A Day in My Life: How a Working Mom Manages Motherhood, Work, Blogging and Freelancing

Do you ever wonder how working moms get through the day? Being a parent is hard but fulfilling work and so is working full time, running a blog and building a successful freelance writing side hustle.

Yet and still, I’ve taken on the challenge of doing it all and pushing myself to exceed the original expectations I had about my strength, dedication and work ethic.

I wanted to share some simple life hacks about how I balance everything and share an entire walk through of my typical week day because I find those types of posts so fascinating but I have yet to do my own.

Here are just a few of the time management hacks I live by:

• I learned how to master my productivity levels. Knowing what time of the day I start to feel less motivated and productive allows me to do the bulk of my work during the time that I work best (mornings)
• I work on a schedule and avoid time wasting activities. I schedule out my most important tasks in a planner, brainstorm writing topics ahead of time and try to steer away from distractions like Facebook etc. while I work. This allows me to get more done in less time and spend the remainder of my time doing things that are most important to me.
• I delegate tasks and I’m not afraid to ask for help. Ray and I work together to manage the household and make each other’s lives easier. I reach out to my mom and sisters to help me with things I can’t do and I’m not afraid to say ‘no’ to people when I can’t do something.

My Typical Weekday

Ray = My significant other
J = The kiddo

5:00 a.m. – I wake up around this time and head out to the kitchen to work on blogging and freelance work. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to get up and ready to work, but I eventually make it to the laptop to begin my day. We have a huge kitchen table and it’s my self-declared part-time work space for now. I usually start by checking emails and responding to anything that seems urgent. Then I try to knock out a post and respond to any new comments on my blog or other posts that I’ve written for other sites if I haven’t already.

6:15 a.m. – I shower, start getting dressed and begin my morning routine to prepare for work. At this time either Ray or I prepare J’s breakfast and wake him up. We usually cook pancakes or something similar the night before so all we have to do is microwave it quickly in the morning.

6:30 a.m. – J should be awake and eating breakfast while I finish getting ready for work.

6:45 a.m. – J finishes eating and I set him up in the bathroom to brush his teeth and get dressed. I give him a batht he night before and he dresses himself in the morning (one of the joys of having a bright little 5-year-old) so I usually continue getting organized and packing my lunch in the kitchen while he does that.

7:00 a.m. – We try to wrap everything up and get ready to head out soon. I usually whip up a smoothie around this time since it’s become part of my morning routine to get a healthier start to my day. I’ve been drinking smoothies each morning for breakfast in place of an actual meal. I usually blend up a combination of strawberries, blueberries or mango, spinach etc.

7:10 a.m. – I usually like to be out of the door by this time and heading to my mom’s house to drop J off. My mom lives about 10 minutes away, so after I drop him off I head to work. I drink my smoothie on the way to work, yum 🙂

8:00 a.m. – I clock in at work and check my work email along with my blog email. If I get to work before 8 I’ll read other blogs and comment before I clock in. I just got promoted to a new position at my day job where I manage at least 25 clients a month (most likely more) so my days are pretty busy between phone calls, emails, deadlines, typical stuff I have to do at work etc.

12:00 p.m. – Most of the people in the office break out for lunch which we can take for 30 minutes between the hours of 11 am and 1 pm. I usually make my own lunch and if I don’t have any errands to run I’ll stay at my desk and comment on blogs/ respond to comments, sets up tweets to promote my posts and other posts, check in with my freelance clients if I need to etc. Then it’s back to work.

2:30 p.m. – My productivity level usually goes down around this time and I either start listening to a podcast while I work or go on a brisk walk down the block to stretch my legs. Lately, I’ve been listening to the So Money podcast by Farnoosh Torabi and I love it. I also check out the His and Her Money podcast from time to time for some inspiration.

4:30 p.m. – I clock out at work and either head to my mom’s house to pick up J or I head straight home if Ray was able to pick him up. Ray works a very flexible schedule and whoever gets off work first goes to my mom’s house to pick up J. In today’s case, let’s say Ray was able to grab him and they are at the house waiting on me.

5:00 p.m. – I arrive home and greet my boys. We usually talk about how our days went and prepare some dinner but most of the time I like it when dinner is already finished. I’ve been using eMeals (affiliate link) to help meal plan so we usually prepare larger meals the night before or Ray will cook dinner if he gets home before me or get on the grill. We’ve been grilling out almost every week this summer and I’m going to miss it when the fall rolls in. Some nights I do cook, but it just depends.

5:30 p.m. – We usually eat around this time or I spend time with J. He gets an hour of T.V. time to watch all his shows in the evening and we try to get out and enjoy the weather by going to the park, visiting with friends, going to the community pool at our apartment or just doing anything fun. Usually, we try to get out and go on a walk/run later in the evening while J rides his bike.

7:00 – 7:30 p.m. – We all wind down a bit and I usually clean up things around the house, pack my lunch, prepare J’s breakfast for the morning or watch a T.V. show together as a family. J is getting very independent and sometimes he just prefers to play in his room with his toys.

8:00 p.m. – I give J a bath and read him a story afterward.

8:30 p.m. – This is an ideal time that I’d like to put J to bed. I’m not going to lie, this summer he’s been up all hours of the night and I was lucky if I could get him laying down by 10 p.m. But he’s had his fun and it’s nearly August so we’re trying to get back on a regular schedule for when school starts back up again.

8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. – It’s back to freelance and blogging work. At this time, I usually check my email again, pump out another post, and/or edit posts I’ve written and submit them, work on my blog, create photos, pin things on Pinterest etc.

9:30 p.m. – If it’s a slower work night for me, Ray and I usually reconnect at this time to talk and watch a show on Hulu or Netflix together. I’m not so good at getting ahead with my own blog posts but for clients, I’m usually always a few days to a week or so ahead so I never find myself rushing to submit something the night before and staying up super late to meet a deadline and that really helps me be able to relax and call it quits when it’s time a lot better.

10:30 p.m. – It’s been a long day, and I always call it a night no later than this time.

This is what a typical weekday looks like to me, but in all honesty, it’s rare that any of my days are typical. J has basketball practices on Thursday evenings each week and sometimes we go to church on Wednesday nights or other events and just do different things on given days. Weekends are less busier in terms of work since I get up around 7:30 a.m. and do all my freelance work until 11:00 a.m. so I can have the rest of the day to enjoy, run errands and spend time with my friends and family.

It’s not easy having so many responsibilities, but it is well worth it since I’m the type of person who likes to stay busy and waste no time when it comes to meeting my goals and securing a better life for my family.

What does your typical day look like? Are you most productive in the mornings or at night?