Time, aren’t we all struggling with time? As stay-at-home moms, how do you find the time to blog as and build an online business, all the while raising children and managing a home? In this article, I write 7+ simple ways to find time to blog as a SAHM.
When my second child came, I honestly didn’t have time to blog let alone to sleep due to breastfeeding. I was lucky if I get two hours of sleep then. I was a zombie.
Gradually, things get better. Sleep becomes longer. And the children grow and become quite independent. Here and there, you can find free time. And that’s when I blog away.
Here’s 7 very simple and easy ways so that SAHMs can find free time to blog:
1. Avoiding social media and TV
Stay away from social media as much as possible. And stay away from TV watching altogether.
There’s nothing totally wrong in them by itself. We use social media to communicate with family and friends abroad. And we do have a few favorite shows on TV or Netflix.
But don’t do social media or TV during your free time, because free time happens too seldom and we should make the most of it.
2. Scheduling with an editorial calendar
One of the biggest mistakes that I made when I first started blogging is not creating an editorial calendar!
You see, when you start blogging, you get excited and optimistic. You get tons of editorial ideas and content to write about. But later on, you forget those great ideas because mombrain.
Then later on, unexpected house errands come up and new milestones happen, and before you know it, you forget you have a blog in the first place.
Having a schedule and committing to it is your first line of defence against making your blog inactive. Schedules are effective to find time to blog as a SAHM.
Now, what is an editorial calendar, by the way?
It is a simple table where you jot down the following:
- Topic/ content ideas
- Keyword research
- Deadline
It can be as sophisticated as a SaaS scheduling tool, or a simple, humble Excel speadsheet on your computer.
An example of an editorial calendar looks like this:
3. Reinforced me-time
My husband is a very smart man. He came up with the idea of a reinforced me-time where each of us will have a reinforced one-hour personal time thrice a week.
Our “me time” is when we can do anything we want. He uses that time to jog on his treadmill. I use that time to manage my blogs.
This me-time reinforces in each of us to pursue something that we can’t possibly do with kids running around and constantly asking each of our attention.
Honestly, this me-time has saved my sanity a lot of time. Most often, I use this time to blog. But sometimes, I just sit and read a book. This sacred time of mine is crucial to regain my momentum after a long day of tending to the needs of my kids non-stop.
After I have my me-time, I also notice that I get refreshed and I miss my kids! I kiss them more and hug them tighter.
Try it moms, because an alone time in the bathroom or toilet is not really a me-time, right?
4. One very late night session a week
When starting a blog where you intend to get serious about it, let’s face it: There will be a mega zillion things to do.
From creating content, keyword research, pinterest marketing, making monetization strategies, and all that. It all takes research. And it all takes time.
Yes, you can steal few minutes here and there. But that’s not continuous.
Sometimes it takes 3-4 hours to really focus and accomplish a specific goal. And if interrupted, your creativity energy gets lost.
And so once a week, usually Friday, I sleep very late where the house is still and silent. Then I can focus, focus, and focus until I hear the roosters crowing (on my mind).
It’s not ideal but it makes me accomplish things from beginning to end.
5. Naptimes
When my infant naps in the afternoons, this mombrain dances. Because it’s free freaking time!
Hands-free and brain-free, I can do things like cooking, laundry, reading books to my daughter, among others.
Sometimes, I use this time for reading and research. And I give my daughter tons of learning printables and toys to keep her occupied and far away from screentime.
I’m really proud of her as she’s learning how to spend her time wisely. Sometimes, I let her become very bored so that she’ll come up with what to do on her own.
But it’s not like this everyday. Sometimes, the infant just won’t nap. Or my daughter just want to read books with me.
And it is during these times that I remind myself this: That I am a mother first.
They’re very young. They’re practically babies. And this is the most precious time in both our lives: their babyhood.
I can feel that there is something special in this phase of our lives that can never be replicated. So I kiss them. I giggle with them. And just sit with them.
I am a momblogger. The word mom comes first in that terminology as well as in my life.
To find the time to blog as SAHM will come, but our babies are young only once.
6. Use Grammarly
When having a blog, you need to put lots of content, optimize it for SEO, and market it through social media. All those things can not be automated, or they can be kind of. So why not proofreading as well?
There’s Grammarly to the rescue!
No need to open your big bulk of dictionary or grammar books to review which tense of the verb to use, or the correct spelling, and what nots.
As I’m typing these blocks of text, colors of green shows under the words that are grammatically wrong. And red lines show under text that are misspelled.
Easy peasy!
For readability metrics, make sure you to install the Yoast SEO plugin if you haven’t yet. Aside from SEO measurements, this plugin also shows the readability index score of your content among other things.
See the image below for an example:
7. Outsource some of your work
Here comes a not so simple-ish hack that can cost you a few bucks. You outsource some of your work.
Let’s get real. Blogging for profits takes tremendous effort and time!
And I’m a stay-at-home mom with two young kids, and almost all my hours and energy are spent in raising these little kiddos and managing the home. And I also play with them, spend playing time with them, and teaching them.
I’d rather spend the bulk of my day on mom-things rather than on blogging tasks that I am not super expert at like tweaking WordPress theme codes or designing graphics, both of which eats big chunks of your precious me-time.
I highly recommend Fiverr to look for freelancers who offer services such as graphic design, content writing, and website making.
Final thoughts
Finding the time to manage a profitable blog as a SAHM when the kids are very young takes a lot of effort and creativity. But take your time moms!
After all, there’s a time for everything. A time to give birth. A time to raise children. A time to grow a business. A time for just anything.
Whatever season you are in your life right now, take your time. Because all these blogging and business can have its own time. We are mothers first.
How about you? How do you find time to blog as a busy SAHM?
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