In this first episode of Season 3, we’re chatting about time wasters, and how to stop it. Listen in!

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Hello friends! Welcome back to my podcast, Finding Joy in Your Home. We are here for season 3 with some fun new changes. I’m going to give you a few announcements and then we will jump into today’s topic of wasting time as a homemaker, and what we can do about it.

Some of you right now are watching me over on YouTube as you listen to this podcast! As of this episode, my podcast is now also a video podcast over on YT. If you listen to the audio and you just want it to stay that way, that’s totally fine!

But as of this week, we are officially relaunching my YT channel in a big way! Each week we will be publishing my video podcast (if you want to watch on video or keep listening to audio). AND I have a brand new weekly show starting on YouTube called Baking School with Jami! Each week we will learn something new about baking and then make a new recipe together!

I’m convinced that the best way to learn to bake is by trying out just one new recipe a week and learning it as you go! And we are going to do this together during Baking School with Jami. For this show, you will need to hop over to YouTube to watch. Just go to BakingSchoolwithJami.com to find the link and to sign up to get the printables and recipes each week!

Now let’s get to today’s episode: 

It can so often feel like we are just spinning our wheels when it comes to getting things done. I have felt many times in my motherhood journey that I have been busy, busy, busy without actually getting much done.

How is it that we can feel pulled in so many directions but not actually making traction in the few areas that actually matter? As we kick off season 3, I think this is an important place to start.

I don’t know about you, but Fall always feels like such a busy time. School is kicking off again and with that comes new co-op opportunities, sports and activities, Bible studies, and the looming holidays.

I know that I’m going to blink and it will be January and we will be kicking off a New Year. So as I stare fall in the face and try to get my new schedules and routines together, I think this is a really important topic: How can we stop wasting time?

I think it’s so important, every new season, to reevaluate what’s working well and what isn’t. And a big thing for me, with so many modern distractions, is making sure I’m using my time well and not wasting my days away, which unfortunately is all too easy to do.

• Do you need to be getting up earlier? And/or using your evenings better?

This is one I struggle with. I am GOOD at getting work done at night, but I struggle in establishing better morning routines. Some of you definitely don’t struggle with this and that’s awesome!

I’ve found the opposite to be true though too: If you are excellent at getting up early, then often that same person really struggles as they head into dinner time and the evening. So maybe you need to focus on ways to be more intentional with your time as the evening hits.

Take a really honest assessment of your day, what is it that you need to focus on when it comes to wasting time? We thrive so much better when I’m up before the kids, have done my devotional, had my coffee, and can really hit the ground running with our full homeschool day kicking into action at 8 am. It’s better for all of us, I just have to really work at this sometimes!

• Get dressed for the day. 

This is huge for those of us who are home all day. As a younger stay-at-home mom, I was in my PJs most of the day. It was more comfortable to just stay comfy. But I’ve realized over the years, this greatly hampers my productivity. When I get up and am dressed by 8am, our day just starts. It’s like this terrific signal that it’s time to get busy and be productive.

I take my day at home seriously. 8-5 at home with my children is my job. And thus, I want to take it seriously by getting dressed and showing up for the day as I would a job outside the home.

• How are you filling your own cup? 

Look, life isn’t just about being productive. We are not supposed to be robotic machines who work, work, work. The goal of this podcast today isn’t to encourage each of us to just run ourselves into the ground doing all the things. We probably all have areas where we are being lazy and need to work at it.

But we also need to make sure we are caring for our own souls and our own health!

• Where are your rest times? 

We end every night resting and Sunday we block out our entire day for rest. This has taken some getting into that habit, but now we so look forward to that day of reset before jumping back into our Mondays.

We do Sabbath rest from sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday which allows us to reset a bit Sunday night to get ready for Monday morning!

• Limit Your Social Media 

Has social media become a huge problem for so many people? If you find yourself constantly reaching for your phone every single time you get bored (and start paying attention, it’s probably a lot more often than you think), then you might want to take a social media break or set some better limits.

If we truly understood how much time, in 10-15 minute increments (or more!!) that gets taken up by social media, we would probably cry! But look, I’m not actually a social media hater. I do think there are very good and valuable things that can come from social media. I’ve formed deep friendships with women online who have turned into real-life friendships. I love sending natural videos and tips back and forth between my sister-in-law on Instagram, and I’ve gained countless valuable tips on homemaking, cooking, homeschooling, and so much more from social media.

I can say, that social media has actually enriched my life in so many ways. But I have to be careful that I’m the one who is intentionally using social media, instead of being run over by it. This has been a particular struggle for me, as I run an online business and I need to use social media for our business. In fact, I need to be on it daily, producing content.

So I’ve set up some guidelines for myself. I got an iPad mini and have put 100% of all my social media on it. My personal phone has nothing work or social media related. So when it’s time to get work done, I go get my iPad from the office so I can use it. I still have to be careful that that work time doesn’t bleed into more time, but it’s worked extremely well for me this year!

• Work on stretching your attention span 

With modern technology, our brains are so split and so fractured. With Youtube shorts and Instagram reels, we consume content at an unprecedented rate. And we swipe through IG stories or reels after 1/5 seconds because it’s not keeping our attention.

We lose the focus and attention for longer form content and for books. Jason and I both this year have realized how impatient our brains can be with things that take longer. So while I do enjoy reels and they can be really fun or even a terrific source of education, we’ve both been intentionally greatly limiting that shorter content.

I want to have the focus to watch a cooking video or listen to a long podcast or read a book. But it can be hard to retrain our brains to focus and not skim read something. This allows greatly applies to having the ability to slow down and focus on an 8-year-old who wants to tell you all about this latest Minecraft build. Learn to slow down and look him in the eyes, actually listen to what he is saying, and respond. Ask questions, and be engaged with who he is. Because that 8-year-old will be a 16-year-old before you know it and if he learns that mom doesn’t listen to his ramblings or isn’t truly engaged, that 16-year-old won’t come to you with his ramblings or thoughts either.

This also applies to our husbands. Are you really listening to your husband? Are you slowly down to look into his eyes and ask how his day is and actually pay attention long enough to really hear him and ask thoughtful questions?

Links and Resources:

• Join our private community to chat about this podcast episode: FindingJoyCommunity.com
• Watch the podcast on YouTube if you want! youtube.com/jamibalmet
• Keep an eye out for Baking School with Jami coming this week: youtube.com/jamibalmet
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