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Abby Lawson

Organizing, Decorating, Blogging

May 29, 2015 By Abby Lawson 14 Comments

A Week in the Life of Our Full-Time Blogging Family (with FREE Planning Printables!)

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A Week in the Life of Our Full-Time Blogging Family with Free Planning Printables | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

It’s actually pretty comical that I planned to share this post this week, a post where I talk about our schedule and routine and how we fit everything in. This week has been crazy. Dealing with technical issues on the back end of the blog and getting ready for the relaunch of Framework in a few weeks has totally thrown me for a loop.

I didn’t finish all of the posts I had planned, and the posts that went out posted a little later than I anticipated. There were a few times in my desperate attempts to catch up that I used the TV as a babysitter so that I could try to get more things done and subsequently felt extremely guilty about it. I have gotten less sleep than I should. Things I know I need like my quiet time and working out have gone out the window. Basically, I’ve fallen into that “survival mode” that is all too familiar when I start to get busy.

A Week in the Life of Our Full-Time Blogging Family with Free Planning Printables | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

One of the post requests I get most frequently is, “Can you tell us what your typical day/week looks like? How do you fit everything in?” As many times as I’ve gotten this question, though, I seem to keep putting off writing this post. As I started to think about why I haven’t written it until now, I came up with a few theories:

  1. As you can see from my ramblings about this week’s events, as hard as we try, as much as we plan, we can’t do it all.
  2. Though we have a schedule in theory, it almost never goes according to plan and every day is different.
  3. I think I was trying to wait until I “had it all together” so I could share some epic wisdom about how you can fit everything in if you just follow these five easy steps. HA.

So why am I finally writing this now? Maybe I’m just resigning myself to the fact that I’ll never have it all together, that there will always be things on the to-do list that don’t get finished. And that’s okay. As crazy and chaotic as it sometimes is, I really love the life that Donnie and the Cs and I have, and I truly wouldn’t have it any other way. So keeping in mind that all of the stars in the universe would have to align perfectly for the following schedule to actually go as planned, here’s what a “typical” week {sort of} looks like for us…

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When Donnie and I both started blogging full time in January, we came up with a schedule that allowed us to split time, with one of us working while the other watched the Cs.

A Peek at Our Week | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

On the weekends, we do cleaning/family time/church in the mornings and usually end up working on DIY projects in the afternoons. Both of our boys still nap (Yes, the 6 year old naps, and he actually needs it or he turns into a grump. All-day first grade next year will be interesting!), which gives us a two-hour chunk every afternoon, and they are so used to projects that they like to “help” when they are awake, so it all works out!

As far as how I spend my time, here is the basic breakdown:

Morning Routine

So in an ideal world (which, as a reminder, is rarely), I would wake up each day at 6-6:15 and do my quiet time, then work out from 7-7:30, have breakfast with the Cs, get ready, and get everyone off to school.

Monday

Also when the stars align, we would finish all of our projects on the weekends so that on my full work day on Monday, I could edit photos write all of my posts through the following Monday. {I am not a work-ahead blogger. I have tried desperately to become one, but every time I get a little bit ahead I start taking more and more time on projects trying to make them better and lose all of the extra time. Apparently I work best under pressure. 😉 } I work until 6 or so on my full days.

Evening Routine

We have dinner as a family, clean up the kitchen and play area, and the Cs go to bed around 8. I work again from 8 until 11 (the goal, but usually it’s closer to midnight), answering emails and comments, scheduling social media, finishing posts if necessary, and planning for the next day.

A Week in the Life of Our Full-Time Blogging Family with Free Planning Printables | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

Tuesday

My parents come in on Tuesdays when Donnie is working the full day (they live an hour and a half away but like to see the Cs all of us 😉 every week, so Tuesday is that day), and I try to do laundry and straightening then since I have some extra sets of hands to help with the boys.

Wednesday

Up until a few weeks ago, Caleb had preschool on Wednesday mornings, so I would get him ready, drop him off, and usually do errands or work at the Starbucks near his school. (Now that Caleb’s school is out, we usually hang out at home or run errands together on these days.) I would pick him up when his class ended, rush to pick up Con from kindergarten 15 minutes away, then head home for lunch. Once I put them down for nap, it was Donnie’s turn to be in charge. Ever since we’ve both started blogging full time, we’ve had an eBook that we’ve been working on, so I try to use these half days to work on book stuff rather than my day-to-day blog posts.

Thursday

Thursday is like Wednesday, just in reverse. If I was caught up on my blog posts (rare), I would again use my morning to work on book stuff. Donnie would be in charge of the boys until nap when I take over, but since they both still sleep almost every day, I could continue working until about 3 or so when they wake up. We play or go somewhere fun until I have to start dinner at 5 or 5:30, and then the evening routine begins.

Friday

Friday mornings are the time when Donnie and I touch base about whatever projects are going on at the time and plan out upcoming posts, projects, and schedules. I am always surprised at how much time planning takes, but I think having things planned out well helps them run more smoothly, and it definitely helps keep us on the same page. We have shared Google Calendars, folders in Google Drive, and boards on Trello that we use to help us stay organized and delegate tasks.

We work on our own while the boys are napping on Fridays or sometimes I do the grocery shopping during this time. About twice a month we have a conference call with our joint mastermind group on Friday afternoons, so if the boys are awake before that ends, they get to have movie time. Then we usually try to do something fun as a family to start the weekend.

A Week in the Life of Our Full-Time Blogging Family with Free Planning Printables | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

Things I Don’t Do

I also feel like I should mention some things that my work time does not include, just to be transparent and emphasize again that I am not superwoman and have a lot of help! Donnie handles all of the accounting and business end for both of our blogs. He also does all of the technical stuff and troubleshooting when anything goes down. He does the research when it comes to business strategy and products and services we use, like hosting, payment processors, themes/landing page setup, collaborative tools, and additional features for our sites. My sister helps with some of my social media scheduling, though I am still involved in some of that as well. It’s definitely a team effort!

Whew! Reading back through that it seems like I have so much time that I should be months ahead on my blogging schedule! Where does it all go?! That “general” routine doesn’t account for time with extended family, playdates, the Cs’ sports and other activities or events that happen often but aren’t at the same time every week, so that takes up some of the time. And everything always takes longer than we think it’s going to, so the time gets eaten up quickly! I thought once Donnie and I were both working on the blog full time that we would check everything off our to-do list every day, but instead we just have more ideas and a longer list to work on!

As I’ve said over and over again on the blog, when I start feeling stressed about my time or schedule, I make a printable to help me get organized. When I sat down to think about how my “ideal” week would look and create the schedule I talked about above, I made two lists: one of things I want to do, and another of things I need to do. Once I had my two lists, I made a calendar and filled in the general routine I want to stick to during the week.

A Peek at Our Week | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

I made three little boxes at the bottom of the calendar for notes, and I use one to write out my morning routine, another to write out my evening routine, and the third to list people I want to connect with throughout the week, either other bloggers or people in “real life.” 🙂

This printable serves as a reminder of what I want to be doing with my time during the week, and though it doesn’t happen perfectly, it gives me something to work toward and helps me stay on track. I thought you might like to create a weekly plan, too, so you can download the free printables below!

A Peek at Our Week | JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com

{Click here to download the “Things to Do” page and here for the “My Weekly Plan” printable.}

Life is crazy. Our plans are imperfect, and our execution of those plans are even less perfect. But it’s our life, and we love it! I hope I answered your questions  about what our typical week looks like– you’re probably sorry you asked!

If there’s anything I forgot, feel free to ask in the comments below and I’ll answer as best I can. I feel like I don’t say it enough, but I am so thankful to everyone who follows along on our journey and helps make this crazy little blog a reality. Thank you so much for your encouragement and support in the midst of it all!

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Filed Under: Blogging, Happy Thoughts, Organization, Printables Tagged With: blogging, family, free printables, organization, planning, printables, priorities, routine, time management, work

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Comments

  1. Lisa says

    May 29, 2015 at 9:47 am

    You’re pretty amazing and an inspiration to me who is soooo “organizationally challenged” and procrastinates big time. This morning though, I’m “eating that frog” (getting my educational credits completed, need to get 45 every 3 years, as a nurse practitioner) on my day off, though took a moment to read your blog!

    Reply
  2. Kristi says

    May 29, 2015 at 9:47 am

    It’s so refreshing to hear I’m not the only one to feel like life can be such a a disorganized, chaotic mess sometimes! I understand exactly what you mean by “survival mode,” which gets pulled out all to often in our house. We put so much pressure on ourselves to do it ALL! To be fair, I am one of those that likes to be busy at seemingly every moment, but it’s amazing how quickly those to-do lists can grow out of hand. I loved reading about how you and Donnie spend your days – hopefully it can inspire me to organize things a bit better too 😉 Have a fabulous weekend Abby!

    Reply
  3. Lor says

    May 29, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    Great post, Abby! You and your family are such an inspiration, it sounds like you have a lot of great help and support. I think it’s so awesome how you guys are both full-time bloggers and schedule your work together so well. Thanks for the great read 🙂

    ~Lor @ lovelyandcozy.com

    Reply
  4. Dianne says

    May 29, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    Hi Abby~Thank you for the glimpse into your weekly routine! I try to be organized but always end up getting nothing accomplished because I a) end up reading all my favorite blogger’s posts….for hours or b) get stuck emptying out my millions of emails (that’s what it seems like anyway!) or C) doing research for a project or post I want to do but end up getting sucked into the internet “black hole”!! I desperately need to be organized so in that attempt, I just printed out your very pretty printables (thank you!) and will write down my plan for next week and try to stick to it!! Have a wonderful weekend! ~Dianne

    Reply
  5. Shanica says

    May 29, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    Thanks for the peek into your schedule! It looks like you have a great plan. I’m awesome at procrastinating and I’m also great at making lists, it’s the following through that I have problems with. Taking it one step at a time is definitely the way to go.

    Reply
  6. Olivia @ Snyders Tell All says

    May 29, 2015 at 9:01 pm

    Thanks for sharing. It’s always cool to see other women’s daily lives. I don’t know what is so intriguing about that, but it is. It’s hard to balance blogging and motherhood because both are never ending 🙂 I’ve been having to ask myself lately, “Is what you’re doing helping accomplish your monthly goals in anyway?” because I can get sucked into the internet black hole as well.

    Reply
  7. Rachel says

    May 30, 2015 at 3:49 pm

    Wow! You really do wear a lot of hats don’t you? Thank you so much for a glimps of what a full-time blogger/author/mommy is really capable of! Every time I read one of your blogging posts I get so inspired to push myself and really discover my full potential, but sometimes it can seem so overwhelming… But your idea to slow down and take a look at what would be ideal vs what has to be done in order to find that happy medium is genius! Thank you so much for supporting and inspiring your fellow bloggers!

    Reply
  8. Sandra says

    May 31, 2015 at 7:14 am

    You are so motivating despite the fact that you feel you’re not as organized as you want to be. You are extremely organized! So wish I could have a full time blog bit you clearly have this gig handled better than most.

    Reply
  9. Luna says

    May 31, 2015 at 10:31 pm

    I remember you saying in a post that you had a background in teaching and this post reminds me of planning a great teaching week! I am also a teacher (but a stay at home mom for now) and I like the planning aspect of blogging- even though it is time consuming. Thanks for giving us a peek into your blogging world!

    Reply
  10. JaneEllen says

    June 1, 2015 at 1:27 am

    When I signed up didn’t realize what was signing up for. Much as I think I’d like to “sometimes” I’m not really ready to start my own blog. I’m too spontaneously geared to make myself do certain things at certain times. I certainly admire bloggers but I’m just not ready to give up my time cause I “have to” or “should” everyday to keep up with a blog. You and your hubs are certainly an inspiration but blogging is just not for me. I’m not getting any younger either, will be 75 in July so want to enjoy doing whatever I feel like when I feel like. Raised 4 kids and worked a lot in to my senior years so this is my story. Thanks tho for the opportunity.
    Loved photo of you and boys, they are getting so big. Hubs sure looks handsome. Have a wonderful week Abby, big hug.

    Reply
  11. Emily, Our house now a home says

    June 1, 2015 at 11:20 am

    When working on blog stuff, post’s, editing, whatever the time slips by. I will give myself 1 hour and when it is done I feel like I am no where near done. To be a home decor and DIY blogger on top of that adds extra pressure. Once the “blogging” side is done it is time to work on more projects to share. My kids adore helping us out with projects. Or they ignore us. It goes both ways. That is so great that your husband is home now! Our goal is to eventually have my husband home working on blog stuff full time, maybe throw in flipping houses. My husband launched (last week) a website and blog maintenance, trouble shooting, code writing, and issue solving company. He is a software architect, so he knows his stuff. Hopefully that will be the first step (other than my blog) to get him home full time. We are one of those couples that really enjoy being around each other. Can’t wait to read the new extra’s for the building a framework book!

    Reply
  12. Julie @ Southern Wild Design says

    June 2, 2015 at 8:33 am

    It is always nice to take a peek at other blogger’s schedules. I really need to work on a routine. I think I am still in that mom stage where your life changes every few months along with your child’s routine. Mine just graduated from college and is now back home…yet another change of daily life. That’s just part of being a parent! ~Julie

    Reply
  13. Sarah says

    June 10, 2015 at 3:04 pm

    Hi!

    I am a new reader and LOVE your blog!! I will definitely be getting your new addition of Framework and can’t wait to dive in! Thanks for sharing your tips!!

    I am also a mom to two toddlers and work from home (freelancing and blogging). It’s tough some days, but like you I try to stick to a schedule. It’s a very flexible schedule, but a schedule none the less. One of the great things about working from home is you have the entire week to fit in all your work, whereas when you work in an office you have to work your 40 hours during very specific times. While this can make it hard to turn “off” work, I like that my schedule is so flexible!

    -Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com

    Reply
  14. pedirn1 says

    October 20, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    Abby,
    I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your printables so much. I am using them as you designed them, but I may change them up to better fit our needs–even my DH uses the weekly planner!
    Keep up your good work to help others become more organized and productive to give themselves the gift of time to enjoy life and many blessings for you and your family.

    Reply

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