7 Things Saving My Life Right Now

Hey There, Friends! Thank you for the kind words from Friday’s post. Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers in the days to come. I appreciate it.

I’m so sorry there wasn’t a Monday post {for the last two weeks in a row}. I had a couple of you reach out to check on me and I’m fine. I typically start writing my posts a few days before but really fine tune it the day before it goes live. However, on Sundays it can be tricky to fine tune if we have a lot of things going on. The last two weeks my boys have had baseball and it’s been the kind of baseball that almost lasts ALL DAY! By the time we got home this past Sunday, I was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. Do you ever have one of those weeks? Last week was just that for me.

I’ve shared my love of the Lazy Genius podcast with Kendra Adachi with you many, many times. My aunt introduced me last Thanksgiving when I was visiting Missouri and I haven’t looked back! If you haven’t listen, GIVE HER A SHOT! Not only does Kendra have a podcast, she’s also written The Lazy Genius Way, The Lazy Genius Kitchen, and her latest book, The PLAN: Manage Your Time Like a Lazy Genius releases in October. She quarterly does a little podcast called, “What’s Saving My Life Right Now”, where she shares things listeners have written in that are saving them time, saving them money, saving their sanity, etc. You get the idea. Just this week she released a “What’s Saving My Life Hall of Fame” podcast where she shared the biggest things in HER life that save her time, money, and sanity. And listening to that episode helped this blog post be born.

I know we all have seasons where our lives feel a bit extra crazy, stressful, chaotic and should I tell you when spring rolls around that the spring is my busiest season, please remind me of the fall. 🙂 Since Tab travels every weekend in the fall, the fall is BY FAR my personal busiest season. Every weekend activity, every car ride needed, every game played, EVERY SINGLE thing that happens on a weekend in the fall falls to me {or me to find someone to help, pay or carpool}. I’ve been doing this for years every fall. It’s how our lives have always worked but it wasn’t until THIS year that I realized I do have a much shorter fuse in the fall. My patience is at an all time low simply because I carry most of the parental weight for all four kids during this time. Which brings me to sharing WHAT’S SAVING MY LIFE RIGHT NOW!

#1 Bible Study/Reading my Bible/Attending Church/Praying-I can’t really narrow this down to just one thing BUT my relationship with Jesus is the answer. I can’t do it all so the ability to lean on Him during tough seasons is such a blessing.

#2 Meal Planning-I prefer to do this casually on Sunday afternoons while sipping a cup of coffee BUT sometimes this looks more like screen shotting meals that appear on my Instagram feed throughout the week or asking kids as we’re driving somewhere what they want to eat for dinner. It doesn’t have to take long, just coming up with a plan REALLY helps me not be scrambling at dinner time on the daily. Because having to order out or pick up food throughout the week isn’t the way I prefer to feed my family. Every once in a while is a fun addition to the week but every night leaves me feeling with mom guilt. Anyone else?

#3 House Cleaner-I know this isn’t always in the budget. Trust me, I remember it vividly when it wasn’t in our budget. I prefer to have the entire house clean at once and the stress of something always being dirty or needing to be cleaned was difficult. This was one of the first things we added when I started working from home consistently.

#4 Grocery Delivery-I’m not doing anything crazy with our meals so I don’t have a reason to be spending time walking the grocery store. I stick to only what we need for the week, order my groceries online and have them delivered when I know I’ll be home to put them away. Last week this looked like me on my computer in the baseball stands ordering groceries. I’m telling you-it’s saving my life right now.

#5 Podcasts-I know we get a bad rap for always being entertained but I’m a much better cleaner, cooker, laundry folder and just overall more productive when I can be entertained by a podcast while I’m doing all the home chores.

#6 Babysitters that Drive-I’d be doing this list a disservice if I failed to mention how there’s one night a week EVERY SLAUGHTER KID has an activity. I carpool with some kids, attend others and one kid inevitably has a sitter drive them to their event. Growing up my parents {two parents on two kids} didn’t miss a thing. If my brother and I both had something, then they split and we had at least one parent in attendance. Well, Tab and I messed that protocol up when we had four kids. :). Doesn’t work for two parents with four kids, but I remember a friend telling me when Bowen was a baby how much love the siblings will give and receive from each other. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows among the siblings BUT when a sibling does give another props it tends to mean a lot more to them. Needless to say, I couldn’t be surviving this particular season without the help of some sitters that drive.

#7 Grace-I’m giving myself a little extra during this season. I like getting showered and dressed on the daily. I think I’m more productive and tend to get more accomplished BUT the last two weeks I’ve used every extra minute in my day prioritizing what needs to be done first…laundry, work, dishes, Bible reading. All those things that matter a little more than a face full of make-up. This season isn’t gonna last forever so I’m giving myself an extra dose of grace and rolling with it.

Now it’s your turn, what are you SO THANKFUL for that’s truly saving your life this season? I’d love to hear it! Maybe it’ll be something new we all should implement?

Have the best Wednesday, friends!

XO