“Ashley, how do you balance being a full time blogger and motherhood? I get this question often. Honestly, it’s not easy, but I make it work for me. Here are a couple things that helped me with balancing motherhood and my business. First, every season in life will look different with balancing mom life and my business. When I first started blogging both of my kids were home with me full time. Now, my schedule looks different because my kids are in school. It’s important to understand that there are going to be some seasons in motherhood that are harder and some seasons in motherhood that are easier. This mindset helped me. Also, having a village of support is important. There was a time when I didn’t ask for help. Now, I understand that I can’t do everything by myself. I get help from close friends, my husband, and close family members. Create a close village of people that will support you when you need a little extra help with balancing motherhood and blogger business. So here is my schedule along with tips that might help you.
6:00am Mama’s Morning Wake UP
I typically wake up at least an hour or two before my kids. This has been a game changer for me. In the mornings before my kids wake up I start with prayer, devotional, and drinking some hot tea. Mentally and spiritually it’s important for me to have that quiet time. Then I like to do a power hour or power 30. Basically, that’s where I will focus on my blogger business tasks. Example, 15 minutes of checking emails, 15 minutes of engaging on Instagram. If you’re looking for tips on early morning routine habits check out my blog post on 10 Morning Routine Habits
7:00am Madison Wakes Up
My daughter Madison, is home with me full with and she does virtual learning. While she is doing her morning routine, I go downstairs and make her breakfast. Madison has a morning routine chart that helps her stay on tasks with brushing her teeth, making her bed, etc. This morning routine chart has helped her become more independent with her morning routine tasks. Check out this Morning Routine Chart for Kids Something as simple as your child being able to do their morning routine without any of your help can save you some time.
8:00am Little Ray Wakes Up
For me, having two different wake up times works for us. Little Ray wakes up around 8:00am to get ready for preschool school. My son has been home with me full time until recently when we decided for him to start going to a preschool. If you’re a full time blogger and you have younger kids that are not school aged, I would encourage you to get help from your “village.” So that could be having your child attend a small church preschool, having a nanny come to your house a couple days a week, or having your child attend a part time preschool. If your younger children are home with you full time, check out my blog posts on Simple and Easy Schedule for Kids at Home. It’s helpful to have a good routine/schedule for your kids if they are home with you full time.
9:00am-12pm Top 3 Priority Tasks
By 9:00am little Ray is at preschool and Madison is engaged in virtual school. Madison is pretty self sufficient and does really well with virtual learning. So I will periodically check on her throughout the morning. From 9:00am-12pm is when I focus on my top 3 priority tasks. Years ago, I read a book that said business owners should strive to get 90% of their work done before noon/lunch time. So I’ve implemented that into my daily routine. I will focus on my top 3 most important tasks to complete from 9:00am-12:00pm. Typically my priority tasks include things like posting sponsored blogger content on instagram, writing blog posts, responding to brand emails, etc. My tip to you would be to have a couple hours of uninterrupted time during the day where you are laser focused on your top 3 priority tasks.
12:00pm Lunch Time
At 12:00 my daughter has lunch. Madison does virtual school so I like to eat lunch with her. At the beginning of each week I like to have a lunch menu for Madison so I don’t have to take any extra time preparing lunch. This is also my time to relax for a little, step away from social media, and eat a healthy lunch with my daughter.
1pm-4pm Running Errands
During this time I will run errands. I don’t run errands every day, but if there is anywhere I need to go, i’ll do that during this time. As a blogger, I like to document parts of my day for my Instagram stories. So I will take video snippets of me going to Target, the grocery store, Starbucks, etc. Something that has helped me so I don’t feel overwhelmed with posting on my stories is that I don’t post in real time. So I will record video snippets of my day while I’m out and then I will post on my stories when I get some downtime.
4:00 Pick Up Little Ray
Around 4:00 is when I pick up little Ray from school. Years ago, I read a book that spoke about being intentional with your time. It mentioned how there are so many opportunities in the day for us to be productive. It gave the example of how we can listen to self development podcasts on the way to work or the way to pick up our kids instead of music or the radio. So I started implementing this into my daily routine when I pick my son up. I listen to a podcast that is going to help with my business or personal development podcasts.
4-6pm Family Time
After picking up my son from school, I like to put my phone away and focus on family time. During this time my top priority is spending time with my family. Typically we will go outside and play before I start to prepare for dinner. There was a time when I felt like I was on social media
all day and that became overwhelming. So I started to set boundaries with social media and it helped so much.
6:00-7:00 Preparing for Dinner + Cleaning
During this time is when I will allow my kids to have free play and I will focus on making dinner, and tidying up my house. If you know me, then you know I love a clean house at the end of the night. During this time I also limit the amount of toys the kids bring downstairs. I also allow my kids to watch a couple episodes of their favorite cartoon. This will allow me to get dinner and tidying up done.
7:00-8:00 Dinner + Nighttime Routine
We eat dinner around 7:00pm. After that my husband and I will start their nighttime routine. I’m very intentional about making sure my kids are in their bed by 8:00pm. It definitely took some time for us to get a good nighttime routine, but we finally have a routine that works. I like to use lavender essential oils to help make their night time routine easier. My husband and I also read the kids a bedtime story. Typically, I will read Madison her bedtime story in her room and my husband will read little Ray his story. This has worked for us in helping the kids relax at bedtime.
8-9pm Date Night Time
After a long day, my husband and I enjoy watching our favorite shows together. We relax downstairs on the couch and watch our favorite. Having this intentional quality time with my husband is important.
10-11:00 Goodnight
I am definitely a night owl so I’m trying to go to bed a lot earlier. But after I finish my night time routine, I like to finish up any business task and prepare business tasks for the next day.
I hope this blog post was helpful. The goal of this blog post is not for you to have the exact same schedule as me but to be able to take some of the tips and implement it into the daily routine that works for you! I wish you the best in your blogger and motherhood journey. And remember mama, you’re doing great!
XO,
Ashley
