7 Remarkable Ways to Easily Balance Your Mom Life

If there’s one thing that I hear from moms and everyone else, it is the struggle to find life balance in all the pieces in their lives. Work, family, home… Everyone feels the time crunch and it’s not going away any time soon.

Courses abound about time management, online workflow, planners, organization, life/work balance and the list goes on, But things don’t seem to be getting easier, and there is even more stuff to do.

So what is the answer? If I could put the solution into 3 words I would say:

Simplify. Prioritize. Disconnect.

That’s it in a nutshell. But there is only one problem. It’s almost impossible to do today.

Why? Because our lives are complex, there are so many things to balance. Being online is a vital part of most people’s lives today.

But it doesn’t change the truth and we have to start somewhere, so let’s return to these three ideas. Simplify, Prioritize and Disconnect.

Many people will get nervous just thinking about this. So the first thing to do is take a deep breathe and get out a piece of paper (or a Google doc 🙂

After you’ve taken a few deep breaths, you have two choices before you complete this task 1) Tell yourself (and believe!) that it’s possible to find balance and create a less hectic life or 2) put back the paper and continue living the life that you have been until now.

It takes resolve, but you can do it.

1) Taking Stock

It’s time to take a look at your life as a whole. What is causing the most stress in your life? Are you constantly on the go, running between work and carpools? Picking up this child from school, chauffeuring this child to one activity while you’re picking up another?

Are you overwhelmed by the state of your home, able to stay on top of the work sometimes, yet falling way behind at others? Are you and your husband like ships passing in the night? You hardly have more than a few minutes each day to say hello before you are exhausted?

Write down on one side of the paper all of the areas that you are feeling stressed about or that are making you feel overwhelmed and lacking balance. Now think about and write down what you would rather see happening every day.

Once you have finished, really take stock of the top three areas that are causing you stress. For argument’s sake, let’s use the three areas that I brought as examples and see how we could tackle each one.

a) Over Chauffeuring Kids – Although we want to provide our kids with varied experiences, sometimes we wear ourselves too thin in the process. Especially for working moms or those with many obligations, we may need to cut some of our children’s activities in order to maintain our sanity.

Perhaps one child could have one activity once a week for a few months, while another child could have a quiet afternoon at home with you. Perhaps you could find a friend that wants to sign her child up to do the same activity and you could make a carpool together.

It may not be the right time in your life to be chauffeuring kids around, especially if you have very young children at home. Today you can enroll your child in an online class instead of having to get in the car to take him/her to and from an activity.

b) Take stock of your home. – Is your home cluttered and not running well? Do you feel overwhelmed with all the stuff that you have to manage every day? Perhaps you can’t imagine having the time to declutter and get everything under control?

You have several options. If you don’t have time to go through your whole home, try to declutter the communal areas. Put away half of your children’s toys and recycle the toys on a bi-monthly basis. Your space will immediately feel less cluttered with less mess to clean up each day (and your kids will not even notice.)

Make a clear rule that before your children take out a new toy, they must clean up the last one. You will have to guide and direct them the first couple of weeks but they will get the hang of things and your life will be much easier.

Make a decision to spend ten minutes a day clearing your kitchen cabinets and counters. Try to find at least three things that you can get rid of each day. As your kitchen becomes less cluttered, you will feel so much more in control and be motivated to carry through to the rest of the house.

c) Strengthen your relationship with your husband –This one may take some practice but can yield big results. Each night when you and your husband are finally home, take him aside for a minute and tell him, “you know I missed you so much today.” “I am so busy with the kids but I want you to know that I love you.” It might sound silly, but it will mean a lot to him.

As you go through your evening routine and are very busy with the kids, put your hand on his shoulder as you pass by or give him a small compliment. These may seem like small things, but done consistently can make a big difference and bring more balance to the relationship.

You will both feel better about the relationship and you will somehow find the time to spend more time together, thus reinforcing your relationship even more.

The above are just examples, and everyone’s list will be different, but getting your difficult areas out on paper will make a difference. Perhaps you won’t be able to find a total solution, but in a few weeks take out your piece of paper and see if the changes have made sufficient improvements or brought more balance to your life.

If you are still not satisfied, reassess the situation and try another solution. Eventually, as you continue to look for solutions, you will find something that works for your family.

2) Simplify, Declutter

If simplifying and decluttering were not on your list, work to incorporate them now. The more that we can simplify and create systems (I go much more in depth about this topic in my upcoming signature course), the less we will feel stressed and out of balance. Start with a 10-15 minute a day declutter, and see how quickly your house will fall into shape.

If you have trouble finding the time, set your alarm 15 minutes earlier. You will be amazed by what you have accomplished in a week.

3) Learn to say No

If you are working or raising small children, you have your work cut out for you. Although it is worthy to dedicate time to help others, you have to be able to manage the extra obligations without putting your entire family under stress.

If you are able to manage additional obligations with aplomb, by all means. However, if accepting more will cause you undue stress and worry, be assured that there will be many other times in your life that you can willingly help out.

4) Reach out to your Spouse

As we mentioned earlier, never stop reaching out to your spouse. If you have to do all of the initiating, don’t take this as reticence on his/her part. It is sometimes difficult to read our spouses. Keep reaching out and your spouse will answer in kind.

Don’t doubt your spouse, it may be difficult for him/her to reach out. However, if you continue, the relationship will surely blossom.

5) Meal Preparation

Meal prep at the end of the day when the kids are tired and ratty can cause undue tension. Try to cook double portions to save time on meal prep and always have something on hand in the freezer. Examples of foods that do well in the freezer are meatballs or chicken with sauce, vegetable quiches and some casseroles.

A fantastic book with delicious recipes that are suitable for beginners and veterans is Seriously Good Freezer Meals:

Each of the 150 recipes in the book comes with gorgeous illustrations and is labeled for every type of food need (ie gluten free, vegetarian etc.)

Having food ready in the freezer on those hectic days can make the difference between chaos and calm.

6) Doing what you Love in Small Chunks

Many mothers feel upset because they have so little time for themselves in the child-rearing years. This can be especially painful when we have projects and needs that we feel compelled to accomplish.

We only have so many hours in a day. Between kids, work and maintaining a home, we often have little time to do the things that give us pleasure.

Let’s say that we are pining to complete a project of refinishing an old dresser. Finding the time for this can be more difficult than completing an obstacle course! However, we return again to our paper or project planner. By breaking our project into 15-minute increments, we find a few minutes several times a week to accomplish our dream.

We may have to give up other projects in the meantime. Sometimes we might have to wait to find a time that doesn’t conflict with other obligations. However, if we stick with a plan, eventually even if it takes a few months, we can accomplish our goals.

It’s not easy to find the patience to wait when we have a driving goal but we can accomplish it! And when we accomplish a goal in small increments, it is doubly rewarding that we were able to do so.

We accomplish our goals without disrupting our family flow. Beautiful! And we slowly develop the beautiful character trait of patience, that will serve us well throughout life!

7) Putting the Brakes on Technology to Find Balance

And finally, we come to one of the most difficult areas that we face in today’s world … and that is our overwhelming technology that sucks our time and constantly begs for our attention. Of course, you know what I am referring to. Our constant attachment to our devices.

This is a difficult subject that takes tremendous will to defeat. However, it is the very thing that takes us away from our spouses and children and keeps us from accomplishing our dreams. Try to make times when devices are not in use especially when our kids come home from school and after our children are in bed.

If a spouse feels that you are more interested in your phone than in him/her, it will harm the relationship. If this is a problem in your home, make a point to discuss this with your spouse. Make phone-free times, so that you can spend a few minutes together at the end of the day with your spouse.

Having the time together at the end of the day will strengthen your relationship and build a strong, calm home.

Raising a family and building a stress-free home environment takes lots of time and planning. However with concentrated effort and focus it can be fulfilling and lead to a warm and loving home. Take the steps above and you will see the balance in your home change and improve! Wishing you success as you simplify, prioritize and disconnect!

Please comment, like ans share with your friends!