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Tips for Meeting Goals While Balancing Work and Family Life

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Balance can be so difficult to find for busy parents! As a blogger who has been trying to both maintain and build my site while also leaving plenty of time for family and family commitments, it has become an especially difficult balance lately.

This is especially ironic because everyone kept asking me what I was going to do with all of my spare time once we moved from homeschooling our kids to them going to school. I’m still wondering where that supposed spare time went. I’m going to share some of the things that I’ve been doing to try to strike that balance and enjoy both time to work and time for my family.

Feel like you can't seem to find a healthy balance in your life? Here are tips for meeting your goals while balancing work and family life.

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Before I start, however, I wanted to be sure you make your way to the bottom of this post to have a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card!

Tips for Meeting Goals While Balancing Work and Family Life

Make a Plan for Your Days/Weeks

If you don’t have a plan, you won’t really know where you’re going or what you’re doing. Whether you have an elaborate planner filled with hourly tasks or a quickly written sticky note featuring your tops tasks to do for the day, a plan will help keep you moving forward.

On weeks where I don’t take the time to write out tasks that I need to get done, I am not nearly as productive. However, when I take time on Sunday night to write out a list of things to tackle for the week, I have a plan and I know what to do.

This Sunday night planning time makes the largest difference in my level of productivity for the week. Try to adopt a time to plan each night or each week as well! For the record, my plan is (hopefully) written each week in a simple Bullet Journal. I don’t go for fancy. I just want efficiency and a plan.

Plan for Downtime

I know that this probably sounds crazy as a starting point. However, I try to start almost every day after school drop offs for some downtime. This helps me get in a mindset to work later, as well as a chance to relax for a while. Maybe that’s not the best way for you to start your day, but I urge you to find downtime each day or at least every few days. If you’re worn down and too stressed, you’ll be useless to your family and your work.

Set Specific Times for Work

If you find that you have difficulty getting to work, set specific hours where you will get work tasks done. Even if your kids are home all day, you might be able to hire help to come in for a few hours a week or arrange for your spouse to take care of all kid-related responsibilities at specific times each day or week.

For me, I have a general time each day when I know that it’s time to be done playing around on the computer, listening to music, or whatever other downtime activity I’m doing. Once that time rolls around, I know it’s time to get to work. In the past, when my kids were home all day, I often had those kinds of dedicated times after the kids all went to bed or in the afternoon once school was done.

Find Work Areas that Work for You

I have found that there are places that encourage me to work more efficiently than others. For example, while I love to pop my feet up on my couch and sit with my computer on my lap, my productivity goes down. However, when I do something like walk on the treadmill while I’m working or sit in my screened in porch to work, I stay more focused.

One of my favorite and most productive work areas: my porch

Find your areas that are more conducive to productivity and make sure that you spend some time in those, whether it’s a special spot in your house or the neighborhood coffee shop.

Make Family Time a Priority

While finding time for work is important, finding time for family is even more important. Once my kids went back to school, I decided that I wanted to keep as much of my working time as possible for times when they were at school or asleep. This shift in focus really changed our family life.

Sure, I’m still guilty of reading emails in between helping with homework, but it also meant that I didn’t feel so stressed about driving them to extra-curriculars, attending games and performances, or just having time for fun with them. I realized that success wasn’t always about making more money or having more readers. Sometimes success is following my plan to make family a priority during evenings and weekend when everyone is home.

Make Meal Time Filling but Easy

If you are having a solo meal (or more than one) each day, you might be tempted to skip meals or just grab something through a drive thru. Or, perhaps you don’t feel like making yourself lunch and then try to convince yourself that a couple of handfuls of jellybeans makes a perfectly balanced meal. Oh, that’s just me?

When my kids started going to school, it meant that I was having lunch on my own each day. This was definitely a hard transition after homeschooling for seven years. Even before we were homeschooling, our youngest was still at home. So, I hadn’t had to worry about making lunch for only myself since before I became a mom 17 years ago!

While I had plenty of drive thru and jellybean lunches toward the beginning of the school year, I realized that if I actually wanted to get work done, I was going to need to be smarter about what I was eating for lunch. I needed meals that were quick to pull together, easy to eat while I worked, and generally meals that were warm, though nutrient-rich superfood smoothies will always have a special place in my lunch routine.

When I started making balanced lunches, I found that I worked better in the afternoon, didn’t have such a desire to take a nap, and had an easier time not snacking.

A Quick and Easy Lunch Option

A new-to-me option that fits that quick to prepare, warm option are the pretzel bread crust varieties of Lean Pockets, which includes White Meat Chicken Jalapeno & Cheese and Roasted Turkey Bacon & Cheese. Both of these options contain no artificial flavors. They are good sources of protein and contain 100% real cheese, which makes Lean Pockets warm and gooey (but not so gooey that I couldn’t work while I was eating – score!).

Working on my porch, while enjoying a Roasted Turkey Bacon & Cheese with Pretzel Crust Lean Pocket, a side of fresh fruit, and some water makes for a perfect lunchtime work time.

Roasted Turkey Bacon & Cheese with Pretzel Crust Lean Pocket, a side of fresh fruit, and some water, makes for a perfect lunch time work time

Lean Pockets are a budget-friendly, quick meal option to help you get back to work in no time. Lean Pockets offers many varieties and they’re available in the freezer section at Target, Walmart, and most local grocery stores, with a suggested price of $2.29 – $2.49 per box (which includes two servings).

 

About that $100 Visa gift card that I mentioned earlier in the post

I would love to hear some of the things that you do to help balance work and family time! Even if you’re not a blogger, I’m always looking for more great ideas. So, please share in the comments for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card: What are strategies or tools that you use that help you make family a priority while also getting done work or other tasks that you need to do?

Don’t forget to Click here for a $1 coupon from Coupons.com

 

Feel like you can't seem to find a healthy balance in your life? Here are tips for meeting your goals while balancing work and family life.

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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older (or nineteen (19) years of age or older in Alabama and Nebraska). Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 2 business days to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

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This sweepstakes runs from 8/15/2016 – 10/15/2016

Be sure to visit the Lean Pockets brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

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About Angie Kauffman

Angie, mom to three very fun kids, is the founder of Real Life at Home.  With degrees in elementary education (B.A.) and special education (M.S.Ed.), as well as being a former homeschooler, she is passionate about supporting both parents and teachers by providing printables, crafts, and activities to help children learn and grow.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Julie Wood says

    I make meals ahead of time and pair Lean Hot pockets with veges, and fruit for a healthy lunch for my daughter and son. We love having Lean Hot Pockets because they are so easy to make and I love easy meals that are healthy and quick to make.

    Reply

  5. Jessica To says

    We try to have a meal plan for the week so that we aren’t wasting time trying to decide what’s for dinner.

    Reply

  10. Natalie says

    I try to finish my work while at work so when I come home I can concentrate on my family. I also get my whole family involved in doing household chores so that it gets done faster and we can work together as a family to get it done!

    Reply

  18. Kelly D says

    I wake up earlier than my kids so I can complete a lot of tasks before they want me to spend time with them.

    Reply

  22. Madeline says

    One thing I do is exercise when it’s TV time, so you get 2 things done at once. There are some shows our family just really likes to watch together!

    Reply

  25. Margaret Smith says

    I like to cook a bunch of meals during the weekend and freeze a number of them. They make things much easier for my family and I during the week.

    Reply

  33. katherine says

    My motto is family always comes first but they are understanding if I have to give some time elsewhere. They are old enough I can do that now

    Reply

  36. natasha lamoreux says

    I like to clean certain areas of my house everyday that way I am not spending the entire weekend cleaning and can enjoy time with my fam.

    Reply

  37. rachel says

    I try to avoid my phone when I’m with my kids. Then I can play attention to them and get stuff done later without feeling guilt.

    Reply

  38. Shannon says

    I think the key is planning ahead of time and making menus ahead of time. Don’t sweat it if things don’t go exactly as planned!

    Reply

  40. Allison Swain says

    I stick to a schedule to keep my time more organized. Thank you for the chance to win this!

    allisonrsdswain(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    Reply

  42. Jeffrey says

    Balancing work and family can be difficult sometimes. I make sure to have a good schedule planned out of for the upcoming week complete with the kids’ sporting activities and meals.

    Reply

  46. Cynthia C says

    When I cook meals, I often make extra to store in the freezer for those days when time is short. That way I can serve a nice meal and have less stress about it.

    Reply

  54. shelly peterson says

    I try and keep a schedule and stay on task. If things get super busy then sometimes housework is put on hold to have time for the family.
    cshell090869 at aol dot com

    Reply

  61. Anne says

    For me, it’s all about the calendar. I keep a calendar on my laptop and use it to set notifications and reminders of tasks, deadlines, bills, trips, medications, and everything else. I also hang a monthly calendar on the kitchen wall, where everyone can see it and write down important dates, etc.

    Reply

  64. Stephanie Phelps says

    I try to balance mine by getting things done when they are napping or after they have gone to bed and schedule at least one day a week that it is all about family!

    Reply

  66. Kristen says

    We keep a family calendar so we’re sure not to schedule things (if possible) when somebody else has something important.

    Reply

  76. Betty C says

    It isn’t something I have to worry about any more as I no longer have anyone else in my household. My schedule is my own.

    Reply

  78. angie says

    Luckily, I am a homemaker, so balancing work and life are really the same thing. I try to get as much of my home/office stuff done during the hours my partner is at his job, so that, when he is off work or home for the evening, we are both able to enjoy our downtime together and focus on each other rather than on a to-do list.

    Reply

  86. Jerry Marquardt says

    My tips for meeting goals while balancing work and family life is proper planning, exercise, and taking vitamins. I make sure I eat right too, it is necessary.

    Reply

  88. Tabathia B says

    I try to get some things done while the kids are in school and while they are doing homework and after they are in bed for the night

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  90. Sarah L says

    No family, just myself. I have a little program that helps me keep track of what I need to do.
    Thanks for the contest.

    Reply

  96. Kathryn C says

    #SweepstakesEntry- comment

    a big help is knowing what the meals will be ahead of time…one or two days a week we enjoy takeout- usually a rotisserie chicken and then add veggies or rice with that at home – so keeping it healthy is important

    Reply

  98. Terry Stevens says

    I have a list of things to get done weekly and try to knock out 1-3 daily in order to have time for my family. I also make freezer meals 1 Saturday a month to alleviate spending a lot of time in the kitchen when I can spend it with the family.

    Reply

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