with being a wife, spending time with my husband, keeping up with housework, having time with my friends & family and simply making time for myself. So how do I do it? In this post, I’ll share some of my secrets and failures trying to balance it all.
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Get Organized
My number one tip for any mom is to get organized. You don’t need to be a type A personality to be organized, you may just need to try a little harder. Simple things like keeping a calendar, digital or paper, the format doesn’t matter. Use what works for you. I personally use a combination of both. For all outings, school activities, family parties and so on, we use Google Calendar and share with everyone in our household. This allows us all to know where the other ones are, what we have planned for the week, etc. For my weekly tasks or to-do lists, I keep a notepad organized by day. Each Sunday I map out my week with the following categories each day; housework, errands, blog content, social media content, contract work, exercise & kids activities. I like the satisfaction of physically being able to check off each task when I am done. That would be my type A personality showing.
Keep Your Kids Busy
Though it may seem like having your kids in more activities is counterintuitive to balancing mom life, it really isn’t. The busy your kids are, the more energy they will get out and the better they will then behave. Not only is it good for your children to be in activities, it is also good for you. As they get older, this will actually free up some of your time. Being able to drop them off at baseball practice for an hour gives you time to go get groceries or do some work while you wait.
Be Efficient
Have you ever put your kids down for their naps and then said, “yes, I have 2 hours to get a bunch of stuff done,” but then you turn on your computer or grab your phone to check an email or social media real quick, then all of a sudden hear your child waking up, thinking where did the last 2 hours go!? I’ve been guilty of this myself, many times in fact. So now, I stick to a schedule as much as possible. Schedules = efficiency. Stick to your list and focus on that. Put your phone on silent or ignore it during these times so you can get things done. You’ll be surprised at how much this helps you to get more done during the day.
Schedule Date Nights
Becoming a mom for the first time is the best feeling in the entire world. However, you soon learn that you quickly become exhausted after not sleeping, cooking, cleaning and then repeating each day. It is very easy to get caught up in caring for that new baby, that we forget about making our spouses and how important they are to us too. Next thing you know, your “baby” is 2 and you and your husband haven’t gone on a date night in who knows when. Don’t let money, time or your “baby” be the excuse you don’t date your spouse anymore. Put your date nights on the calendar, get your babysitters lined up ahead of time and then simply enjoy.
Make Time For You
One thing I have learned over the years is that I cannot be the mom, wife or friend I need to be if I do not have any “me” time. For me, this is my fitness. Each day I need at least 20-30 minutes of what I call “me” time. Thankfully, I have a husband who knows how important to me this is and supports me tremendously. Just like all other events going on in you and your families life, you also need to schedule your “me” time. Pick times that work for you and your family, but don’t do without it.
Grace Not Perfection
Nobody is perfect. The moment you start striving for grace instead of perfection is the moment you’ll see it all come together. Give your all, but know some days, your all may not be enough. You may not get it all done and that’s ok. Prioritize your list each day and work hard to complete as much as possible but remember if you end your day with a few dishes in the sink but you and your kids had a blast playing outside at the park all evening, know that is ok. Spending the time with your family is always the right choice. Life is too short to worry about reaching perfection each day. Embrace it. Mom Life is a blessing, no matter how messing it may get.