Hi Crystal! I am new to your blog. I was wondering if you could explain how you handle homeschooling with all of your other responsibilities? I own my own business in addition to homeschooling, so I was hoping you could give me some tips on how you juggle it all. I feel like I'm drowning sometimes and just mediocre at everything, but not really excelling at my job or homeschooling. Thanks! -Sara
Hi, Sara!
This is one of the questions I am asked most often! I think people somehow think I've discovered some secret to "doing it all"! 
Yes, I do juggle multiple balls, but I can I assure you I don't have it all figured out.
I'm not superwoman. I struggle. I sometimes feel frazzled and frustrated. And I often drop balls on accident. So please keep this in mind.
Superwoman doesn't have any clones - or at least none whom I've ever met before. We're all learning, growing, and making mistakes in life. All of us have strengths and weaknesses and none of us have uncovered the magic pill for perfect execution of life.
Over time, I have discovered different tricks and tactics that help me be able to juggle more and have more of a healthy balance and I'll happily share them with you in hopes that might inspire you. But remember that I'm often a hot mess and if you dropped by our home unexpectedly (or even expectedly!) on some days, you'd know this is definitely the truth!
1. I Try to Be Organized
Try is the key word here, because I am definitely not perfect with this. I'm not always as organized as I'd like to be, but I try really hard to keep everything in order to the best of my ability.
I've found that if you never let things get completely out of control, it makes such a difference in your ability to juggle multiple balls and wear multiple hats - without feeling completely overwhelmed.
A few specific strategies that help me:
- I use Google Calendar to brain dump and schedule tasks.
- I use time blocks to organize my to-do list each day.
- I aim to clean out my email inbox every single day.
- I also try to stay on top of clutter.
Setting up boundaries for different areas and responsibilities in my life helps me compartmentalize and stay focused. When I am focusing on one area, I want to be all there - not distracted in 10 different directions.
If I am working on business, I try to close down all other outside distractions so I can focus 100%. If I am spending time with my family or homeschooling, I leave the computer and phone in another room so that I can be 100% present.
In addition, I've found that clutter not only clutters my home, but also my life and my mind. Being really ruthless about getting rid of clutter helps me be more organized. We have systems for how we keep our house clean on a daily basis so that it rarely gets out of control and usually stays 15-45 Minutes to Company Ready.
These are just a few of the many ways I try to maintain an organized life and business. This organization allows me to be efficient and productive, stay on task, and knock out huge chunks of my to-do list each day.
2. I Say No a Lot
Almost every single day, I say no to an endorsement request, a speaking gig, a special project, an invite to be on a podcast, or some other opportunity.
I have to say no constantly. Not because I want to, but because I know that I can't do it all. As a result, I have to be very careful about what I say yes to that is outside of my normal responsibilities.
A few examples:
I say no to many extracurricular stuff. For example, we're not in a homeschool co-op. Right now, our children are each in one activity (Kathrynne is on swim team, Kaitlynn does ice skating, and Silas does baseball), and that's what we set the limits at so that our family doesn't have too many obligations each week.
I don't have very many regular weekly commitments. Right now, I'm in a six-week Bible study, we have our Monday Group, and we are involved in a community group at church. Aside from those commitments and our kids' activities, I know we don't have any room in our schedule right not to add new regular weekly commitments. Not because we wouldn't love to, but because we know we need white space in our schedule or we'll start feeling harried and hurried.
I also say no to busyness. I am very intentional about carving out time each week for rest, because I know that it's something I need. For example, I don't blog on Sundays. I pre-schedule stuff on social media, but I'm usually not on email or my blog at all on Sundays. Sunday is my day to recharge and I carefully guard it. I sometimes even turn my phone off all day long just so that I can really unplug. As an introvert, I have to take time to recharge. I have to make time for rest. Otherwise, if I try to keep going and going and going, I will burn out.
When I say yes to one thing, that means I'm saying no to something else. I want to make sure every yes is carefully considered and fits into our priorities as a family.
3. I Have Help
This is really important and I want to be completely honest about the fact that, at this season of my life, I have a lot of help.
Because I'm a work-at-home mom, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I will not be able to do everything. Homeschooling, my marriage, time with family and friends, and rest are priorities in my life. In order for those to be a priority for me, I've had to delegate other things - without guilt.
There are many, many areas I have help in:
- My husband is amazing. I always say that I am not superwoman, but I am married to superman. He wasn't this way when we got married, and he will really admit that as well. It's been incredible to see how God has changed his heart and my heart in this regard. He does half of the homeschooling - math, science, and language arts. He loves cooking and planning healthy menus and trying new recipes, so he does almost all of the menu-planning, grocery shopping, and cooking for our family right now. He also takes care of all of our bill paying and anything to do with the finances. We sit down and discuss it together and we are on the same page with our goal planning and budgeting, but he's the one who carries it out.
- We go out to eat once per week. We budget for this, and we love that it gives us a break as a family together once each week.
- My kids are a huge help. They help with laundry, cooking, some business stuff, and cleaning/picking up.
- We have cleaners that come once a week. This was hard for me at first. It seemed so extravagant and ridiculous, but I quickly realized that they were saving me at least 5 hours a week and the time I was "buying back" was so worth the money we paid each week. They dust the house, deep clean the floors, and clean all of the bathrooms, among other things. I've also found that it motivates me to keep my house more orderly and picked up for when they arrive on their cleaning day. {Yes, we clean up the house for the cleaners to come!!}
- I have a great team of people who help me with my business. There is NO way I could run this business without a great team of people. We are focusing as much as possible on getting me to a place where I am the community engager and content creator - writing posts, doing periscopes, responding to comments, etc. We're not quite there yet, and I'm still involved in many more details than I need to be, but we're slowly working toward that!
It's not always easy juggling everything, and I have to give myself grace on those hard days. I can't do it all! Instead, I want to focus on doing what I can do and not stressing about what I can't do.
So bottom line is this: my best advice is to determine your few priorities worth focusing on, delegate or say no to everything else you possibly can, remember not to shoot for unattainable perfection, and give yourself grace.
For those of you who are juggling multiple responsibilities in life, what other advice and suggestions do you have for Sara? I'd love to hear!
