First things first: There’s no thing as “typical” when you have two kids and are running a full time business from your home.

My girls are 5 and 2.5 years old. I work full time from my home studio, and my husband works full time outside of the home as an engineer. I hired a full time caregiver shortly after Chloe was born in 2011. I love being able to give 100% of my attention to my clients, 100% of my attention to my kids,and 100% of my attention to my husband. In order for me to have a work-life balance, I need help — and that’s where our caregiver comes into play! Having this balance makes me feel refreshed (most of the time!) once the evening rolls around, and I feel less stressed knowing that I have a plan in place. Being a working mama is no joke!  In late 2016, I hired someone to help clean our house twice a week.  We moved to in May to a home nearly triple in size of our last space, and it has become so difficult trying to keep up with everyone and everything.  Having this extra help is so wonderful, and I love that I can spend additional time with my family instead of worrying about household tasks.  I couldn’t do it without my tribe!

My typical work week

Daily:

I have to admit:  I used to be really, really great at starting each day waking up before the kids.  Now that they’re older and  both in pre-school, I’m finding myself staying up later at night than I used to.  I usually wake up around 7:30 or so, unless I have a scheduled consultation that day, and begin my morning routine with the kids.  From 7:30 until 8:50, it’s breakfast, dishes, tidying up the house, and getting the girls ready for the day.  I drop them off at 9:00am for pre-school.  Chloe will graduate from pre-k this year and start Kindergarten in the fall!

I usually phone my mom while I’m driving back to school, and we have a quick 5 minute catch up phone call.  Once I’m home, I make another cup of coffee and crank up the music in the studio.  I absolutely, positively, cannot work without music!

Monday: Mondays are normally spent on product development.  This is when you’ll find me in the studio working on new invitation designs, researching trends, and thinking ahead to the next holiday.  I have a production calendar that I fill out one year in advance with all the major holidays and print deadlines, so I have all my associated products designed, produced and available months ahead of time.

Tuesday: Tuesdays are for hustling. I spend the day working on Etsy orders, manufacturing stamps, responding the more emails, proofing wedding invitations, collaborating, and have consults with brides. I try to schedule all of my consultations on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but am always available to meet on evenings or weekends.   This past Tuesday, I spent some time updating my website and also shipping out a batch of stamps from my Zazzle shop.

Wednesday: Now that both of my daughters are in school, I try to take Wednesday’s off to spend time with them.  It’s Chloe’s one day off per week, and I like to fill my day with tea parties, princesses and castles.  There’s nothing better than picnic lunches and mid-day snuggles from my babys!

Thursday: The majority of my Thursdays are filled with designing proofs, checking in with my brides, returning phone calls and consultations.  Now that wedding season is upon us, my consultation schedule is filling up very quickly!  I try to blog on Thursdays, too.

Friday:  If I am all caught up on my weekly work, I try to reserve Fridays for maintenance.  I do my best to update my website with new material on Fridays, and fill my Zazzle and Etsy storefronts with new designs as well.  Since designing for Zazzle can be time consuming, I try to have all my work done ahead of time so all that’s left is typesetting — and I like to get it all done at once!

 

Extra, Extra!: I completely admit that I am the worlds worst cook, and you wouldn’t want me to make you dinner, ever! This is where my husband and I play on our strengths and weaknesses! I am really organized, and great at couponing and making a grocery list. He’s better at grocery shopping (I’m an impulse buyer, he isn’t!) and cooking. He makes dinner while I pick up the house and entertain the girls. After dinner is our family time, then it’s bath time and bed time for the kids.  You’ll usually find me up late with some popcorn watching Gilmore Girls or reading in bed (I’m a huge Harry Potter fan!).

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