How I “Do It All”
A few weeks ago when I popped that Instagram question box up there, I got two responses in a row about “how I do it all”.
While I think we all know by now, that NO ONE does it all, I did find the questions challenging to think through AND motivating to answer. Maybe it’ll help you think through your priorities and areas where you can get some extra help or think creatively about using extra time to do things you love.
Let’s start with the things I DON’T do:
I don’t homeschool my kids. And when I did, I found easy and free online resources that required zero planning on my part.
I don’t meal plan or spend much time in the kitchen. I use Prep Dish which saves me TONS of time and still serves my family healthy meals.
I don’t grocery shop. I can’t remember the last time I set foot in a grocery store. I use Shipt, Instacart, and Kroger Pickup for that.
I don’t answer customer emails at work, ship product, or run social media for Better Life Bags. I hired someone to do all those things so I could focus on other areas of the business that only I can do.
I don’t have a cleaning schedule for my house. Our part time nanny does a quick cleanup every time she comes and gets me caught up on dishes and laundry. This helps SO much. Otherwise, I clean something when it starts to gross me out. (Does that gross YOU out?)
Right now, we don’t have many screen time rules. This is something I’d like to change in the future when we are more settled, but sometimes unlimited screen time is just what you need to get a few extra things done on a deadline.
Now things that I DO. I broke this up into “hours per week” because I think it’s important to realize that we all have the same hours in the week. I also think if you sat down or tracked everything you did in a week, you would realize how much YOU actually get done, too! They just might be different things than me.
Run Better Life Bags (12 hours per week).
Instagram Affiliate and Blogging and connecting in my DMS (24 hours per week)
Sleep (50 hours per week)
Drive and take my kids from activity to activity (17 hours per week)
Feed and cook for my family (9 hours per week)
Scroll Instagram or Facebook (14 hours per week)
Reorganize or redecorate (5 hours per week - more if Neil is gone or I’m stressed out)
Walk around my house or at a hockey practice while listening to an audiobook (4 hours per week)
Self care like doing my nails, steaming my face with the Aira facial steamer from Vanity Planet, or doing a Paint By Number (2 hours per week)
Putting kids to bed (14 hours)
This leaves about 16 unaccounted hours where I’m probably breaking up fights, chatting with Neil, or connecting with a kid.
Things I wish I did, but don’t have time for yet:
Writing and blogging more. I really enjoy this platform and would possibly like to write another book someday, but there just isn’t extra time - and especially not a lot of extra brainpower.
Building furniture and home decor with wood.
Getting my realtor’s license.
Making more home videos and photo books of my family.
Thrifting. Oh I miss thrifting.
Reading actual books. Right now the only way I can “read” is to listen to audio books. But I LOVE going to Starbucks or curling up by a fire and holding a book in my hand.
Reading chapter books aloud to my kids. I’ve done this for years and we just fell out of a good rhythm for it. I hope to find space for this again soon. It was a GREAT way to connect with my kids.
Then, here are some “hacks” for how to get more than one thing done at a time:
Batch tasks. I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before, but when I’m giving littles a bath, I clean the bathroom since I have to be in there anyway. I’m always looking for ways to do two things at one time.
Audiobooks are always playing in my ear while I drive or walk.
I answer a lot of DMs while I’m laying down with kids to help them fall asleep.
And I’m getting my kids involved in a lot of the household chores. When I’m on my A-game, I have a chore chart that they have to complete before screen time. And it usually has very helpful tasks on there - like empty the dishwasher or take the trash out.
Set a 5 or 10 minute timer and see how much you can get done. This is my favorite thing to do when I’m not feeling motivated to pick up the house, but know it’ll help me feel better. I’m always AMAZED at how much I can pick up and straighten in just 5 minutes.
I also talk a lot about this in my book, but I break things up into smaller tasks. For example, when packing my house to move, I set a goal to pack three rooms a day. When I reached that goal, I was done. I didn’t feel stressed to keep going - in fact, I finished my three rooms today and am sitting down to finish this blog post!
Another thing I mention in my book is to assign tasks to certain days. There was a period of time when I only answered emails on Tuesday and Thursday. When I saw an email come through, I knew it would get answered on the next Tuesday or Thursday and didn’t let it haunt me until then.
At the very same time that I list all of this out and see it written down, there is always the twinge of guilt that something isn’t getting covered well. Usually I’m afraid that it’s my kids who get the short end of the stick. Instead of feeling like I’m not doing enough for them, I’ve decided to list a few things that if I did each week with the kids, I would feel good about the time I invested.
Give Jonah an 8 second hug every day.
Watch Clara dribble her soccer ball, or play a game with her, or do a craft.
Read a picture book to Corbin every night.
Play cars with Gavin.
Snuggle that Maisy girl as much as I can.
It doesn’t take much to accomplish a lot. Little things add up to making things better.
So, try it. List out all the things you do and then all the things you are letting yourself off the hook from doing. List the things you wish you had time for, but know that it’s not the right season for them yet. Then collect a few “hacks” that help you accomplish more in less time. And finally, write down simple things that you can do in an area that you feel like you’re lacking in.
I’d love to hear what insights you learn about yourself!