How to Find Time to Blog When You Have Young Kids

“I want to prioritize my blog, but I just can’t find the time with my young kids constantly needing my attention. How do you find time to blog when you have young kids?”

I hear this question from moms all. the. time.

People constantly ask me how I found the time to build my MoneySavingMom.com blog when I had younger kids.

Though my kids are now 14, 11, and 9, and I’ve moved on from the young-kids season, there was a long period of time when I worked full-time with young kids at home.

If I’m being honest, I actually worked a lot of 65-70 hour work weeks when my kids were younger. I definitely do not recommend that!

I have such a strong drive and for so long when we were barely getting by financially and could barely pay our bills, I became obsessed with working as much as I possibly could so that we could make more money with the blog. There was a lot of fear and pride that led to this and it was extremely unhealthy for me to be working that much.

{If you’re interested in hearing more about this part of my story and the unhealthy place I ended up, you can learn more about it in my book Say Goodbye to Survival Mode (affiliate link) or on my podcast The Crystal Paine Show.}

I share this backstory with you to assure you…I hear you, I’ve been you, and I totally get it! While my kids are now older and much more independent, I do have a lot of experience with trying to find time to blog with young kids.

And though I don’t recommend working a crazy amount of hours like I did, I do wholeheartedly believe you can be a great mom, keep your home up, keep things organized, still have a life with breathing room, and work somewhere between 10-20 hours per week.

You just have to get creative.

If you want to find time to blog with young kids, here are some of my suggestions:

1. Create a good routine.

You don’t need to have every 15 minutes time-blocked out, but I do recommend that you have a loose outline for every day.

If you just wake up and run around in circles and let life happen to you, you’re going to feel like you’re failing in every area. It will be pure chaos.

But if you go into each day with a plan, you’ll be a lot more organized and get a lot more accomplished.

This not only gives structure to your day, but it also gives structure to your kids. Kids love structure and consistency, and they typically thrive and feel secure when there’s some sort of structure and they know what to expect.

Having a plan also helps eliminate mom guilt. It gives you permission to work because you know you’ve already scheduled out time to pour into your kids throughout the day.

Important note: Make sure there’s some wiggle room in your plan, because unexpected things always happen with young kids!

Want to see how I plan my days? You can read more about it here. But just remember — I’m in a season with older kids and things are much more structured than they would be if I had younger kids!

2. Get up before your kids do.

I know it’s difficult to wake up early when you have young kids, but let me encourage you to try to get up before your kids do each morning — even if it’s just 10-15 minutes earlier.

Here’s why: it makes all the difference in how your day unfolds.

When my kids were younger, if I woke up to crying and hollering as my alarm clock, it always made my day start out in a really bad space. But if I woke up even just 10 minutes before they did, it made my day go so much smoother.

I need quiet, and most moms with young kids do! When you wake up 10 minutes earlier, you can take some time for yourself to prepare for the day: savor the quiet, write in your journal, slowly drink a cup of coffee or tea, or even get a few minutes of work done.

If you can go to bed when your kids go to bed at night and wake up really early before them each morning, you could even make the morning hours your work time. But if it cuts into your sleep, I encourage you to at least try getting up a few minutes before your kids do to start the day off in the right mindset.

Tip: Need some help getting your mornings started well? Sign up for my free 5 Days to a Better Morning Challenge.

3. Take advantage of blocks of time throughout the day.

Look for pockets of time throughout your day that you could be working.

If your kids are still younger and have nap time, work during their naps.

If your kids are older and don’t take naps, try setting up some quiet time each day. (Side note: I think it’s so good for kids to learn the life skill of enjoying the quiet and entertaining themselves. Plus, if you have kids who are introverted or highly sensitive, this alone time is very much needed and is a gift to them!)

I even know families who do quiet time each day even if they have older kids at home. They’ve been doing quiet time each day for so long that they’ve just continued it. For about an hour each day, each kid just goes to their own room and reads or does a quiet activity.

If your child isn’t used to quiet time, start small and work your way up. Maybe you start with just 10 minutes and try it out, and then add a little bit of time on each week.

I also used to do movie time once per day when my kids were younger. We didn’t watch television much at all, but once a day they were allowed to watch a movie. And during that time, I would get a lot of work done.

Having designated spots in the day when you know your kids will be entertained and occupied is so important for moms and especially mom entrepreneurs!

4. Hire some help.

If you can’t find pockets of time throughout the day to dedicate to your work, I highly recommend hiring some help.

When my kids were younger, we hired a young teenage girl from our church as a mother’s helper. She came to our house once per week for 5 hours to do laundry, watch the kids, do some cooking — really whatever I needed done.

This was so helpful and I can’t recommend it enough. This ensured that I had a 5-hour block of time every single week that I knew I could get some work time in.

If you don’t have room in the budget to hire help, you could consider a childcare swap with a friend each week or every other week. Or don’t be afraid to ask grandparents or other relatives to help out if you think they might be open to it.

If you have a cooperative spouse who encourages you to build your blog, you might even ask if they can be in charge of the kids for an hour or two one or two evenings per week to let you get some work done.

Jesse did this for me a few times per week when the kids were younger. For a year or two, I went to a coffee shop two evenings each week and on Saturday mornings. It gave him some focused time with the kids and it gave me focused time to work.

5. Focus on the most important thing.

During your work time, don’t try to do all the things.

Go into your work time with a plan, focus on the few things that will make the biggest impact, set a timer, and don’t get distracted. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done when you really zone in and focus on one important task at a time.

Also, I recommend tackling the most important tasks first. Don’t put them at the end, because you’ll most likely either run out of time or be too tired.

Always prioritize the most important and most difficult tasks first, and put the easiest tasks last.

6. Give yourself lots of grace.

Remember that this is what worked for me, and what worked best for me might not work best for you.

No two lives, seasons, or children are the same. There is not one surefire solution. You have to find what works for you.

Also, keep in mind that life happens, diaper blowouts happen, interruptions happen…all kinds of unexpected things happen with little kids. You’re going to need to give yourself a lot of grace and wiggle room, because even your best-planned and structured days will get interrupted or thrown off sometimes.

Don’t get discouraged by that! Just do what you can with what you have right where you’re at.

Take what you can from these suggestions, find what works for you, and give yourself loads of grace along the way!

What other ways do you find time to blog as a mama entrepreneur? I’d love to hear in the comments!