Surviving a Sudden Side Job with Lots of Littles

Hello stay-at-home moms like me. You know what you do is a full time job and it doesn’t pay real well. 😉

Recently, my husband and I decided we needed to start looking around for a new-to-us vehicle. We had our 4th child in December so now we only have one tiny spare seat in our van and that doesn’t work well when you’re trying to live missionally. Shortly after having Ellie {our adorable 4th} I happened to refinish a dresser for a friend of mine. It was fun and I made a little money. I finished the other pieces in this bedroom set and sold those as well.

As my “fun furniture folder” that holds my cash from buying and selling furniture got thicker and thicker, my hubs proposed we continue to refurb furniture in order to get to our vehicle-fund goal faster. I jumped on board as an attempt to have our vehicle by the end of summer. {Crazy goal . . . I know}

I’ve had many friends watch the madness that is “as Jules is redoing” on my personal Facebook page. They are all so sweet and complementary of my pieces as well as the fact that I have figured out how to do this. Today, I’d like to share my “secrets”. Disclaimer: these are all things I learned because I did this completely wrong, learned lots, had to apologize tons, and it was more difficult to write the sarcastic sinical post than it would be just to tell you simply how I would do it if I could start over.

Surviving a Sudden Side Job with Lots of Littles

1. Set a Goal
   Our outlandish goal was $$$$ in 2-3 months. Having this goal allowed us to track our expenses, income, and ultimately total savings and by doing this kept us motivated and energized.
2. Plan ahead
   Taking on a goal like this while take a lot of your time, resources, and brain. You know that “mom-brain” that doesn’t take anything to send into a downward spiral. Yeah, its gonna be taxed to the wazoo with this. Having a plan for your project(s), meals, cleaning, kids, etc will help that brain keep functioning, resources stretch further, and time be spend more wisely.
3. Prioritize
   Some days, your goal will need to take precedence over the everyday routine and other days this goal will need to take a back seat to the good ole life. On a more detailed note, you’ll need to prioritize through out the day: is it more important to clear the table of the paint project or continue with the project until complete while creating a rock’n snack/picnic lunch to excite the littles while they play outside.
4. Work spontaneously
   It’s as easy as 15 minutes! Yeah right. But hear me out. In our house, nearly every chore can be completed in a race to beat a 15 minute timer. My kids think this is a great game and some times, we all know as a mom, 15 minutes may be all the time you have {here and there}. When you get 15 minutes, work and work quickly.
5. Sleep
   There needs to be a “clock-out” time. Leave the project 1/2 done if you must OR plan ahead and start winding down in time to have clean up complete before quitting time.
6. Have Grace {with your littles and yourself}
   As I mentioned earlier, there are going to be lots of mistakes with this short-term sudden side job. You may want to quit. You may want to run away. You may want to scrap up the scraps from your filthy floors to feed a 3rd world nation. Although 15 minutes blocks and 2 month goals are great and all, loving people is always more important. If you find yourself crying yourself to sleep or your kids misbehaving to get some attention, stop. Take a deep breath. Then shower some grace over a movie night with no talk of “the goal” to rejuvenate.
7. Celebrate!
   Celebrate good times! COME ON!!! That’s right. You made your goal. The challenge you set before yourself as not only a homemaker but a working women, wife, and mom of lots of littles has been met. You Accomplished Something! Find something, besides [for us] going to purchase the new vehicle, even something small like family-fro-yo-night to commemorate working diligently to meet your goal. It will be good for you, and for your kids to see their parents as such hard workers.

 

Any tips you’d like to share with me?!