Guest posting today is Sarah Wall, a single mom of 6, who is also a small business owner. We specifically asked her to tell us how she gets it all done! There are some great tips here, that all of us moms can use, no matter how many kids we have. If you need to know how to get everything done, read on..

Whenever I tell someone I have 6 children, they’re usually shocked.

After all, large families aren’t the norm, these days. So it is a bit unusual to have a lot of children, and still seem normal. One of the first questions I get is, “how do you get it all done?!” And the truth is.. I don’t.

I have six children. There’s no physical way how to get everything done, all the time, in one day, repeatedly. That’s impossible and frankly, unrealistic.

Whether you have six children like me, or “just” one child, the expectation that moms are superwomen is unrealistic and unfair. This idea that being a good mom means that you can raise the kids, keep the house, do the laundry and the shopping, and balance a career, all while keeping up with trends and taking care of yourself is completely ridiculous.

No one gets it all done, all the time, repeatedly!

This idea of balancing a career and children, keeping a job and a home, is an illusion. Instead, I try to describe my life as more of a juggling act.

A juggler usually has three or more balls, that he keeps tossing in the air. He can only hold two balls at one time, and the rest stay up. The idea is to keep the balls moving, touching each one only a short amount of time before moving on to then next focus. The trick is to do this without dropping any of the balls.

My life as a mom of six is similar. I’m trying to juggle all the pieces of career, kids, home and all the other parts, without dropping a ball. Some days, it’s easy. Other days, well, lets just say a few balls hit me in the head on their way down.

As a busy mom, the secret is to prioritize.

Since I can’t do everything all at once, I have to pick my targets. Those targets don’t stay the same every week, or even from one day to the next. But I prioritize my giant to-do list into what is realistically possible on any given day. I pick my focus, and concentrate on those.

Sometimes, this means giving up on the urgent yet unimportant tasks, to focus on the important but less urgent tasks. Other days, I can feel like I’m rushing around, just putting out “fires”, without actually accomplishing anything. I’ve learned to relax about my to-do list. It will all get done, eventually. It isn’t about how to get everything done, right now, but when everything will get done. It’s a matter of planning.

Make a plan, because you have to know what you’re doing!

Before you can prioritize your tasks, you have to know what you’re doing. You have to know what the tasks are first. So one of the ways how to get everything done is to write it down.

I am famous for my planners, agendas, calendars and lists. Also, I have alarms on my phone about feeding the cat, the baby and the kids. I have a calendar I review daily, and update weekly. And I have a meal plan, an activity plan, and a daily routine that my kids know almost as well as I do. These tools all help me stay on track and know what I have to do when.

Take the decision-making out of your day.

Making tons of decisions leads to decision-making fatigue, and that can mean that you stop making decisions and start to just react to the situation. Not only does this make you extra tired, but you often end up making choices that you don’t like, didn’t want or end up hurting you in the end.

How can you not make decisions though? By taking a lot of the decision-making out of your day. Things like “What’s for breakfast?” or “What will I wear today?” don’t have to be daily decisions. They can be figured out long before the actual days arrive.

Try this: use a weekly meal plan to take the decision-making over “What’s for dinner?” every day. Plan a week’s worth of outfits all at once, so that you don’t have to even think about it in the mornings. And create daily routines that make common place tasks work on autopilot.

Delegate!

One of the reasons why I tell people I don’t do it all is because I don’t. My older children help me do a lot of things around here. Your kids can help, even if you don’t think they can. As soon as your child can walk up the stairs — and you aren’t at the bottom praying they don’t fall — they can start helping out. Even a two year old can wipe a window.

My children regularly help me with chores around here. My oldest takes out the garbage. And my middle kids can wash dishes. And my 5 year old helps with wiping spots and picking up toys. Everyone pitches in to keep the house running, because I cannot do it all myself.

Delegation not only makes it possible for your home to function without you having to physically run it, it also is great for your kids. Kids need chores. It teaches them responsibility and important life skills. If you aren’t delegating, you’re doing your children a disservice.

Outsource it.

I don’t do it all myself, because I hire others to help me out. For example, I hire a cleaner, once a month, to help stay on top of all the household chores. I hire a babysitter for when I need to focus, or just need some time to myself. I get takeout or pizza, when I’m exhausted, running late, or on a deadline. And I invest in the tools that save me time and money, such as social media schedulers for my business, or smart phones that can help me multitask.

Some people think that if they don’t do it themselves, it isn’t done right. But delegation and outsourcing your mundane, repetitive tasks isn’t about doing it right, it’s about just getting it done! Honestly, if my floors are poorly swept, but at least the worst of the crumbs are gone? It’s better than not getting swept at all. I’d rather an attempt be made than to leave it and stress about it, because I can’t get to it. I have too much to do for that kind of attitude!

Controlling or Controlled Chaos?

So there’s a lot to do around here. But I cannot be a control freak about it. I’ll just stress myself into baldness if I try that. (Nevermind going gray, I’m losing my hair!!) Rather, I try to stay on top of the chaos instead. I can’t achieve total order. But I can accomplish a kind of “controlled chaos”, where there’s structure, there’s routine, but there’s a flexibility to it.

I don’t do it all. At least not all by myself, and definitely not all the time. But I do give the appearance of doing it all. I have systems in place that make it look like I know what I’m doing, even if some days, I don’t know which end is up! There are routines to help with decision making, I plan and prioritize and I delegate and outsource when I can.

And some days, it just doesn’t get done. But it all gets done eventually.

Sarah is a single parent of 6, from infancy to teenager, including two special needs children. She and her princesses live in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where they enjoy homeschooling, playing and growing together as a family. She runs XeraSupport.com, a virtual business support agency, from home, and helps other women start businesses. Sarah blogs at www.RaisingRoyalty.ca and you can find her on Facebook or Twitter, or on Instagram or Pinterest.

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