Nice to Meet You!

Hello, Friend! And thank you for stopping by. I know your time is precious so I want you to understand how much I appreciate that you are choosing to spend some of it here with me.

If you’re like me…

• You’re a very busy mom. You’ve got a lot of plates in the air and, if you’re like me, sometimes you feel like it’s all too much. Like you’re just sort of…getting by…surviving…and not really enjoying or making the most of the day-to-day moments.
• Maybe you’ve been feeling like you’ve been spinning your wheels, trying to keep up with your kids and your home and your life and not really getting anywhere. You’re tired – exhausted, really. And you want to have more control of your time. You want to be a more intentional, mindful mom during your time with your kids, without feeling like a million other things are screaming for attention at the same time.
• You’re overwhelmed by all of the “stuff” cluttering your life, time and even your home. You work so hard to keep up with all of it, but find yourself easily distracted, side-tracked or derailed by multiple things at once. And then you start to feel like maybe you’re not good enough. Like perhaps you are missing something.

First of all, I want to tell you once and for all, that is NOT true. You are good enough and you can handle the chaos of life. But you just need to simplify.

Secondly, you are NOT alone. I was just like you. I AM you. And I have been where you are feeling all of those things. And I am here to tell you, it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to trudge on feeling like you are barely getting by. You don’t have to keep simply surviving. With a little grace, a simple adjustment in your focus, and the implementation of some basic routines and systems for your life, you can take back control of your time. You can own it. It doesn’t have to own you.

If you’re just meeting me for the first time, let me give you a little background about myself.

I’m Kristin, and I help moms simplify their lives through practical organizing, productivity and time management strategies, and DIY tips.  Because, let’s face it, kids are crazy. But life doesn’t have to be. 🙂 I married my college sweetheart and am Mom to our crazy, fantastic foursome of kids ranging in age from 8 to 1. And I’m going to be real with you here. Just about every place I ever go with my kids (or even just when I tell people how many I have), I frequently get comments like, “You’ve sure got your hands full,” or “Wow, you’re busy!” And…they’re right. My hands are full, and our days are busy. But – that doesn’t mean I am overwhelmed. In fact, I feel like I’ve got it more together now than I did before I ever had any kids.

But let me tell you, it wasn’t always that way.

After I had kids – life was insane. I was completely unprepared for what a lurch motherhood would be to me. I always imagined I would work, play with my baby when I was at home, do a little cooking, cleaning, enjoy my husband and life would be good. But, it was hard. And I felt like I was failing in every way possible. I decided I couldn’t do it all, and after a lot of sacrifices and penny pinching and saving, I quit working outside of the home for a while to stay home with my daughter (she was my only child at the time). I was pretty clueless. I thought I would have so much time to get stuff done every day. I pictured us happily playing and cuddling, and then I’d fold laundry and make dinner and accomplish domestic greatness. It would be so easy, I thought.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I found myself wasting a lot of time each day just trying to figure out what to get done. I’d think, “I should probably go to the grocery store today,” but then by the time I’d manage to scratch down a menu and make my shopping list between diaper changes and snacks (and how dare I even think of taking a shower), it was already time for lunch, and then nap time, and then it would be time to start making dinner (and not a good one since we would basically be out of food by this point) and then bed time and…you can see where this is going. I rarely made it to the store or accomplished much of anything I thought I might need to do each day.

And then I had another baby (or three J) and our days got even trickier to plan. But that’s the problem. I wasn’t really planning. I was reacting. And take it from me, that’s not what works when you’ve got the demands and often non-routine needs of small children dictating the course of every day.

It took me a long time to figure that out. Like, six years to figure that out! And even longer to discover that the most efficient way to get anything accomplished on a toddler/baby/kid driven timeline was to plan and simplify our lives. I needed to declutter our stuff and our lives and set routines. Sure, I had routines for my kids (to the degree one can have them), but I didn’t really have any for myself.  That’s the key ingredient that I was missing.

Fast forward six years.

It was January. The holidays were wrapping up. Our house was buried beneath remnants of the holiday explosion that typically follows the season. It was a wreck and had been that way for so long (probably since Halloween by this point). We were overwhelmed with where to start. However, like many at the start of a new year, my husband and I resolved that we were finally going to simplify. We were going to get organized!

I started with decluttering our kitchen. I started sorting and evaluating the items on our counters, getting rid of anything that wasn’t absolutely needed or loved. By the end of the day, our counters were clean and I felt like I could breathe again. I vowed to keep it that way. I told my husband and kids that for the next month, no one was allowed to put anything on the counters unless it was food that we were preparing. And that forced us to make quick choices whenever we had something in our hands that we didn’t know what to do with. We could either find someplace it belonged, create a home for it or get rid of it (either by donating or recycling or throwing it out). And from there, we just kept going.

A few facts about me:

1. I am kind of scattered – like, self-diagnosed ADD. I don’t say that jokingly. And in order to function I have learned that I need constant routines and plans to stay focused and productive. These have been complete game changers and are some of my favorite tips to share with you.

 

2. I hate cleaning but love having a clean house. In fact, I need a clean house in order to function. Again, I have learned that by following routines and making plans that fit into my life, I can accomplish this and life is a lot easier (and better) for all of us when we follow them. Again, I love to share these tips with you.

 

3. I love helping people. Namely, you! If you’re here, it’s probably because you can relate to my experiences on some level. You probably were searching for help with something that I too have struggled with at some point in time. I don’t have all the answers, but I love sharing them when I do. Check out these freebies for starters.

 

4. Being a Mom is the hardest, most amazing thing I have ever done. I LOVE being Mom, but have struggled immensely with being intentional and focused with my kids. I have faced the chaos and overwhelm and learned to conquer it, one task at a time, so that when I’m with them, my kids can get the best of me. Not just what’s leftover. I strive to be Totally the Mom with them and that’s what I share with you (and that’s totally the bomb – see what I did there? J). I don’t always accomplish it, but we’re not striving for perfect. Which brings me to my next point…

 

5. I’ve learned that it’s ok to fail. If there is one thing that is absolutely certain, it’s that I will fail. A lot. But, failures aren’t bad. They’re growth opportunities. And I try to give myself grace. My house will never be perfect. I will never be perfect. And it’s ok. Sometimes our kids need more of us. I would rather my kids remember that I am here for them than that our house was organized. At the end of the day, that’s what is most important to me.

How Can I Help You?

People ask me all the time how I manage to do it all, and the secret is that I don’t do it ALL. I have learned to simplify in all areas of our lives so that I can focus my time on what is most valuable to me. I’ve established solid routines that work for us at this phase of life to keep things running on an even keel and help us regroup when we get thrown off track,

And I’ve started this site to share them with you. With a little inspiration, you can handle this mom thing with grace and focus, and that’s what I strive to be for you.

Here are some of the topics covered on this site:

• Decluttering and tips for simplifying (I don’t like to use the term, “Minimalist” because I don’t like labels – unless they’re on a bin J — but that’s kind of the vibe here)
• Productivity and time management strategies for moms
• Tips for all sorts of routines for moms and our kids (cleaning routines, AM & PM routines, after school routines…you get the gist)

I genuinely want to help you and encourage you to reach out. I invite you to join my e-mail list community. You’ll gain access to my library of free resources to help you plan, increase your productivity and time management and some good old-fashioned DIY project tips (because we all love a good home project, right? 🙂 ).

 

Click below to sign up.

Sign me up!

 

Kids may keep us busy. And while they fill our hearts with a love unlike anything else in this world, they may also be master-level mess makers. They may be little balls of energy that never seem to stop. And as they make us laugh, they simultaneously make us feel a little less in touch with our sanity. I will be completely honest. My kids are crazy. But, life doesn’t have to be. I can help you learn to better manage your time and your responsibilities to become more intentional with your time and in the areas of your life that are most important to you.

Thank you so much for being here! And let’s connect. I’d love to hear your story and encourage each other along the way.