Most business-owning or corporate moms I know are BARELY surviving. I was one of them in the before times — before I learned how to actually survive as a mom AND business owner.
See, managing a household is A LOT.
Managing a business is A LOT.
Managing them both at once is like asking a toddler to load the dishwasher properly. But the good news is that I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code to at least managing it all without losing (all of) my sanity.
I’ve done this by breaking down my daily to-do’s and needs into four areas. Follow along with me as I show you what those four areas are and how you can leverage each area without losing sleep or hair.
Area #1: Family
In my book, nothing’s more important than your spouse and kids, and I know y’all are on the same page! I love to keep track of each person’s daily routines, activities, and things they love doing and don’t love doing.
I also outline all of these things so that when we do bring in help (grandparents, babysitters, etc.), we can easily show them our kids’ routines so they can step in and start helping in less time. This makes it so much easier when you think about hiring a sitter.
In this area, I also like to think about family goals. For example, my husband and I have made it a goal to go for a walk after dinner two nights out of the week, have one family game night per month, and have one date night per month.
When I’m able to keep track of everything in one place (like my survival handbook, which I’ve linked in the show notes), it creates a structure that allows everyone to feel balanced, heard, and attended to without me feeling like I’m going insane!
Area #2: Household
When I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, this was one of the areas I struggled with the most. It felt like if I was doing everything I needed to at work and managing to take care of my family, all of the actual household chores were falling by the wayside.
As soon as I implemented structure, though, it became so much more manageable.
This looks like creating task lists for daily, weekly, and monthly must-do’s, as well as noting who’s responsible for each of those tasks. This might include sorting laundry daily, cleaning the kitchen weekly, or mopping the floor every two weeks.
Then, I break it down even further by keeping track of what tasks need to be accomplished in different months of the year. For example, one of the tasks I have for January is to take down all of the Christmas decorations. I’ll organize monthly tasks according to which holidays and seasons are coming up, whose birthdays are next, etc.
Again, I have a template of this inside my Mom’s Survival Handbook, which you can grab here!
Area #3: Family finances
For this one, I start out by looking at any debt that needs to be paid down, like a car loan or student loan. It’s important to have a solid plan in place that doesn’t put too much stress on your budget, but that will help you consistently pay it off every single month.
It’s also important to keep a list of important people in relation to your finances, like your insurance representative, financial advisor, and tax professional.
I also keep all the important financial information in one place for ease of access. With so many accounts, it can sometimes get confusing, so it’s great to know where that information is!
Along with this, I also keep a list of the bills that need to be paid and their frequency, as well as any charitable donations we make so it’s all together when tax time rolls around.
And of course, this is also where I like to plan vacations. I even created a vacation planner to know how much we want to spend on our goal vacation! You can grab our Smart Money Vacation planner here as well.
Area #4: Business finances
For my business, I essentially keep a list of the exact same tasks and bills I would for my household and simply adapt them to my business.
I know that this is one of the most overwhelming elements of running a business for so many moms, but it doesn’t have to be. When you have a grasp on your business finances, it helps your personal finances — and makes it easier to make decisions like when to go on vacation, when to take a day off, and so on.
Have you ever thought about your life and work in these four categories? Can you see how thinking about them like this can help you keep everything organized and “in its place”?
I hope so! I also hope that gives you the help you need to feel more in control of your life, finances, and business! But don’t worry — you don’t have to keep track of this all yourself. I have a new handbook, called Mom’s Survival Handbook for Balancing a Business & a Household. It’s the fill-it-in guide every mom needs when running her own business and managing a house with little kids.
I’ve created this handbook to be customized for YOU — you can edit every page to include your family’s routines, goals, finances, and even your business goals and finances. It’s so robust and can be your “go-to” resource when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
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