Keeper of the Home » Blogging

Managing Life as a Work-at-Home Mom: How to Juggle It All, Part 2

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:00:46 +0000

Did you miss the first two posts in this series? Find them here and here.

Let's continue on with the practical, shall we?

Making Work More Productive

Part of the balancing act is learning to work smarter, not harder. This includes developing the ability to see what doesn't need to be done, and not just learning to do too many things more efficiently. Doing unnecessary work "efficiently" is still a waste of time!

Here are some productivity tips that work for me:

Batching. Rather than processing emails as they come in, on your iPhone or by checking your email frequently as you work, set aside particular chunks of time where you deal with it all at once. You'll be far less distracted and get through it faster. The rest of the time? Just close your email. The world will go on. (And you can apply this to many areas- do all of your weekly writing in one time slot, process orders all at once, etc.)
Set timers for work. I love using The Tiny Timer while I'm writing or completing tasks. It helps me to work faster, stay more focused, and be better at stopping when I need to.
Plan what you need to do before you begin. If I sit down with the computer without a prioritized to-do list, my time use is poor, to say the least. By taking 5 minutes to brainstorm what needs to be done and put it in a priority sequence (most important tasks first), I actually accomplish what is truly important, instead of just what comes easily.
Use Google mail and learn to manage your email well.
Use Google calendars or iCalendar. I use reminders for everything from my blogging post schedule to submitting my food co-op orders to date night with my husband to following up with an advertiser. I have the reminders sent to my email. Some people like the pop-up reminders. Use what works for you.
Avoid email and social media while doing important tasks. This is more particular to having a web-based business like I do, but for anyone that works from home, it's a matter of figuring out what are the distractions that keep you from completing important tasks quickly and effectively, and shutting them off.
Eat a frog. Do your crucial tasks first.

Automate, eliminate, delegate. The process goes like this... take the things that you are currently doing or feel need to be done. Then ask yourself, 1) Can this task be automated in some way? (Computer program, reminders, auto-responders, etc.) 2) Can this task be eliminated? (Is it truly valuable, does it contribute to income-production, is it unnecessary busy work?) and 3) Can this task be delegated? (Again, back to hiring things out. Can someone else do this better/faster/cheaper? Do I really need to be the one to do this?). Just a few examples:

Auto-feeds for social media (I do this for Twitter, but not for Facebook)
Setting up detailed FAQ pages to refer people to
Use email filters to avoid seeing things you don't really need to see, or to automatically forward emails to people who need to deal with them (when it's not you)
Staying current in your field. How many blogs, magazines, articles do you need to read? Is reading them daily or even weekly necessary? How many conferences are worthwhile to attend? Which trade shows are actually worth going to? Be brutal and eliminate everything but the best.
Make a list of all tasks that you do and assess all of the ones that someone else could do, and if you can, seek to delegate or hire them out. Focus only on what you do best and what tasks absolutely require you and you alone.

Image by comedy_nose

Creative Scheduling

Part of being able to keep my family a priority and balance my work time with my husband's is that we try to arrange our schedules creatively. Who says you need to work within regular work hours?

Think outside the box. I use a combination of different times of day, lengths of time, and locations. When you look at your schedule, don't toss out any ideas without considering them. In some seasons, I have gotten up super early one morning a week, or let the children have a movie one afternoon a week. Take advantage of a night that your husband works late. There are so many possibilities.
When do you work best- mornings, afternoons, evenings? Choosing to work during your ideal times helps a lot with productivity. I write and work well in the mornings and early afternoons, but in the evenings my brain starts to shut off. I work one evening each week because it just happened to work that way, but it isn't intensive writing work. I also won't wake up super early to work anymore, because I personally prefer to keep that time for exercise and devotions, and I am a basket-case when I attempt to do mornings at 4 or 5am. For others, they thrive in the early mornings and so that might be their best time!
Before you put together your work schedule, carve out the times that are essential for your family's rhythms and routines. I slot in essentials like meals, homeschool, church caregroup and the like before planning the rest of my schedule.

Letting Go of Things That Aren't Necessary

Some things I've found it's good to let go of:

Social media. I keep it bare bones.
Checking email (or anything else) constantly. Not everything is urgent, so why treat it as such? Just because technology has made us available to the rest of the world every second of the day doesn't mean that we need to go along with it. Turn things OFF.
Making fancy meals. I realized that my family was just as happy with simple meals, so I toned down the need to make more elaborate things with multiple courses or dishes. Soup with bread, pasta with a meat-and-veggie sauce, a hearty casserole with some raw veggies. Why does it need to be more complicated?
Some household tasks. Do the floors really need to be cleaned on a particular schedule if they still look good from the last time you did them? Does anyone look inside your pajama or underwear drawers? I don't fold pajamas or kids pants, and store all my kids underwear and cloth diapers unfolded in baskets. When you're pressed for time with cleaning, do the doorknobs and baseboards and little crevices make a big difference? Focus on the basics- decluttered and wiped surfaces, floors, bathroom basics, and a tidy entryway.
Every opportunity. You can't say yes to everything. I've turned down things that I really wanted to do, but knew would be too much for me and my family.
Perfectionism. I aim for a high quality of standard in the work that I do, especially in my writing. I edit every post as carefully as possible but eventually, I have to press Publish. If I make a mistake, then I make one. Sometimes we just have to do our best, and be content with letting our best be good enough.
Being superwoman. You really can't be. And that's OK.

Source: uhohitsem.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Resources to Recommend

Here are some highly recommend resources that have both challenged and encouraged me in my own journey as a blogger and work-at-home mom:

For bloggers in particular:

How to Make Money Blogging series @ Money Saving Mom

My Top 11 Blogging Tips @ Simple Mom

Blogging With Amy (a blog about blogging for profit, in easy-to-understand language)

Simple Blogging eBook by Rachel Meeks of Small Notebook (this eBook really challenged all the things I thought I "had" to do as a blogger and helped me to scale back and focus on the essentials)

For work-from-home moms in general:

Working from Home @ Simple Mom (this link is to the entire category, because it's full of useful posts, too many to link individually)

Becoming a Work at Home Mom @ Money Saving Mom

How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too by Mandi Ehman of Life...Your Way.

The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss- This is where I got the concept of automation, elimination and delegation. The book is very counter-cultural (and he is not coming from a Christian perspective at all so keep that in mind), but in my opinion, there are some brilliant ideas as far as managing work load, and it's at least worth taking out of the library.

168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam- I'm reading through this right now and finding that it is really challenging the way that I think about how I use my time. It's from the perspective of a work-at-home-mom, although it is written for a broader audience.

What are your productivity tips? What things do you let go of and what helps you juggle it all?

Top image by Marina Pics

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Managing Life as a Work-at-Home Mom: How to Juggle It All, Part 1

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:26 +0000

As I shared last week, I think that working-at-home is an amazing and viable opportunity for many women who wish to (or need to) work but still want to remain at home with their children.

Today, I want to get really practical and start sharing some of the things you can do to really make it work for you. There's no denying that it is a challenge to manage the tasks of maintaining a home and a business, while still having time to care for and love on (and even homeschool) your kids.

Goodness knows, I don't have all the answers, nor do I implement all of these suggestions perfectly. These ideas are the result of 4 1/2 years of trial and error, glaring mistakes, reading good books, and learning from others. Most of them aren't revolutionary. They just work. I need to be reminded of them as much as I want to share them with you.

Getting the Help That You Need

I resisted this for the longest time, for two reasons.

First, we often feel that it is a sign of weakness or that it is unacceptable to get help. Admit it. We want to feel like we can handle everything ourselves.

Problem is, we can't. We need to stop trying to be superwoman, change our attitudes about this and be willing to get the help that we need in order to carry on in a balanced and healthy way.

The second is that I mistakenly believed that I had more time than I had money, and therefore should do everything myself. This is a flawed idea.

If it takes me 6 hours and much frustration to do a design project that is mediocre and may result in less sales or a less professional image, but it takes a professional designer 2 hours to create something stunning and highly effective, that money is well spent. I can focus my time on the things that I excel at, the things that build up my business and ultimately make more money, and her superior design may result in more book sales, more clickthroughs, more pageviews on my website, etc. which in turn might generate income that easily makes up for the expense of the designer.

Making these decisions to hire help becomes easier when you calculate your hourly wage. I know, nobody is keeping tabs of your hours and handing you a neat and tidy paycheck in a home business situation. So, you'll need to calculate it yourself. Figure out the average number of hours that you work per week or per month, calculate the average amount that you earn in the same period of time (your profits, after your expenses), then divide the earnings by the number of hours worked. Voila. You have your "hourly wage".

This calculation was instrumental for me in making the decision to hire my first assistant. If I could earn "X" number of dollars per hour, but could hire someone to take some of the workload off of me for less than what I was earning, didn't it make sense to allow them to do those things, freeing me to do more of the things that grow my business? In both of our (very different) home businesses, my husband and I have found this to be true over and over again.

Does it feel like a risk? Yes. Have we ever felt that we truly didn't have the money? Yup. And I would never, ever suggest that you put yourself into any amount of debt to make such decisions. But, if you can do it without going into the red, and you can see that it could be financially worthwhile when you really analyze it, don't be afraid to hire the help that you need.

(There are also plenty of ways to make this more affordable- barter or trade services, try hiring virtual help from someone in a developing country for less than you would pay here- more on this in the comments section, find someone who is just starting up their business and charging less in exchange for a testimonial or review, hire a skilled high schooler, etc. but this could be a whole other post in and of itself!)

What Do I Hire Out?

I have an assistant, Lindsey, who works about 5 hours per week and helps me with things like moderating comments, emails, research, book promotion, giveaways, and running my private advertising program. I hire out practically all of my design work, as well as my technical behind-the-scenes website issues and upgrades, to a husband and wife team. I'm completing my 3rd eBook with the help of an eBook designer who is also taking care of all formatting and file conversions, plus I hired a wonderful editor rather than attempting to edit the book myself.

I have a mother's helper who comes once a week for an afternoon. She cares for my children and performs one housekeeping task for me each week, like vacuuming or mopping. As I write this post, I have suddenly found my schedule piled up with some unexpected work for the music school we own, in addition to the blog's deadlines and projects, and so this afternoon I will be making some calls for a house cleaner to come for the next few weeks. I don't usually hire someone to clean, but I have no qualms about doing it when needed, either.

Keeping Your Family a Priority

If there's one thing I have learned, keeping my husband and children a priority is absolutely crucial as a work-at-home mom. There have been seasons where my work kept me too busy and distracted, with little leftover to offer my family relationally and I don't want to every do that again.

These are some of the ways that I intentionally keep my family a priority:

Create my work schedule in such a way as to not be on the computer while I'm with my children. I do this to the best of my ability, and yes, sometimes I do work a little bit when I'm with them, but by and large I avoid this as much as possible.
Our mornings are kept sacred, as a time when I eat breakfast with the kids (and my husband, when he's home), and we focus on homeschool, devotions and chores until lunchtime. No computer allowed, unless it's for homeschool purposes.
My husband also works from home, and so we work hard to communicate about what we each need, help each other out in hectic seasons, and take turns having special time with the children. We really have to respect one another's work space and needs, and the better we get at calmly expressing those needs and coming up with solutions together, the better we work as a team.
Learn to walk away. When I used to work on the computer near my kids, I found myself going into "uh-huh" mode too frequently. They became frustrated because they knew I wasn't really paying attention, and I became frustrated by being interrupted. That's why I don't do that anymore. If I do happen to pull out the computer when they're with me, I have to be willing to shut it and walk away to give them 100% of my attention if they need it.
Take time off when you need it. As a family of entrepreneurs, sometimes we just need to call a family day and leave the work behind. We do this occasionally- stop homeschool, plan something fun and just get out of the house together. We always find it refreshing. Holidays are important, and over Christmas, I took a week where I barely even checked my email, let alone did anything else. I'm also planning to take a one-month maternity leave when this new baby arrives in the next 4-6 weeks (but don't worry- there will be plenty of fantastic content, from both myself and other writers).

I simply had too much to share to keep this to one post, so next week I'll share more about working productively, scheduling work time creatively, letting go of things that aren't necessary, and also give some recommended resources.

Do you have a hard time choosing to get the help that you need (this actually applies to all moms, not just ones that work from home)? How do you keep your family a priority in your schedule and daily routine?

Top image by Marina Pics. Other image is our family this summer.

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Managing Life as a Work-at-Home Mom

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:00:04 +0000

As someone who has a firm conviction that being home with my children and keeping my home is the best thing that I could possibly do in this season of life, I never really considered any sort of career or business work once that first sweet baby arrived.

Becoming a work-at-home mom was not part of my original plan. I love the idea of focusing only on my home, my children and my husband and not balancing hours of other work on top of it all. That's what I always thought that I would do.

When blogging and writing turned from hobby to a small income-earning opportunity to a full-fledged business and career pursuit, it surprised me, at times overwhelmed me, but ultimately thrilled me and became something wonderful that I didn't know I wanted (but am so glad that I have).

In the midst of talking about frugality and money-management this month, it seemed only right to also share about generating an income from home, since I know that this is a desire for so many other moms and homemakers.

Is It Worth It?

Personally, I am so grateful that God had bigger ideas than I did when this little blog began so many years ago. He knew the challenges our family would face and the risks we would decide to take as we pursued our dreams. He gave me an opportunity to challenge myself and serve our family in a way I never anticipated. To be able to do something I love from home, while staying focused on caring for and homeschooling my children and keeping my home, is an amazing thing.

I can choose my own hours, take time off when needed, and have complete creative freedom and control as an entrepreneur. I adore what I do and it would be hard to give it up.

There have been hard times as well. For all those business-owners out there reading this, you know well how easy it can be to push yourself too hard, to let the lines between personal and work time blur too much, to allow priorities to become out of order, and for relationships and health to suffer. I've been there. It was a dark time in my life.

I don't regret the work that I've done or that my children know that their mama runs a business as well as a home, but I have at times regretted how I have done things and I have had to make a lot of changes over the past year to work less and work smarter.

Image by Marina Pics

How Do I "Do It All"?

The short answer is, I don't.

What many people don't realize is that those of us who have chosen to work from home (while being committed to caring for our home and children full-time) is that there are many sacrifices along the way.

Things that I have sacrificed to do what I do:

"Free" time (Hobbies? What are those?)
Having an especially clean or well-decorated home
A lot of social outings and opportunities (nights spent home in front of the computer, missed playdates or times with friends, etc.)
Making as many things as I want to from scratch. I buy most (though not all) of my natural skincare products, non-toxic cleaners, Christmas gifts, and some foods, like lacto-fermented sauerkraut, yogurt or sprouted grain breads. I love making what I can, but there's only so much time in the day.
Internet browsing or social media (I don't do Facebook or Twitter other than minimally for business purposes and I hardly ever have the time for pleasure reading blogs or articles these days)

Things I have sacrificed at times, but have learned the hard way that I shouldn't:

Quiet times with the Lord. When we think we don't have enough time, that's when we need to make time.
Exercise. I can't tell you how much better and more energetic this makes me feel.
Sleep.
Time with my kids. I'll talk more in the next post about how I have moved towards hardly ever being on my computer when I'm around my kids.
Time with my husband (another one that is never worth it)

Image by vxla

Time Management Tips for Balancing Home, Family and Business

After doing this for over four years, one of the best pieces of advice that I can give is to keep things separate. By working hard to keep my computer time contained within certain hours and days, and keeping the laptop shut the rest of the time, I have so much more peace and productivity than I did when I was less strict about when I tackled work tasks.

Here's what my work week looks like:

Tuesday 12:30-3:30pm (at coffee shop, while our regular mother's helper comes over to be with the children)

Thursday 7:30-10:00pm (work in my living room, after putting children to bed, while my husband works late)

Friday 9:00am-5:00pm (at coffee shop, while my husband is with the children and does homeschooling-- however, this is just a temporary thing while I finish up a few projects and soon I will only be working 3-4 hours on Fridays)

*I know that many couples aren't able to work out an arrangement like we have for Fridays. This is a new thing for us only in the past 6 weeks or so, as my husband's work schedule was previously much too busy. In the past, I would work one or two extra evenings instead, or try to squeeze some extra work time out of a nap/quiet time. I also chose not to take on any large projects for the past year, because I knew I simply couldn't do them and still keep up with everything else.

Aside from those specific work times, I also:

Open my laptop once, very briefly, in the mornings to check in with my HelloMornings Facebook group and to put up the newest post on the Keeper of the Home Facebook page. Then I close it as quickly as I can, before I get myself into trouble. :)
Occasionally go on for 30-60 minutes in the afternoon while kids are occupied/having quiet times or maybe for an hour in the evenings, but only if I really need to.

I try not to touch my computer on the weekends to the best of my ability. I break this rule sometimes if there is a time-sensitive project I have going on (like a book launch, or a website re-design or technical problem), or if I've gotten behind due to unexpected circumstances like illness.

I know this may not be the right strategy for everyone. I have a blogging friend that likes being able to attend to things like her emails, while sitting at the table beside her daughter and being available to stop and offer homeschool help and guidance as needed. It really works for her and that's awesome.

Personally, I get distracted and find that I am not able to be effective in either homeschooling or work tasks when I try to do the same. Knowing yourself and being honest about what is and isn't working is crucial.

Making Work at Home Work for You

I'm pretty sure there is no magical way to make this juggling act easy, but there are definitely ways to make it easier .

In my next post, I'll discuss things like getting the help that you need, making your work time more productive, creative scheduling, keeping your family a priority, and letting go of things that just aren't necessary (any guesses as to what I think those are?). Sound like fun? Make sure to check in for Part 2 next week!

Do you work from home? How do you keep life balanced and has it been worthwhile for you so far? What questions on the topic would you love to have answered?

Top image by Machine is Organic

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The Most Popular Posts of 2011

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:00:48 +0000

I hope that you've all had a restful and memorable time with your family during the Christmas season! Our holidays were relatively uneventful, but still wonderful.

My husband and I took a couple days away the week before Christmas to do some dreaming and goal-setting for the coming year. Then we spent a quiet week preparing for our holidays, which included an evening with my family, Christmas Eve worshipping with our church family, Christmas day with our children focused on thankfulness and generosity (not to mention an amazingly yummy breakfast), then Christmas dinner and Boxing Day with my husband's family in Washington.

Though I am still trying to find a solid chunk of time to take a New Year's planning retreat (have you taken yours yet?), I was also reflecting on the past year and tried to come up with a list of words that sum up 2011 for me:

Burnout. Replenish. Growth. Compassion. Loss. Life. Mornings. Reliance. Friendship. Purge. Dreams. Risk. Trust.

What words would you use to describe your past year?

Most Popular Posts of 2011

It was also fun to go back through the archives and check out the statistics for all of last year's posts to discover which ones were the most popular. Some I expected, others surprised me.

Here are the top 14 posts of 2011:

(Why 14? I have no idea, it just seemed like a good number.)

11 Simple, Homemade Gifts
Seven Strategies for Having More Productive Days
My Frugal Beauty Routine
Treating Depression Naturally: Supplements, Herbs and Foods for Feeling Better
How to Make Water Kefir
Plan It- Don't Panic: A 6 Week Meal Planning Challenge (and I'm excited to announce that as a follow-up to this challenge, I have a new meal planning eBook coming out in the next couple weeks!)
The Thoughtful Parent's Guide to Thinking Through Vaccinations
Meal Plans from "100 Days of Real Food"
Two Recipes for Odor-Eliminating, Air Freshening Sprays
Gentle, All Natural Deodorant Stick Recipe
Homemade Herbal Vapor Rub to Relieve Coughs and Congestion
Non-Toxic Cleaners You Can Make at Home
Good Fats, Bad Fats, and Why I Eat Plenty of Butter
15 Fun and Frugal Memories to Make With Your Kids This Summer

Did you have a favorite post that you don't see in this list?

More importantly, what would you like to see in the coming year? Although I've got plenty of ideas and have planned out the first several months of the year already, I am always eager to find the topics that matter most to YOU.

My goal at Keeper of the Home remains,

"To be an encouraging, inspiring and Christ-centered resource for those who aspire to healthful and natural homemaking."

What would you like to learn more about this year? What are you struggling with? Are there types of recipes you're looking for? Aspects of more "natural" homemaking that are still a challenge? An area that you would like to make positive changes or baby steps in?

What would you like to see on Keeper of the Home in 2012?

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Merry Christmas!

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:00:44 +0000

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end...
Isaiah 9:6,7

Wishing you all a very blessed Christmas, as we celebrate the Savior!

There will be one more post before Christmas, as Erin shares tomorrow with some helpful suggestions for taking and making the most of a personal retreat for the New Year. Then I will be taking a few days off for the holidays, spending time with my family.

We'll be back to more regular posting on Tuesday, December 27th. In the New Year, we've got all sorts of great topics planned, including:

The launch of my upcoming eBook on menu planning
Getting your finances under control
Ways to save money on healthy foods, household and beauty items, and so much more
An mp3 interview with Budget Saving Mom, full of money-saving ideas from her new book
Review and giveaway of the book, The Money Saving Mom's Budget
Being a work-at-home mom and learning to balance it all
Getting ready for baby- having a fit pregnancy, natural baby care, and some other baby-related topics in February
March will feature cooking-from-scratch tutorials, traditional kitchen basics, tips for cooking efficiently, and finding the time to make wholesome foods.

I'm excited to begin another new year here at Keeper of the Home! Thank you all for making this past year so fantastic. It is such a joy to run this site, to partner with such incredible writers, and to be in community with all of the readers here.

Merry Christmas to you all!

How will you be spending the holidays this year?

Image by Wonderlane

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My Podcast with Simple Mom

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:00:18 +0000

I've mentioned before that I love to listen to the Simple Mom podcasts. Not only do they make laundry or other tedious cleaning tasks go by a little easier, but they're light-hearted, a fun way to get to know other mom bloggers, and feature my sweet friend Tsh from the Simple Mom blog.

I've been a part of Simple Living Media, writing for Simple Organic, for almost two years. This year I got to connect with Tsh even more personally as we travelled to the Philippines together this spring and then spoke at the Relevant conference this fall.

I was honored to be on the Simple Mom podcast this week. We have so much in common and it was easy to chat for an hour-- we talked about homeschooling, balancing daily life when you're an entrepreneurial family, de-cluttering and the struggles related to getting rid of our "stuff", and getting ready for baby #4, among other things.

So pull up that laundry basket, or pile of unwrapped gifts, or Christmas cards to be addressed, and come have a listen!

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My Journey to Burnout and Back: A One Year Update

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:00:09 +0000

It was nearly one year ago that I first began to share about my experience with burnout.

Last January, I shared very candidly about the circumstances and lifestyle choices I had made that had pushed me to a place of spiritual, mental and physical breakdown. It was undoubtedly one of the hardest times of my life, and yet I have learned so much and come so far since that time, that a friend encouraged me to share what my journey out of burnout has looked like.

A Timeline

This is sort of an bird's eye view of the journey that I've been on:

August 2009- Birth of third child
Fall 2009- Began a season of challenging life circumstances, and did not allow myself to rest and recover from birth, but instead pushed myself too hard to keep going, started writing a new book, and landed myself in the hospital with a serious infection
Winter 2009/10- More family health issues (mostly my husband), lost several family members to cancer, travelling for work.
Spring 2010- Frantically trying to complete my 2nd book, prepare to launch a new website, attend another work conference, and move into a new home.
Summer 2010- Launched second website, moved, tried to keep up with gardening and preserving, all the while beginning to experience early signs of burnout and depression.
Fall 2010- Realized that I was really becoming undone, started admitting that I needed help, made a plan to sell my new website, but still pushing myself as we began the new homeschool year and I kept up with both businesses.
Early Winter 2010- Finalized details for selling website, began to make plans for rest and recuperation in the New Year.
Winter 2011- Website officially sold in early January. Started Wellness series here on Keeper of the Home. Began reading as much as I could on depression, adrenal fatigue and spiritual depression. Started to allow myself to rest, began taking supplements and eating specifically to heal my body, and significantly cut back my schedule, both work and personal. Took a 2 day personal retreat.
Spring 2011- Starting to feel that the fog is truly lifting. Energy is returning, after 2 months spent doing very little but resting. The spring sunshine helps a lot. I continue to try to give myself more grace to rest and recover, and undertake a one-week physical cleanse to rejuvenate my body. Prepare to go to the Philippines with Compassion International.
Summer 2011- Travel to the Philippines (an amazing trip), return home to discover that my friend who was battling cancer is now terminal, and also that I am newly pregnant with #4. Spend the summer trying to rest, doing the bare minimum in the home, grieving and spending time with our friend and especially her family after she passes in July. Realize that although I am better in so many ways, I still don't have a lot of extra reserves for taxing circumstances.
Fall 2011- Energy is returning with the pregnancy. Spend some time working for our family music school, in addition to my business, but this time my husband and I make a plan for extra childcare and household help, and I postpone starting homeschool until my work load lightens up. Perhaps I'm learning a little. :)

Caring for Myself- a Novel Idea That Actually Works

This brings me to these past couple of months, during which I have continued to find new ways to keep a more manageable schedule and do things that keep my body and spirit healthy.

I signed up with the Hello Mornings challenge, to give myself the added inspiration to get up early for exercise and regular time with the Lord. This was one of the best things I did this fall. I had to force myself to go to bed earlier as much as I could (always a good thing).

The physical exercise was so refreshing and has helped me to remain mostly comfortable and energetic as I pass the 30 week mark in this pregnancy. The regular time with God each morning was simply healing and life-giving. I needed it so much more than I knew.

I've been careful to ensure that I am getting enough irons, minerals, cod liver oil (fatty acids and Vit A and D), among other things throughout the pregnancy, like eating enough protein and trying to drink plenty of water. I also did a 2-month sugar-free diet (along with a host of other food restrictions) to help heal my gut and reduce Candida yeast, which I know has been helpful. I don't succeed every day at doing/eating everything I should, but being as consistent as I am able to really does make a noticeable difference.

Balancing Blogging with Life

Learning to balance blogging work with life has also been an important part of my journey. Here are a few things that I have given up:

Most social media. I am still on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, but my participation level is very, very minimal (5 minutes per day or less, and sometimes not at all).
Writing as often. I have brought on more writers over this past year, and this has been such a good decision. They add so much amazing knowledge and unique perspectives, and writing only twice per week (for KOTH- I do some other writing as well) is manageable and enjoyable for me.
Doing it all myself. I have increasingly been hiring work out, like design or technical work, and have added a fabulous Virtual Assistant, Lindsey, to the KOTH team.
Book writing. I took a year and a half off of writing anything beyond my blog and a few online articles for other sites. No new book projects, until just this past month when I took on two small projects that I felt I was finally ready for.
Working during the day. My goal is to not get on my computer before noon (except for checking in with my Hello Mornings group and putting up the newest post on Facebook). Other than that, I aim to spend my mornings exercising, doing devotions, serving breakfast, and then homeschooling. This has been immensely helpful. Instead, I work on Tuesday afternoons (with a mother's helper), in the evenings after the children are in bed, and just recently on Fridays when my husband is able to be home with the children, and occasionally pop on to check email in the afternoons. I try to avoid doing much on the weekends as well, and no more crazy late nights or early mornings.

One ebook that was truly encouraging to me last spring was Simple Blogging, which really helped me to release myself from the need to be this "perfect" blogger who did it all. I'm not that blogger and I don't want to be. Letting go of feelings of obligation and high expectations on myself has made such a difference in allowing me to blog more peacefully.

Has All of This Really Made a Difference?

In a word, yes.

I wouldn't say that I am back to the ideal place that I would like to be, healthwise. I am probably back to functioning at about a 90% capacity, but compared to those times a year ago when it was more like 20-40%, that is a vast improvement.

I still occasionally struggle with mild depression. I still sometimes push myself too hard and begin to feel that burnt out feeling. I can tell when my stress levels are too high, because I begin to sleep more poorly, find myself irritable and emotional, and get eczema on my hands. I'm more aware of how I am doing, and am quicker to take steps to make things better.

There's a reason this post is about my journey, not simply my recovery. It is truly a journey, one that I am definitely still on.

I have learned so much through this experience:

I really, honestly cannot do it all. Not even close.
I need to be far more dependent on the Lord than I ever realized before.
It is not a sign of weakness to ask for help.
It is not a sign of weakness to need to rest.
When we pick up extra things, something else has to give. The equation doesn't work if we constantly add, add, add and never subtract.
Caring for my physical body and my emotional health is not selfish. It enables me to care for my family from a place of wholeness and strength.
Life is meant to be enjoyed, something I still struggle with. But it is a very good and God-given thing to have fun, to laugh, to take delight in people and experiences and the things that He has given us.
Our bodies are intricately and wonderfully made. The Lord often uses our health to speak to us, if we're willing to listen.
No amount of personal productivity, or success in meeting my own goals, or even doing "good" things for others, is worth damaging my relationships with God or my family for. Ever.

Thank you for letting me share my story, both last year and now. I am thankful and humbled to be in community, not only with the women in my "real" life who have loved me so well, but also with all of you. So many of you shared your stories and struggles so vulnerably as well, and it is a privilege to walk this journey with you.

Have you ever walked through a season of burnout? What have you learned about keeping yourself healthy, and what actions do you take when you feel yourself becoming unbalanced?

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A Warm Welcome

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:00:54 +0000

This month, I'm happy to welcome 4 new contributing writers to Keeper of the Home!

Brandy @ The Marathon Mom

Diana @ A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa

Erin @ The Humbled Homemaker

Courtney @ Simply Nurtured

Also joining us are 3 guest writers, whom you will see a little less often, but still quite frequently:

Natalie @ Visionary Womanhood

Mindy @ The Purposed Heart

Rachel @ Day2Day Joys

Please welcome all of these ladies warmly! They were very carefully selected because of the wealth of knowledge and different life experiences and seasons that they represent, and I am confident that you will enjoy what they have to say.

You can learn more about them by visiting the Contributing Writers page, or better yet, visit them on their blogs!

And Some Giveaway Winners

From the popular marriage-honoring shirts giveaway from Union28, the winner of a $50 gift certificate is:

Andrea (james.and.andrea@)

Two winners of the scrumptious, healthy ice-cream recipe ebook, Just Making Ice Cream:

Emily P (eap216@)

Tempe (tempe.kraus@)

Congratulations, all! If you haven't received an email yet concerning your prize, please get in touch with me.

Image by jerrylou0520

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Monthly Email Giveaway WINNER for The Willow Store!

Kate Tietje — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:52:17 +0000

The winner of last month's email-only giveaway from The Willow Store is:

elizabethcrook82@...

Congratulations!

If you haven't checked out The Willow Store yet, take a look! They have many excellent, sustainable options, including wool dryer balls, other natural laundry options, reusable female pads, cloth diapers, and lots more.

This month's giveaway is from Health, Home, Happiness. Cara (a contributing writer here) offers grain-free meal plans, to make eating grain-free easier. We'll be giving away THREE 4-month subscriptions to lucky winners!

Remember, all you have to do to enter is subscribe by email. If you already subscribe, you're entered to win each month. That's it! You don't have to do anything else. You can read all the details here.

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So Many Giveaway Winners!

Kate Tietje — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:32:28 +0000

Recently we had an awesome week of giveaways! And now...the winners!

The winner of the Naturopathic First Aid Kit, out 3684 entries, is:

Amy Hofer (lizziehofer@...)

For those who didn't win, Naturokits is offering a coupon code: DCKOTH, for 10% off their kits through March 15th.

The winner of the Graham Gardens Gift Basket, out of 1829 entries, is:

Emily Yates (yatesters@...)

The winner of the Hampton Creek Bed & Breakfast Stay, out of 1472 entries, is:

Alicia Hart (Aliciamhart@...)

The winner of the the Nature's Living Clay, out of 1572 entries, is:

Karen Knapp (Karen@...)

The winners of the Plan to Eat 1-year memberships, out of 1668 entries, are:

Zsofia Lintner (zsofika1@...)

Ashley Groover (ashley4him@...)

Joy Rhodes (joylrhodes@...)

Suzannah Paul (shoutlaughlove@...)

Jennifer McMurray (wesnjennifer@...)

And lastly, the winner of the Berkey Light Water Filter, out of a whopping 6483 entries, is:

Martine Anthony (gfmom3@...)

Monthly Email Subscriber Giveaway

The winner of the February email-only giveaway, which was a $50 gift certificate for wholesome skin care products from Graham Gardens, is:

jsbarkand@...

Remember, all you have to do to be entered in the email-only giveaway is subscribe to Keeper of the Home via email. That's it! Once you're subscribed, you're entered for every month's giveaway.

March's giveaway is a $50 natural living package from The Willow Store. Their goal? To support a more reusable future, and they have wonderful, sustainable products for moms, babies and the home that help you to do just that.

Congratulations to all the giveaway winners!

(If you've won, you should have received an email with further details-- if you haven't yet, please contact us!)

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