Being a mommy blogger is not as easy as it looks, is it? How do you find the balance between family, home, business, and all the other items that are vying for a spot on your to-do list?
The bloggers of the Inspired Bloggers Network have shared their best time management tips and encouragement to help you find a better way to control your day.
As you read through their advice keep this in mind: Balance is not universal. What works for one person might not work for another because we are all unique. Our families are different just as we ourselves are different. You have to create a daily habit and office hours that work for you, and once you find that groove, stick with it.
Best tips for managing your time as a blogger
My best tip for balancing motherhood and blogging is to avoid procrastination! Like the boy scout motto, “Be prepared.” It never fails that when I am behind, unprepared, and have a million blogging things to do, that’s when the kids need me or something goes wrong and I have to try to juggle everything at once. When I plan and prepare, those little mishaps are far less devastating to the schedule.
Crystal at Serving Joyfully
Break your day up into 3 parts- morning afternoon, and evening. Break your to-do’s up and add what you can reasonably do into those slots with a reward for yourself and/or your children when you complete the tasks in each portion of your day.
Suzette at The Joy of Homemaking
First…TRAIN your children in chores they are capable of, and expect nothing less than THEIR best. Then delegate, and do chores together, get them done. I have kiddos that can do laundry, animal chores, and cook. I don’t expect them to do it all, all the time, but if I have a promo to work on or something urgent, I ask them to help out.
Betty at Peace Creek on the Prairie
Meal plan. With the right planning you can have meals all week and only have to actually “cook” two or three nights. Bake a chicken for quesadillas, chicken and rice casserole, and chicken salad for example. It’s a lot of work the first day and a snap to throw dinner together the next two days.
Trixie at Just Trixie
Designate different days for different tasks. Monday is shopping for the week and snack/meal prep. Tuesday is bathrooms. Wednesday is dusting and vacuuming, etc. After a while it becomes routine and things are broken down into easy to manage steps and while it may never be perfect, it will be done.
Lara at Lara’s Place and a Cup of Grace
Planning and starting our “day” the night before. Making sure we’re ready from the inside out with whole foods and essential oils and Jesus in our hearts! Keeping up with Bible study and prayer time. Family first.
Jennifer at Royal Little Lambs
Meal plan, use of the slow cooker, pass chores to children early (such as teaching them to do their own laundry at 7), designate a certain day for town errands, and most importantly… honest talks with your hubby about what he most desires in your homemaking. You might be surprised to find what really signals a happy home to him.
Laurie at Our Abundant Blessings
Buy a crock pot! Chop and bag everything into the recipes you plan on using and freeze that way when you are putting the groceries away. In the morning toss one into the crock pot on low and dinner will be done on time.
Jennifer at Upside Down Kids
The best tip I have for achieving balance between family and social media is, sometimes we simply aren’t supposed to be juggling all we do. When our children are young, we have this incredible blessing and opportunity to invest into their lives. The test for me is to think how I will look back on this time and if I will regret any of my choices. It might mean a major rethink of our priorities!
Victoria at Homemaking with Heart
Block out a period of time every day that is sacred for your homeschool and chores. Don’t even open your laptop or check your iPhone notifications during that time. Give your older children (10 and up) permission to request 30 minutes of your time uninterrupted every day. Just for the two of you. Use a crockpot. Cook double batches of seasoned ground beef, soups, chili, and shredded chicken and freeze them for quick meals.
Marcy at Ben and Me
Life first, blog second with a list for everything so the bunny trails don’t trip you up! I have office hours and try to stick with them as best I can, but life always trumps blog because without it, I wouldn’t have anything to blog about.
Amy at Raising Arrows
I guess I just quit trying to make it all look perfect: my kids, my house, my parenting…and as a result we had more room for joy and increased time for laughter.
Allison at The House of Hendrix
I try to remember that we all have to find our own personal balance and it might change often. For example, with two young children I don’t clean nearly as much as I used to. Yes my house gets messy, but it’s always to a reasonable standard within 24 hours and that is my standard. I just don’t pick up every 2 hours like I used to because it would be never-ending if I wanted it 100% clean all the time. With that time saved from not constantly cleaning, I am able to do other things. Every so often, I try to find balance by considering what I am okay with doing/not doing; it changes by what season I’m in and what season my kids are in. But I know for sure that I cannot do it all.
Chelsea at Moments a Day
Don’t compare yourself to any other blogger. EVER. She might look like she has it all together, but in reality she struggles just like you. Do your best. Keep your priorities in line. Your family must come first. Make a work schedule and stick to it. Your children will understand that Mommy has specific work times, but if they constantly see you attached to a laptop, tablet or phone, they won’t respect those work times because they will feel like they are competing for your attention.
Heather at Upside Down Homeschooling
Women in our generation have unprecedented opportunities. Any ‘humble homemaker’ with enough initiative and creativity can build an online business or blog that reaches thousands. However, any opportunity can be a blessing or a curse! Like every other blogger, I get distracted by the details and carried away by the desire to succeed. I like to remind myself that the CAREER I have chosen is MOTHERHOOD. Everything else (blogging, writing, making money) can take the back seat at a moment’s notice.
Kristy at Little Natural Cottage
Large family logistics is a life saver! You don’t need a lot of kids to use it in spite of the name since it really just refocus’ priorities without long, poetic chapters. Short, sweet, ‘get your butt in gear and honor God’ stuff.
Jenn at Planet Mommyhood
Make sure your priorities are in order: God, family, others. Ask God to give you Kingdom eyes to be able to work with the end game in mind. Pray for God’s direction and guidance and commit your ways to Him (Proverbs 3:5,6). And then act based on what you feel He is saying to you. Remember that we only get a glimpse of someone else’s “real” life; don’t compare yourself to someone else. Act on what God is telling you to do.
Becky at Journeying Outside My Box
I have found that the key to being organized in my blogging is to be organized in the rest of my life. I’m obviously still struggling with balance and as organization does not come naturally to me, I fall off the wagon more often than stay on, but I am slowly inching towards success in this area. Meal planning, freezer meals, homeschool planning, delegating, scheduling, and using technology to my advantage are all tools that I am using to this end.
Sharla at The Chaos and the Clutter
I try to remind myself that taking time away from blogging to enjoy other things, such as family, household tasks, and life in general, usually provides new ideas for blogging. Is everything perfectly balanced, probably not, but placing my focus on other things helps generate new ideas and viewpoints.
Robin at Be Social Get Success
All this is easier said than done. Don’t get caught up in a mom competition…even within your own mind and heart…with others who homeschool, blog, etc. Each of us has our own struggles and our own triumphs. No two families are alike in their needs and you need to keep focused on what’s best for your own family. Again, I struggle to remind myself of this constantly over the course of our family homeschooling journey.
Chris at Campfires and Cleats
I like to prepare supper first thing in the morning. I work during nap time, but often it is hard to get off the computer and start supper if I am in the middle of working on something. If supper is already prepped we can still eat a healthy meal and I can keep powering through my work.
MaryEllen at Imperfect Homemaker
If you enjoy your work, do household chores before sitting down to blog. If not, time gets away from you.
Alicia at Extreme Christmas Savings
What is your best time management tip as a blogger?
Drop us a comment.
30/30 – Binary Hammer
You can change the defaults to work with your timing and you can edit the list of banned websites if you have an inclination to… I don’t know… stalk movie stars on TMZ or something that is not set by default.
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