This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own.

In this in-between week before New Year's, I always find myself reflecting on the past year and planning and goal-setting for the next one. Personal goals, parenting goals, spiritual goals, physical goals, financial goals...I like taking the time to consider how I'm spending my life so I can be intentional about it. At the very least it makes sense to do this at the beginning of a new year (and a new decade!). Although I have goals in every category I mentioned above, business and financial goals are high on my list for 2020. In addition to blogging, I have some new ideas I want to try this year. At the same time, my priority is my role as a stay-at-home mom (and I will have three kids at home with me very soon!). That means anything extra I take on will be an at-home business. Having been a blogger since 2010 (a whole decade, crazy!!) I've learned a little about what works for me and what I need to avoid. If you're planning on starting a new at-home business this year, I thought I'd pass some of those tips along!

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

1. Organize your home

An organized office is going to make a huge difference in your comfort and productivity. Try to run an at-home business without an area dedicated to your work and you’ll find it spilling everywhere and affecting everything in your home. There’s a good chance you’ll get distracted by household chores and personal to-dos while you’re trying to reach a deadline. Instead, organize your home and make sure there’s space for you to keep all of your work-related materials and get your work done in peace.

2. Don’t do it alone

Yes, at-home businesses are usually run by one person, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rely on others now and then. For instance, you should consider hiring a couple of freelancers to help with things that are outside of your skill set, such as your website. You could also think about getting some accounting help to make sure your bookkeeping and taxes are done correctly. Realize that you don’t have to figure everything out alone...there are plenty of ways to reduce your workload and allow you to focus on the parts of the business that you enjoy and are good at. In the end, getting some help will actually give you more time to grow your business!

3. Contact specialists

Whether it’s learning management system (LMS) marketing to grow your brand or a local technology expert to fix your computers, there are plenty of specialists around the world that can help you run a smooth business. This is similar to the previous tip, but the idea is to contact specific people or services that specialize in consulting and helping businesses grow.

4. Set a schedule

People often think that working at home gives you the freedom to work whenever you want. That’s kind of true, but the reality is that you do need to set a schedule or else your work is going to bleed into your everyday life. Set boundaries for yourself, and try and separate your work life and home life by sticking to a schedule. This will help you avoid non-work related things while you work, and also help you to focus on your family when you’re not working. I promise, a healthy separation between your work and personal life will make you both a better business owner and a more attentive parent, spouse, and friend. 

I know I haven't posted in awhile! I've been told I say sorry too much so I'm not even going to apologize for that. It is what it is! With less than a month left until baby girl arrives and the holiday season upon us, what energy I have is all being directed towards my family and personal life (as it should be). In fact, I'm not pushing myself to publish any more blog posts this year. But I had someone reach out to me on DM asking if everything was ok, and I realized that with no blogging or Instagramming in the past few weeks, some of you may have wondered if this baby came early or if there was a reason for my radio silence. Thankfully, nope! She is still cooking in there (36 weeks tomorrow!) and I'm showing no signs of preeclampsia (hallelujah!).

Other baby news...we've picked out a first AND middle name that we both agree on, yay! Her initials will be AJA...any guesses? Based on our last ultrasound, she already has hair (these 3D ultrasounds are crazy detailed!!!) and she looks mighty cute. We are excited to meet her. I feel like there hasn't been as much to "get ready" this time, since we already have a car seat, crib, stroller, etc. so there isn't much to buy. We've also gotten sooo many hand-me-downs, I haven't even needed to shop for girl clothes! And some friends of mine threw me a surprise baby shower so she has some cute new clothes too (thank you guys). All I need to do is get some size one diapers and pack a hospital bag! I decided not to put a bunch of effort into making the nursery girly, since we will probably have her sleep in our room for the first few months and we don't know yet what we will do with our house in 2020.

Oh yeah, we are kicking around the idea of moving next year! Not to a different city, just a different house in Spokane. This is not set in stone and we are still mulling over various options, but we have had a goal to get a rental house for awhile now (to start building passive income). According to my 2019 goals, this year we were supposed to have buckled down, got super frugal, and saved up the 20% downpayment needed for an investment property. Buuuut instead we remodeled the kids bathroom, installed new hardwood flooring, completely renovated the kitchen, and got new outdoor furniture for the deck. HAHAHA. Kind of the opposite of a frugal year. I was looking back at my goals for 2018 (one of my favorite things about this blog, for better or worse, is that it makes it easy for me to find exactly what I was thinking at different points in time). Anyways, what's funny is that I accomplished a lot this year that I had on my list for 2018: having friends over more, meeting local creatives, reading more, and renovating the kitchen. So maybe next year we will actually accomplish what I had planned for 2019???

What else? Ian and Emmett are doing great. They are so cute and fun (and exhausting!). Ian is potty trained now, is obsessed with any kind of vehicle and knows the names of them all, genuinely loves broccoli, peas, tofu, and lots of other foods that I did not like as a kid (hoping he will keep those taste buds). He is doing really well at learning Chinese from my mom, and just started learning piano (we are working on hot cross buns haha). He and Emmett are best buds and play together happily all day, until they fight (which is inevitable). Emmett is super active and loves to climb, jump, and run in circles around the island. He is picking up sooo many words right now and I just loooove hearing his sweet voice and his excitement at learning new vocabulary. We are working on colors (I'm pretty sure he knows red and blue, he gets them right 80% of the time), and he is also learning Chinese from my mom. He can tell me when he has a poop or a pee, which is very helpful and cute (although a kid announcing "poop!" is probably only cute to his mom haha). Emmett loves animals, especially bears (which he pronounces "beers"). He's also very into fire trucks, which he calls "weeoo weeoos." Both kids are big "readers" and love to sit and flip through their books--they can do this for hours, truly. I hope that means they will love to read throughout their lives!

Ben is doing great too! We are approaching our 10 year anniversary (in July) and the fact that I don't have any recent photos of us to include in this post shows me that we really need to schedule some family photos after the new baby is born. We drove over to the Seattle area for Thanksgiving to be with Ben's family (including his grandma and grandpa who just turned 99!). While we were there, we walked around our old neighborhood, Edmonds. It made me feel a little nostalgic for the water, the mountains, and the cute little walkable beach town we lived in. Life has changed a lot in the last three and a half years (a move across the state, me quitting full-time work, and adding three kids to the family). I've been reflecting on how lucky we are to have grown together through all those changes. This toddler stage of life is certainly challenging, and we are both tired by the evening and don't have as much time, energy, or money for fun dates. But I still feel like we've grown stronger as a couple! We've been able to carve out little "dates" like chatting in the car while our kids nap on a drive, or cuddling by the fire on our deck once the kids are in bed, or getting lunch or coffee together after our ultrasound appointments (the place we go for ultrasounds doesn't allow kids to be in the room). I'm lucky that Ben is still my best friend and my favorite person to spend time with. And soon enough, I know our kids will be older and it'll be easier for us to sneak away for overnight dates or trips with just the two of us.

I think those are the main things going on with me personally! Blog-wise, I'm really excited to have finally scheduled some time to get a mobile site set up in January, which will make it much easier to read and navigate this blog on your phone. That has been on my list of goals/things to do since 2017, so it's about time! It's also been about a year since I started Inside Spokane over on Instagram! I'm still having fun with that, although I haven't posted there in the last month either (like I said, I'm down to the bare essentials...feeding my kids and keeping up with laundry). I still don't have a clear direction as to where I want to go with that account, but it's allowed me to make lots of great local connections and peek into some beautiful homes in my city. In case you're interested in following that project, it's @insidespokane.

What's going on with you? In case I don't get around to posting again this year, happy holidays!!! Next time I get on here, I might be posting a birth story!

This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own.

How many of you work from home? It's becoming more and more common for corporate employees to work remotely at least part of the time, and if you're self-employed then your home is likely your main office. Working from home is (mostly) fantastic, and I hope it's a workplace trend that will continue to grow as businesses see how it improves employees' mental health and their own bottom dollar. On the employee side, there's no getting dressed in uncomfortable work clothes, no wasting time in a commute, no dealing with office politics, and the flexibility to work around family commitments and doctor's appointments. And on the employer side, there's no need to pay rent on a huge office space complete with desks and desktop computers for each employee. What's not to love? Ok, there are a feeeew downsides.

One of those challenges is creating your ideal home office space. Not every house has enough square footage to dedicate an entire extra room to your office. If that's the case for you, most likely you'll be carving out a corner of another room like the kitchen, dining room, living room, or bedroom--or your office may do double-duty as the guest room when people come to visit (hello holiday season). Either way, keeping this space clean and tidy is vital for your productivity and for making sure work clutter doesn't infringe on your personal life. So here are some tips for an organized home office space, so you can get all the benefits of working from home...without having work take over your home! Right now is the perfect time to tackle this, so you can start the new year with a fresh and clean office.

Declutter
The number one culprit of an untidy desk is often papers: old to-do lists, memos, completed contracts, junk mail, and other clutter you haven't dealt with. Start getting back to ground zero by having a good old fashioned clear out. Remember to separate out confidential items as these will need to be burned or shredded.

Digitize
While you are clearing out all your old paperwork, it's time to start digitizing. This will take a little time on the front end, but will save you so much space and time in the future. Take photos or scans of important documents that you wish to keep and then dispose of the hard copy (unless it’s essential that you keep it). Record all of your expenses digitally in folders online to clear up that drawer filled with receipts and to help you when tax season comes around. It'll be much easier to find those important documents by searching for them digitally, than by desperately pawing through piles of physical paper. Your future self will thank you.

Store
Next, it's time to store the items that you have left. If your home office is a small space, make good use of it by adding shelving to the walls, buying a desk with built-in drawers, and purchasing files or folders which can be neatly stacked together. After steps one and two, you should only have essential physical items left, so hopefully this step isn't too overwhelming. Remember to label everything clearly as you store it and try to use some kind of logical filing system, whether it's by date or alphabetical, to help you find things in the future.

Clear up your digital space
Your physical home office space is often only half of the work. It's important to declutter your computer and online space too. Make use of cloud storage facilities which host your documents online. This will clear up your device’s memory which can help to speed up Mac and Windows computers if they are running a little slow. Go through all of your folders and files and ensure they are named properly. This can take time but will massively speed up your search processes later on.

Create a routine
Whew! After going through all that effort, you'll want to make sure your home office space stays clean and tidy. The easiest way to stay on top of your home office organization is by making it a part of your daily routine. Use the last 10 minutes of each workday to go through all your paperwork and mail, file away what you're done with, and trash anything you don't need (digitally or physically). Make it a habit to leave your desk clear and ready for the next morning. For those of us that are messy by nature, maybe this should be a resolution for 2020?

Thanks to Candlewick Press for partnering with me on this post. All opinions are my own.

Winter is my least favorite season. This year, we had several early snows (in September and October!) and they made all the fall leaves drop so early. Although there isn't any snow on the ground currently, with the trees bare, it looks like winter already. And I am NOT ready! But as a kid, I remember winter being a magical season that I looked forward to. I want my kids to feel the same, so I am trying to hype myself up for all the aspects of winter that are so fun and special. One really good way to do that is with children's books! The cute illustrations...the cozy descriptions of snow falling and sledding and cocoa and warming up by the fire...the nostalgia of childhood...I can almost get excited for winter. So the other day I stocked the kids' book closet with a bunch of wintry titles. These are the newest ones that I added this year (all from Candlewick Press).

The Shortest Day: The illustrations (by Carson Ellis) are really what drew me to this book about the winter solstice. They are gorgeous and framable.

Snow Still: A beautiful board book about a little fawn who wakes up to discover the world outside has changed after a snowfall. Simple and cute!

A Day for Skating: I love rhyming books, and this one is fun to read. A young child's first skating adventure on a frozen pond makes for a sweet bedtime story to get you excited about winter's activities!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt: Christmas Activity Book: My kids love We're Going on a Bear Hunt. So when I saw this activity book full of stickers and activities, I knew it would be a good one for cozy, crafty indoor days!

The Little Snowplow Wishes for Snow: Last but not least, this book is the kids' favorite of the bunch. They are super into trucks and vehicles right now, so they loooved reading about the little snowplow and his friends, as they wait and wish for snow.

And here is the kids' book closet/reading nook with the rest of our winter books. It's been getting a lot of use now that we're mostly hanging out indoors!

Do you pull out different books with different seasons? Any favorite holiday books that we should add to our collection?