I am sure that my family is no different than most when it comes to how many activities we are involved in, but one thing I have noticed since we started home schooling is that there are so many things we NEED to do and some many awesome opportunities that we WANT to do, that it doesn’t take long for our calendar to fill up and for this momma to get very overwhelmed and just a little bit stressed out!

Another thing I noticed is that when school starts is when everything seems to get kicked into high gear. So, not only are we getting back into a school routine, but we are also trying to work in all sorts of activities and events that we have not done in 3+ months! So how do we make our schedule work? Here are just a few tips that I found that help me.

• Write out a schedule that has everything that is absolutely has to be done. Time for school, chores, church, doctor appointments, therapy appointments, any reoccurring event, or whatever is absolutely essential to your family’s routines.
• Add in any activities that you feel are important, but not necessarily required. Volunteering, play dates, and so on.
• Make a list of the activities and events that your family WANTS to do. Prioritize those activities/events. This may be cost, dates the event/activities happen, time of day they might happen and so on.
• Learn to say “NO”!

I don’t mean to your kids or husband either. Sure we need to know where to draw the line within our own family and how many or how often we commit to things, but I am talking about people, groups, and such OUTSIDE the family. We can’t do everything and that is okay! Don’t let people make you feel guilty for not being at every single co-op event or meeting, every class/practice, or every volunteer event. All those things are important and we should try to follow through on any everything we do commit to, but sometimes life happens and that is okay!

Try your best to communicate with people as soon as you realize you can’t follow through on something or as I already mentioned, “just say NO!” It is ok! I promise! For some reason, people assume that because we are at home with our kids all day that we have all the time in the world or that our schedule is super flexible. For some, it may be that way, but for many of us we have pretty set schedule that is already pretty full—and without a little notice it can be hard to add something in, especially at the last minute.

So learn to say “No. Sorry I am not available at that time.” or ”Is there another time we can meet or is there another aspect of this that can help with?” Or “Sorry but our budget won’t allow for that this month.”

Whatever your reason is be honest and upfront about it. There is no shame in having a budget. There is no shame is saying no. We are only human after all.