Money Saving Mom®

Note: I always hesitate to share honest posts like this because I don’t want it to come across that I’m complaining or whining about my life. I’m incredibly blessed and I know that many of you are going through crazy hard, overwhelming, and massively discouraging life stuff right now and would give anything to be dealing with these types of “problems”. At the same time, though, I’m committed to being authentic in this space. And this is just my real and raw thoughts tonight…

It’s past 8 p.m. and I’m finally getting this written.

I’ve meant to do it since 8 a.m. this morning. But today was just one of those days.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad day. But it was just an exhausting day.

There’s a lot going on with the business right now. I’m writing a book. And I’m learning how to juggle homeschooling three kids for the first time.

All three of these things combined together makes for a LOT in each day, especially as we jump back into the school year.

I’m not complaining because I’ve chosen this life. And I know that it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. I also know that this is a short season with a lot of responsibilities and it will definitely be slowing down in another month or two.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s always easy. Or that I don’t ever longingly consider alternative choices.

Like maybe lounging on a private island with complete quiet and a good book??

Yeah. That sounds about perfect right now after such a long day of business projects, emails, writing, and hours of homeschooling kids who weren’t all that thrilled with today’s assignments. Ahem. 🙂

But the good news? Homeschooling is finally finished for the day (as of about 10 minutes ago), I kept my commitment to not yell or be angry with my kids throughout this whole long homeschooling day, we made some really good progress today, one child just made me a bowl of fruit and gave me a love note, and all the kids just asked if they could snuggle with me once they were ready for bed.

So yes, even if we had a lot of rocky moments throughout the day, it’s ending well. And for that, I’m grateful!

Today’s Rise & Shine Assignment

I thought it was perfect timing that today’s Rise & Shine assignment was about being a Calm Mom. Oh how I needed this reminder!

Because the truth is, this momma here has been struggling to be calm and to respond with grace, kindness, and patience. Simply put: my attitude and words haven’t been all that pretty in the last two weeks.

In fact, on Sunday, I came to Jesse and asked him to please keep me accountable for responding calmly to my kids instead of yelling or getting irritated this. I think, for me, just being honest about my struggles and asking for accountability has been a great help. And praying and asking God to infuse me with peace and kindness when I don’t feel peace or kindness.

Another big help has been to think about what kind of example I’m setting before my kids. How do I want them to respond in stressful situations in life? I need to model that behavior before them.

By doing these things and really reminding myself over and over of my intention and desire to respond calmly, it’s made a big difference. And I hope I can keep this going!

This Morning’s Report

• Got up at 6:00 a.m.
• Made the mistake of checking my phone and got sucked into going through and answering about 20 emails. Gratefully, I’m pretty quick at email and this only took me around 15 minutes. But still, not a recommended way to start the day!
• Made coffee. Read my Bible and devotional books. Prayed over my day.
• Opened the laptop, answered emails, answered comments, and scheduled some posts. Worked on some business projects that ended up taking me a lot longer than I expected.
• Unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher.
• Started some laundry, and got the kids up and helped them get ready for the morning. The kids got up and, after a quick breakfast, I had them head straight to their homeschooling since I knew they had some extra projects to do today.
• I taught Silas Kindergarten, switched the laundry, answered a few emails, and then sat down to help the girls with their school.

How was your morning? What helps you to be a Calmer Mom? I’d love to hear!

I’m very late in getting this posted, but this morning, afternoon, and evening just flew by and I finally have a chance to sit down and get this written! That’s life sometimes, isn’t it? Thanks for your patience as I’m not always the most dependable blogger ever. 🙂

I got up at 5:15 a.m. this morning. And I’m thrilled because today I felt really rested and energized when I got up. I’m hopeful that my body is starting to adjust to me being on an early-to-rise schedule again?

My One Nightly Must-Do: Create Tomorrow’s To-Do List

Today’s assignment is about creating a nightly checklist to encourage you to have better mornings. I love this idea and think it can be key to successful mornings.

I shared my evening routine yesterday — which sort of serves as my checklist. But I wanted to share one thing that has really helped me to wake up, jump into my day, and be more productive.

That one simple thing is to create a to-do list the night before. This one small thing makes a world of difference for my day. And I find that I sleep better, too, because I have mentally gone through the next day, thought through all the must-do’s and activities, and have created a plan for the day.

This simple exercise frees up so much space in my brain and truly relaxes me.

How it usually works is that I consult my Google Calendar (aka my “brain”) and see what is on tap for the next day — whether that’s a writing project that’s due, a phone call that must be made, an interview that is scheduled, an errand I need to run, or an activity one of my children has going on.

Once I’ve looked over my day, I then plan out our routine. We have a basic routine we follow everyday, but it varies based upon what needs to be done and what’s going on. So every evening, I write out my plan for the next day — including time blocks of when I plan to do everything.

This has been crucial for me, because it not only helps me go into the day with a Game Plan, but it also helps me to know if I need to bump some things I’d planned to do to another day or delete something I’d hoped to do altogether. I only have 24 hours in a day and planning accordingly instead of trying to cram in 36 hours’ worth of work into the day and then being frustrated and overwhelmed makes a huge difference!

I always try to include two to three hours of Margin Time — time when I don’t have anything scheduled. This is typically from 6-9 p.m. It doesn’t always end up being completely empty, but it allows wiggle room to finish things or catch up on laundry when inevitable interruptions or unexpected things come up throughout the day. It’s my sanity-saver!

This Morning’s Report

• Got up at 5:15 a.m.
• Read my Bible and devotional books. Prayed over my day.
• Made some coffee, unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it.
• Started the laundry. Made Trim Healthy Mama Pancakes (My second try turned out beautifully — yay! You can see pictures of my first flop and my second success here.)
• Exercised.
• Finally had a chance to wash my hair. (I usually wash it every three days, but I had gone for six days without washing it. Yikes!)
• Opened the laptop, answered emails, answered comments, scheduled some posts.
• And then it was time to start homeschooling. 🙂

How has your morning been so far? Do you have a Nightly Checklist? If so, what’s on it? If not, what would you LIKE it to look like?