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How I Make Time to Blog as a Stay-at-Home Mom
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I realized something this year that has helped my mindset around blogging and entrepreneurship as a stay at home mom so much.
I believe that moms who are entrepreneurs will simply need a different type of work schedule than non-parent entrepreneurs, and that’s just as viable as any other type of work schedule.
For a long time I worried about my work schedule as a stay-at-home mom. I was working odd hours, in little chunks here and there, and it never really felt right. I worried that I somehow wasn't working enough or in the "right" way to be successful.
I worried that because I couldn't go to work at a cafe from 9:00am to 5:00pm like other entrepreneurs, that I somehow wasn't serious enough or effective enough.
What a load of garbage! Talk about limiting beliefs.
As I started to listen to more bloggers who are also stay at home moms, I started to realize that I wasn't alone. And on top of that, these women are very, very successful, many of them much more successful than myself. And yet, they worked the same weird hours as me.
The difference, however, is that they didn't let that mean anything negative about their business.
Now that I know better, I've really internalized the idea that women who are both stay at home moms and entrepreneurs are simply going to need a different type of work schedule than other entrepreneurs.
And that that work schedule can be even MORE efficient and productive than most.
This post is about giving you the freedom to know that you are doing things right even when the rest of the world does it differently.
If you're a stay-at-home mom and you're trying to figure out how to build your business while raising your babies, this post is for you.
This is the blogging schedule I follow now that I have a child, and I hope it helps you too!
1. I Blog in the Early Morning Whenever I Can
I remember when my son was a tiny baby, I would pump around the clock to provide breast milk for him. He wasn't able to breastfeed, so this was the only way for us to do that.
I took 3 months off from working after he was born to be with him and to recover. By the time he was 4 months old, I was ready to get back to it.
That being said, I had a lot of learning to do when it came to figuring out how I was suddenly going to run this business with a tiny baby who needed me 24/7.
Before he was born, I could work anytime I wanted to. I would go to cafes in the middle of the day, and spend plenty of time working that way. I could work normal hours, have dinner with my husband, and essentially live a normal entrepreneurial life (if there is such a thing!)
Fast forward to my son turning 4 months old and we were in a new city, my husband had a new job where he would be gone for 10 hours a day, and I was alone with this little tiny baby and my blog.
In those early days, I would get up at 4:30 in the morning to start work. I'd be awake anyway to start pumping for my son, and so I'd make myself some coffee or tea and set myself up at the kitchen table to work. I'd usually get about an hour of work in before the baby would wake up and I'd feed him. Then, I'd lay him back down to sleep and I'd get back to work.
Now that my son is two and a half, I don't get up quite that early anymore. Usually my work day starts around 6:30, or 6:00am if I'm on top of my game. I work for 60-90 minutes, and then it's time to get my son ready for preschool.
At this point I'll start getting dressed, make some breakfast, get my son dressed, and we'll all have breakfast together before everyone leaves the house.
Work time clocked: 1hr
2. I Blog When I Have Childcare
When my son turned two, I found a small local preschool through one of the churches in our area that offered classes for two-year-olds. The preschool only runs for 3 hours a day 4 days per week, but it was in our budget and had excellent reviews from other moms in the area.
I signed up, and it's been an amazing experience for both of us. My son absolutely sprints to preschool every single day, and I use the time to work as efficiently as I possibly can while he's there.
So what does that look like?
Some days I head to a local cafe or the library to do some computer work while he's in school. Some days, like today, I sit in my car like a weirdo and dictate posts into my phone.
It isn't quite the sexy entrepreneurial dream I had in mind where I have a beautiful office with plush sofas and flowers on my desk while I write soulful and meaningful blog posts that change the world, but it'll do. This is mom life as a work from home mother.
One thing motherhood has made me really good at is becoming efficient. Back in the day it used to take me forever to write blog posts. I'd hem and haw and procrastinate and write slowly, and generally dink around for as long as possible. Now that I know I only have a set number of hours to work, I can knock this stuff out with the best of them.
As soon as I drop my son off at preschool, I race over to wherever I plan to work and I get straight to the most important tasks right away. Although I'm not perfect, I try to not waste any of my precious time messing around on Facebook or checking emails.
When it's one of my three days a month to batch create blog posts, I come prepared with a list of posts and just start dictating as quickly as possible.
On other days I may send tasks to my VA to complete, or work on promoting my posts or creating new products.
Work time clocked: 4 hours
3. I Hired A Part-Time Virtual Assistant
When I decided I wanted to start a second blog, I realized that with my limited work time I would simply have to have some help if it was going to work.
And so I hired a VA on a part-time basis.
If you've never thought about hiring some help, or you are quickly writing it off in your head right now, take a moment to really consider it.
Getting help is an investment in your business, and one that will pay you back in time and money. It's certainly not something you need to start off with right off the bat, but if you find yourself frequently running out of time and unable to get all of your tasks done despite following my best productivity tips , hiring some help may be worth it.
Between sending my son to preschool for a few hours a day and getting some help from my VA, making sure everything gets done has become so much easier. Of course, it still isn't easy, but it's a start.
4. I Blog During My Son's Nap Time
Now that he's two and a half, my son doesn't always take a nap in the middle of the day. However, he does always have quiet time in his room where he can read books or play with his quiet toys. He will typically stay in their happily for between two and three hours, and I tend to split this time 50/50 between working on my business and doing other things around the house that need to be done.
This is usually the time when I will do some cleaning, run the laundry, prepare meals, and work on my blogs.
When I've talked to other mom bloggers, all of them have mentioned this sacred quiet time as something they use to the fullest extent. So if that's you too, you're not alone! There is an entire movement of working mothers who collectively plop onto their couches as soon as they close their children's bedroom doors and get to work building their dreams.
Work time clocked- 5 hours
5. I Occasionally Work in the Evenings
I try really, really hard to take weekends off and only focus on spending time with my family on those days. I think it's so important to make sure that our spouses and our children still get enough of us, and that we take the time to bond with them as well.
That also goes for evening time. Family time is the most important thing for me, so I try not to spend every waking minute working. But that being said, there are some weeknights where I'll put in an extra hour after my son is asleep and my husband is busy doing other things. I definitely try to keep this to only one or two nights per week.
Of course, I know some mom bloggers who work primarily in the evenings. That's great too! For me, I don't have a lot of mental bandwidth after 6:00p.m., so evening work is usually relegated to just answering emails or pinning on Pinterest. But I know that some people feel most creative and alive in the evening, so that might be the perfect time for them to get to work.
You've got to look at your schedule and the way your brain works and figure out the best work times for you and your family. It looks a little bit different for all of us, but I can definitely say that most work-from-home-moms split up their daily schedule into chunks as it suits them.
6. I Do All the Cooking One Day Per Week
The last thing I do to free up more work time and family time is bulk cook our meals. I use to be the mom who cooked three meals per day from scratch, but I’ve recently said No more!
Cooking from scratch can be incredibly time consuming, and I’m a bit of a health nerd so I won’t do much in the way of takeout or boxed meals.
The solution for us has been to pre make all of our meals (except breakfast) on Sundays. Surprisingly, this takes a lot less time than I initially thought it would.
Usually my husband and I will brainstorm a couple of meals we’d like to eat each week, and then I’ll do a run to Costco. When Sunday rolls around, we both head to the kitchen and knock it out. Then we’ll put a couple meals in the fridge for the next two days, and freeze the rest.
A few things we like to eat and come back to over and over are:
- Homemade frozen burritos
- Red pepper sausage soup
- Salmon burgers (patties from Costco!)
- Chili and other soups
My toddler is going through a peanut butter oatmeal phase right now, so we feed him that for breakfast. It only takes a minute or two to make (about as long as it takes to make my coffee!) so I do make that from scratch each day.
My husband and I aren’t big breakfast people, so we pretty much scratch this one from our to-do list.
If you’re anything like me, I know you have a busy life and you want more time with your family! For us, this has been a great way to do it. I’ve now shaved an easy 3-4 hours per week of cooking off my schedule, and we now spend more of that time doing fun family outings.
Sometimes you just have to look at your days and figure out where the time is really going.
Conclusion
Building a blogging business as a stay at home mom can be a bit of a whirlwind, but it is so doable!! You just have to get smart about how you’ll spend your time, and you can do the things you want.
Here’s how I make the time to work and be with my family every single week-
- I’ll work early mornings before the rest of the house is awake.
- I got some childcare through our preschool.
- I hired a part time virtual assistant.
- I blog during nap time/ quiet time.
- I occasionally work in the evenings when my husband is busy.
- I cook all of my meals in bulk to save time each week.
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