Finding Balance

Welcome back!

As you may have read, I have felt convicted to spend less time online and to be more intentional about the time I do spend online. Yesterday, I did very well, spending only 2 hrs. online total and getting quite alot done around the house. I’m such the recovering non-housekeeper. It isn’t that I don’t want to take care of my family or that I don’t want to keep a nice tidy house it’s that I have often gotten overwhelmed by all the tasks which that involves. Therefore, more often that not I’d just give into what I’m better at “work” and not do my “housework” so much.

I did find today that 2 hrs was just not enough time to get client work done for 2 clients, have an interview for an upcoming webinar and do all the normal business tasks, also over the past two days I’ve found with this limited computer time I’ve had little to no time to “connect” with anyone via Facebook or Twitter and that has left me feeling isolated.

I realize this is just day 2 of my new routines so I will press on but I feel some tweaking is likely in the cards for the future. How do you do it? How do you strike a balance? Especially if you blog or work from home? What’s your “routine”? How much time do you spend online? I’d love to hear from you.
Photo Credit: Tom />

An Honest Look

I have to be honest.  If there were any New Year’s Resolution that I needed to adopt, it would be to spend less time online.  Yes, I know I work from home and that involves being online quite a bit, but I know if I were honest with myself that if I spent 2-4 hrs of focused work time I could get way more done.  Also, I keep feeling God telling me, nudging me to re-prioritize and saying to me “Alyssa, put first things first.” Meaning put being a wife and mom before my work, which I must admit I don’t do all of the time because of the money. I worry about the money that I could be bringing in.

And, as we all know money involves work, so that’s when my work is put first, because money is what pays the bills.  Then, there is this belief and this knowledge deep inside of me that knows, money is not your provider, God is your provider dear child.  So, why can’t I just follow that and instead focus on my family, always?

In this new year this is my personal goal.  FOCUS on my FAMILY.  Focus on my home, my kids and my husband, not necessarily in that order.  This means I must keep my computer and work time down to 4 hours.  Any ideas how I can make this easier?  I’d love to hear from you!

Tired of Living in It

I’m tired of living in it.  What you ask…a house that more closely resembles a garbage can than a house.  I say that with sarcasm only slightly.  I am a work at home mom.  My kids are with me 24 hours a day, at least the babies are, and they are 2.5 and almost 1.5 so therefore they have little to no cleaning abilities. 

I focus a large percentage of my day on my business(es) that I run from home.  The other large portion is spent filling sippy cups, changing diapers and breaking up arguments between said two children.  It is “active” and “fulfilling” however the house, well it gets little to none of the “percentage” of my day and has therefore felt slightly neglected.

It doesn’t help that our income has never been large enough to really care for the house properly.  We’ve not done much to the plain shell of a house that the contractors built almost 6 years ago.  Sometimes, I look around and I wonder will it ever look more like a home?  Maybe . . . I am being slightly over dramatic but really I just want it to be a little more cozy, a lot more clean and a tad bit more beautiful. . . can that become a reality?  Would it require me to work less and clean more?

Just wondering. . what should be my plan to take back my house in 2010?

More Time to Be Mom

Many people have the issue that they don’t have enough hours in the day.  I have been guilty of saying the same thing oh so many times.  The truth is, I think it is a bit of an “excuse”.  Now hear me out.  I have been working from home now for almost two years (two years next month in fact) and I have realized this week that I just put too much time into my “work” when I could spend more time, with my kids, having fun, reading a book, cleaning my nasty house, etc, etc. 

But, do I?  NO, do I plan to, YES, I plan to change that.  And yes I’ve probably “planned” that before but I really want to this time.  After all, I am going “back to school” virtually this next week meaning all my classes will be online but that will be yet another thing I need to do.  And just last week I was freaking out a bit about HOW I’m going to handle all this.  School, work, ministry, children, housework, you know the drill, all running through my head.  It was ….the DEVIL!  He is always “seeking to destroy my joy”. He does it often, I should know by now and should be able to “beat him to the punch.”

So, after this weekend at Blissdom, where I heard so many of the moms on the panel reiterate how they spend more time with their families and children than blogging because otherwise they wouldn’t have anything to blog about. I realized, “they are on to something”.  LOL!! I knew that before they said it and I also knew I didn’t have to spend every waking hour working, but call me a workaholic, I get it from my father.

So, I made a decision this week, and I’m sticking to it.  I have merged my business work (my client work) down to 3 days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.  Thursdays I blog for me or I clip coupons, make a grocery plan, sit and play tiddly winks with my kids all day, whatever!  And on Friday’s I work on ministry.  Simple as that.  I am excited about my new found freedom.  Freedom I was taking away from myself.  What about you, do you have a similar problem?

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