The Blogging Schedule for the Busy Mom

…or how to fit blogging into your life in 4 easy steps!

Today I decided to take a break from my usual Thursday decluttering posts to write about something that has been on the back of my mind for quite some time now: how to dedicate time to blogging without negatively impacting the rest of your life. 

I’m married, I work full time out of the house and have two kids. That alone is obviously more than enough to fill my days. That is why it took me so long to start a blog, even though it was something I knew I wanted to do for years. Today, I manage two blogs: this one, Keeping it Real and my most recent endeavor, The Book Worm, dedicated to books and book reviews. 

So, how do I manage to make it all fit in the 24 hours of the day, seven days a week? With a lot of patience, some calendar juggling and careful planning.  

Here are a few tips, drawn from my own personal experience, to manage your life and be able to post on a regular basis: 

 1. Set your priorities

Mine are perfectly clear, and though it may seem odd to post this on a blog, family, friends and work come first, no questions asked. 

Would I love to make a load of money blogging, quit my job and just spend my days crafting and blogging about it? Yes, of course. Is it realistic? No, at least not for the time being.   

Maybe one day. But right now I blog because it makes me feel good. It’s my me time, so that makes it a priority in itself. I need to stay sane though the chaos of my day-to-day life, and blogging is an important part of my keeping my sanity.

  2. Organize yourself

 

Taking into account my priorities, I have to fit both crafting and blogging in between all my other daily chores. Since writing comes naturally to me, I sometimes write bits and pieces of posts on my lunch break and on my way to meetings (this is made easy with all the mobile devices we have today, but a good old notebook and a pen work wonders too). 

Often I’m “writing” posts in my head while in the shower or driving the kids to school, and then I just need to put them to paper (or to the word processor) as soon as I have time. But realistically, most writing happens at night, after the kids are in bed. When I have time, I write several posts in a row and then schedule them to be published on different dates. 

So, basically, you have to include blogging in your daily tasks and set aside a bit of time every day, not too much that affects the rest of your life but enough to be on top of things. This was not easy in the beginning, but, believe me, after a while, blogging starts to be a lot easier. 

  3. Write about things you do, think, believe…

 

Turning your day-to-day life into blog posts is the easiest way to (1) have an endless supply of topics to write about and (2) fit your blog into the rest of your life. At Keeping itReal I post mostly about crafts. Everything I share is made with a purpose other than just creating a blog post. It’s either a handmade gift I made for someone, a set of printables for a birthday party I’m planning or something I created around the house. So it’s a 2 in 1 thing, which saves me a lot of time.

Similarly, the reviews posted at The Book Worm are my thoughts and opinions on the books I’ve read, either recently or in the past. Instead of sharing my views just over at Amazon or Goodreads, I create a blog post. 

Whenever we read something, we always have an opinion, good or bad. I just decided to start voicing those opinions publicly. But, again, since I read a lot anyway, getting new blog topics doesn’t really cost me additional time. 

4. Create a realistic schedule

Blogging gurus will tell you that one of the keys to hold and increase your audience is to post often. But posting often is not easy when you're otherwise busy, so, again, you need to set priorities.

My posting schedule usually looks like this:

Monday: one craft post on Keeping it Real and one book review on The Book Worm

Tuesday: one craft post on Keeping it Real, as long as I have something to share.

Wednesday: the (Almost) Wordless Wednesday post on Keeping it Real and the What I’m Reading Wednesday on The Book Worm.

Thursday: the No Clutter in 2015 post on Keeping it Real

Friday: one craft post on Keeping it Real, as long as I have something to share, and a book review on The Book Worm.

Saturday & Sunday: no posts, except on special occasions (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.), and for the most part those are scheduled in advance. Weekends are reserve for family and for completing the craft projects I want to share during the following weeks. I also try to take all photos to put on the blog on Saturday and Sunday, to make sure I have as much natural light as possible (this is especially relevant during the winter months, when days are smaller and darkness falls well before I get home from work).

So even though I post a lot, some of the posts are part of regular series, which makes it easier to manage, since I don’t need to be constantly looking for subjects to blog about. 

Sometimes it’s impossible to follow the schedule exactly (for example, last Monday I took the kids to the doctor in the morning and then had a meeting at school in the evening, so I had to reschedule Monday’s post to Tuesday, and today I’m deviating from the decluttering posts because I decided I wanted to write about something else instead), but it works as a guideline and helps me keep chaos minimally controlled.  

In addition to posting, there are lots of other things you need to do when you blog, from layout maintenance & adjustments to social media. I try to do a little bit every day to avoid accumulation:

Monday to Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday: party linkups & social media updates

Thursday & Friday: party linkups & social media updates, reply to e-mails and comments posted on the blog (when possible, I do this on the other days too) and site maintenance (check for broken links, update pages, etc)

Blog planners exist to help all of us with this scheduling. If you don’t have one and don’t want to spend money buying one either, hop onto Pinterest and search for free printables. Then select the one that better fits your needs and go from there. Or just use the Outlook or Gmail calendars if you don’t want to haul a blog planner around. This is the digital age, so we might as well take advantage of it!

Whether you’re blogging for pleasure or for profit (or both), having a blog should not keep you from your normal day to day life. It’s just a matter of getting organized and decide what works better for you and your family. If may seem hard at first, but after a while it becomes easier.

My blogs aren’t perfect, there are lots of improvements I would implement if I had time, but that’s OK. I’m doing the best I can with what I have and I’m still living the rest of my life. Because bottom line, this is what it’s all about!

Enjoy,

For more blogging help, check my 10 blogging tips for absolute beginners!