Before we begin, we want to put out a disclaimer that what we share in this post is our personal experience and we firmly believe that every woman, mother, and family should decide what works best for them.
We don’t judge, shame, or question another mother’s purpose or reason for working, or staying home, or both. We strive to mutually understand the other mother’s we know (and those we don’t) but even if we don’t always understand, we do know that it’s their choice. And it’s not an easy one to make - that we deeply understand.
Working mothers. A title that many proudly wear, us included. We made the choice several years ago to start a business after working various jobs that pulled us out of our homes. Now, as mothers, we cherish the time with our kids and simultaneously, love the opportunity we have to work with other female business owners to help their businesses grow.
Since starting Peanut Butter Creative, we’ve grown from working a handful of hours a week to working full time and back down again. While we love and enjoy each project, we also know that it’s important to set boundaries and remember why it is that we decided to do this. We wanted the ability to be home with our children and support them in their younger years. So we’ve scaled our business to the appropriate size to support us doing both. And we LOVE IT!
However, this isn’t everyone’s situation and we know that. We know that some mother’s battle rigorous work schedules and childcare. We know that some tend to and care for their children all day and work late into the night when the kids are sleeping. We know that each working mother situation has a different schedule, arrangement, and benefit to their family and we are here to praise them all.
The question often asked is, “How do working moms do it all?” Whether it’s societal pressure, or individual circumstance, it feels as though working mothers are still expected to raise the kids, clean the home, and make the meals. We don’t subscribe to this agenda that we should be doing everything. However, we do believe that if your family has various needs and both parents are working, there should be a discussion about how to manage it all.
If you are a working mother and find yourself drowning with all of your responsibilities, please know that we see you. We see you working hard and trying to support your family. We see you pulling late nights, trying to give the attention you can to your children, and giving your all to your job. It’s not easy. And you are incredible for doing what you’re doing, even if you feel like you may drop the ball at times.
So while we believe that each working mother should be honored for her sacrifices, we also want to share a few tips for helping to alleviate the stress and burden that working mothers feel.
3 Ways to Feel More Balanced as Working Moms
1. Follow a Block Schedule
Have you heard of the block system? It’s an incredibly effective method for time management and one that we thrive on as stay-at-home-working-moms. It essentially includes setting blocks of time for certain tasks, whether that’s homemaking duties, kid duties, or work. We often have 3-4 blocks per day and we transition between those, helping us to dedicate appropriate time to projects, our kids, our homes, etc.
A sample block schedule for us looks like this:
Morning Block: 8 AM - 10 AM
Breakfast / Get Dressed
Tidy Up
Play Time
Prep for Afternoon
Mid-Day Block: 10 AM - 1 PM
Errands
Outing with kid(s)
Lunch
Afternoon Block: 1 PM - 4 PM
Emails
Work projects
Status updates
Zoom meetings
Evening Block: 4 PM - 8 PM
Dinner
Play Time
Clean up
Relax / Recharge
We invite you to learn more about block schedules and see if this works for you! They can have a powerful effect on keeping you on task when you know there are set times for getting things done.
2. Ask For Help
Ladies. Mamas. Girlies. Please, oh please, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Whether its help with watching your kids for an hour so you can finish a project, help with cleaning your home, help with errands or help with getting in some self-care, you are ALLOWED to take the help and you DO NOT have to do everything yourself. In fact, you shouldn’t! It will more than likely cause you to feel overstretched, overworked, and burnt out.
Asking for help doesn’t have to be embarrassing either! We recommend identifying what times of your day are most challenging / stressful and seeing what could be done to alleviate stress during that time.
Additionally, evaluate if the help you need will cost you more than what you can accomplish during that time. If you need to get work done but it will require paying a sitter, is the work you can accomplish going to cover the cost of the sitter? What could you do to eliminate the cost of a babysitter but still accomplish your work or errands? This is where mom swaps could come in super handy!
Talk openly with your partner about needing help and how you can effectively get the help you need. We believe in honest communication and with the right support, you can quickly feel your load get lighter, allowing you to be a better business owner and mother!
3. Don’t Forget About Yourself
We get that you won’t always have time for a bubble bath or a lunch out with friends (even though both of those are excellent ideas for self-care). But we do firmly believe that there needs to be time dedicated to filling YOUR bucket each day or you will very quickly fall apart.
Speaking as mothers who have had their fair share of breakdowns, it’s really important to take care of yourself amongst the chaos of motherhood and business life. So quickly we pour everything into our children, home, and businesses, that it leaves little to no time for refueling ourselves.
The reality is that when we are empty, we cannot give to our children and businesses sufficiently. Prioritizing ourselves, even just for a few minutes a day, can radically make a difference in our productivity and stamina as working mothers.
What does it look like to take care of yourself? Here are a few examples:
Exercise for 30 minutes (walk, run, do a class, YouTube workout, yoga, etc.)
Make a meal / snack to eat
Listen to a podcast or watch a show
Write down feelings in a journal
Call a friend or family member
Scroll social media (if this helps you unwind!)
Read a book
Take 10 calming breaths
Listen to your favorite music
Dance in the kitchen like no one is watching
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We are so passionate about helping working mothers see how incredible they are. Whether you are reading this because you are one, or know one, we hope you feel uplifted knowing two women in business who juggle mom life and work life SEE YOU and think you are killing it.
XO,
Becca + Jenna
P.s. We have lots of other tips for managing the work-from-home life as busy mamas! Check these posts out!
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