The Time-Saving Mom with Crystal Paine

She’s a listener favorite and she’s back with all kinds of ideas for making the most of your time. Money Saving Mom Crystal Paine joins The AllMomDoes Podcast host Julie Lyles Carr for a conversation about all things time management, a helpful idea on hitting your priorities, and the two questions that can make a big difference when it comes to getting it all done.

Show Notes:

Find Crystal: Online | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

• Crystal’s Book: The Time-Saving Mom: How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy Your Life, and Accomplish What Matters Most

Find Julie: Online | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

AllMomDoes: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Transcription:

Julie [00:00:15] Today on the All Mom Does podcast. You loved her so much the last time we had her on, which was episode 167. Remember that number 167, because I want you to go back and take a listen if you haven’t heard it yet. We just had to have her back on and everything aligned. She had a window in her schedule, which is practically miraculous. Crystal Paine, thank you so much for coming back on the All Mom Does podcast today.

Crystal [00:00:39] Julie, I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me back. It’s such an honor.

Julie [00:00:43] Absolutely. Your interview last time was so unique because you disclosed what it was like to be the mom who discovers that her kid is being the bully, which is why I think it really resonated with people. A lot of times we talk about how to help our kids if they’re being bullied. Very important topic, but it’s not often that you have somebody who comes in and says, “I’m going to be really honest here. This time it was my kid.” So again, that’s episode 167. We’ll have Rebecca link that in the show notes because it’s such a great conversation and I know today’s conversation is going to hit home for a whole bunch of us. But before we jump into what our topic is going to be, I got to ask you something. The last time we chatted and it wasn’t that long ago you were a mom of four and I blinked my eyes and turned around twice. And you’re now the mom of six and your age spread look something like mine with my eight kids, where I’ve got one who is sixteen and a half years older than the youngest ones. You’ve got a similar spread going, but you got to catch me up, girl. What happened?

Crystal [00:01:50] I’m still wondering that. No, when I started writing this book as the mom of four children and by the end of the book, I am the mom of six and so surprise, surprise. There’s a chapter at the end of the book called, “The Chapter I Never Expected to Write.” And that dives into a deeper. But just the basic thing is so we have six kids, 18 down to seven months. We are foster parents. Well, actually, were foster parents. We just recently our home is on hold because of said six children. So we brought in a little boy who his story is in the book. His name is David when he was almost eight months old. That was about just about two years ago. And we were not expecting to adopt him. He had a lot of different medical complexities as well as disabilities. He has Down syndrome, a severe cleft lip palate and a feeding tube. And we didn’t know about any of those things to learn very quickly. We have worked with lots and lots of specialist and therapist over the past two years, but as God just wrote the story six months after we said yes to fostering him, the family that was going to adopt him just felt like God was not giving them the yes anymore. And we just started really praying about what that would look like for our family. That was not something we really considered and we knew it would mean lifelong care giving. So it involved are all of our kids to really think about what that would mean for them since we are 41. So, you know, we’re probably there’s a good chance he’s going to outlive us. And so we prayed and just really felt like I was calling us to say yes. So we said yes and moved into the adoption process, which took a number of months. But four weeks after we said yes to adopting, have found out that we were expecting. So that was the big surprise because we had been told that we could not have biological kids after just and we’d had lots of testing and so we’d had… we have a little girl who was kind of like our miracle child that was born a decade after our older three. And so now we have kind of our second family. We have 18, 15, 13, and now we have two and a half, two and a half and seven months.

Julie [00:04:12] Wow. I don’t have as big a gap between my first four and my last four, it’s about three years. But it is funny because we do think of it in that terms. We talk about the older four, the younger four, and kind of this distinct experience of how it was being raised. If you’re one of the older four and believe me, Crystal, my older kids have a lot to say on this topic about, well, when I was a kid, you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank. And the younger ones have their own little culture and ethos going on. So it really is pretty fascinating to look at it in those terms. Now, here’s what I love. The book you were writing in the middle of all this is called, The Time Saving Mom. Now, for those listeners who are already familiar with you, you’ve been the money saving mom for a long time. You have this incredible career that you developed out of showing other moms, other parents how to save money, doing all kinds of things when it comes to personal budget and finance, how to clip those coupons and find the best deals. But now you are also talking about what it means to save time. So were you excited to write this book? Was this a topic that you were just all into? Was it a little bit of a tug to get you to do it? Talk to me about that.

Crystal [00:05:24] Yes. So this book was very much one that I resisted writing, actually, just because I felt like there are so many books on time management. And my publisher and my acquisitions editor were the ones that really, really pushed for this. And I was like, “You guys, there’s so many books out there. Like, I don’t just want to add one more to the pile.” And they kept saying to me, “Crystal, but you have systems and you have things that you’re doing that they’re working for you and we don’t know how you’re doing, all the things you’re doing, and yet you seem like you love your life. And what are those systems?” And I was like, “But they’re so simple and and I’m like, I don’t even know if I have enough to write a book about because it’s so simple.” And they’re like, “Exactly, That’s what we want you to share. It can be a short book.” Come to find out it was 55,000 words. Apparently had a lot to say about it. But so I as I started in just in the process of considering writing it and praying about it and just mulling over the topic, my mom reminded me that back at when I was 18 years old, I’d given my high school graduation speech not because I was valedictorian, but because I was home schooled. And so you get to give the speech at your graduation because is a different experience. And my topic was time is short. Since the time that I have been young, I have just had this passion for helping people to use their time intentionally. And so this book ended up being such a joy to write. And I honestly say it’s my favorite book just because I realized how much I love talking about helping people with very practical ways that you can come up with solutions to help you to juggle a lot, enjoy your life and do what matters most.

Julie [00:07:09] I am really excited for this conversation because I am one of those people who chronically wants to be more productive. But my definition of productivity maybe you can help me with this because my definition is, how can I cram in more into my day, into that 24 hours? And I can remember when a long time ago my husband and I were moving into our first home. And one of my dear friends at the time, her name is Shannon Wilburn. She’s actually been on the show an episode 210. She is now the former CEO of Just Between Friends, which is a consignment sale. And she’s one of those people like you, Crystal, who just seems to be able to create systems and processes around everything. And I thought, oh, she will be the perfect person to help me move into my new home because she’s going to take all this stuff that I know can’t fit and she’s going to make it fit. And about, I don’t know, 10 minutes into trying to help me move into this new home, she said, “Jules, you got to get rid of a bunch of stuff.” Which was counter to what I thought she was going to say. I thought we were going to come up with something that would make everything fit. So are you trying to help us make everything fit, or are you going to give us a good cautionary tale about deciding what should fit and then trying to create a process? Talk me through it because I need all the help I can get.

Crystal [00:08:24] So I think it’s a little bit of both. And there’s a reason that the subtitle is How to Juggle a Lot and Enjoy Your Life and Accomplish What Matters Most. Because we could have said how to streamline and say no, you know, because there are there are seasons for that. And, you know, we have said no just recently to not taking any new long term placements for foster care, like there are seasons for saying no. But this isn’t a book for just how to say no to everything so you have all this whitespace in your life. There are many times in our life where, you know, there’s a lot to juggle. And so is is there a way to do that? But do it from a place in a space of rest and joy. So it’s a little bit of both. I’m helping you with the things that you want to do and need to do and have to do and get to do, but also helping you to think really from this perspective of what’s going to matter at the end of your life. And that’s what I really tried to wrap my time and my life and my energy around is what’s going to matter at the end of my life. I think we spend a lot of time that is wasted worrying and stressing and really micromanaging and controlling details and things that are going to matter at the end of our life. And so I want to kind of release you from all of that and then help you set up systems for the things that you need to do so that they can just kind of run on autopilot so you can really focus your time and energy on the stuff that is most important. And so one of the things I talk about is my 6×2 priority system, which for me that is I have two hands. I can hold two things at once. I can’t really do much more than that and do it well. And so I only focus on two priorities per day. So this allows me to focus on all of the priorities that I have, which are six different priorities, but I rotate them. And so I look at my life over the course of a week and see over the course of a week did I invest very intentional time in those areas that are priorities to me? And if so, I consider that a success versus trying to cram all of those things into one day and then always feeling like there’s never enough time. The other thing that I love about this is it allows me to show up fully and really be all present where I’m at instead of being all the places and not being fully anywhere.

Julie [00:10:46] So let me talk me through coached me through an example of this the 6×2. Let’s say that one of my priorities is the writing that I need to get done. And one of my priorities is, let’s say, having family meals with my family, because that’s literally and figuratively feeds connection with the people in my life that are important. How do I parse that out? Do I try to cram those two priorities into one day? Do I try to stagger it out? Tell me, Crystal, how would you handle that?

Crystal [00:11:17] So I would look at little bit higher level when it comes to like…So you’re writing that could if that’s all you do for your business is just write, then that could be that. But I think you also have a podcast and so I would say more that your business that’s one priority. And then one of your other priorities would probably be your family. And so then I would put underneath that. So I have my marriage is one priority, my kids are one priority. And then also my business is one priority in addition to my home and my health and friendships. And so underneath those headings, then there’s going to be multiple like kind of sub priorities that these are things that in this bucket, this is what I really want to focus on. So if writing is what you’re really want to focus on now, like for me, if right now my book launch, that’s a big part of what I’m doing business wise. And so yes, I’m doing some other things for the business, but the book launch is what’s getting the biggest time and effort when I’m spending time in business type. And so throughout the week there are going to be two days of the week that I’m going to really focus on business stuff. And right now that’s going to be more of just book launch stuff. So yes, there’s going to be stuff that I’m going to do for the business every day because I work 40 hours a week, kind of more like 60 hours right now because I’m launching a book. But I’m going to have more focused time where I’m going to have an extended time, where I might put in a do an extra project or to do extra interviews just kind of depending upon what the week is and then when it comes to the family. So if you say, you know, family meals or something that is really important to us, and maybe for you it’s more than two times a week. You want to prioritize that more than two times a week that you’re all going to gather around the table, then that’s something that you can say, okay, that for me that’s more of a habit and I’m going to put that into where I have a chapter that’s all about habit tracking, and I’m going to put that into my habit tracker and make that where it’s every day. But when it comes to maybe one on one time with your kids, that is something that you’re probably not going to have a time block of one on one time with each of your children. That’s 30 minutes, an hour every single day. But that’s something that you probably are going to want to prioritize on a regular basis. And so that could look like the two time blocks that the two priority days that you choose where it’s going to be your kids, that you’re going to take one of your kids out or you’re going to have extended time we’re just focusing on that one child and having some one on one time. Or you’re going to have a game night or you’re going to do something where it’s all of your kids together? And so each day I just focus on those two priority areas. I don’t have where it’s Tuesday, it’s this. Wednesday is this, I just, I take each week as it comes and what needs come up because it might be one of my kids has something that it comes up that okay they just I really need to focus on them for that day. And so I just take each day as it happens and decide that day. But what it allows me also is it allows this beauty of I can be fully there in that conversation with the child, knowing that, okay, tomorrow I’m going to focus on the house. And so there’s some parts of our house that really need to be kind of put back together and there’s some mess and some deep cleaning I need to do. I’ll do that tomorrow or the writing. I’m going to do that on Thursday. And so just knowing those other things are coming. But this is where I am right now.

Julie [00:14:41] Yes. Capturing those things and knowing that they can happen, they just don’t have to happen in the second really does help uncover your mind. Now, you write that there’s a difference between a routine and a schedule. I’m really intrigued. Talk me through the difference in those two things.

Crystal [00:14:56] So I grew up in a family where things were very regimented. My mom loves schedules, and by that I mean every 15 minutes we had it on the wall and it was every 15 minutes. Here’s what we are doing and we’re sticking with it. And we would even have like bells that would go off sometimes that she was very strict about that. Not every single day of her life, but the majority were home schooled and there were seven kids. So, you know, you had to have some semblance of structure there. I am more of a routine person, and I found that there just certain stages and seasons of life where a routine is a smarter thing. And so I have found that kind of having where these are the things that we do in this sort of order, but it’s not, we always do it in these 15 minute blocks. That works better for my personality. In the book, The Time Saving Mom, I kind of give you some different options because you got to figure out what is your personality? For my mom, having that very regimented schedule was something that was just very, very helpful for her. For me, that’s something that feels very stifling to me. Now, in the book, I also talk about my time like to do list, which we would say, “What is it that kind of regimented?” Well, for me, having a plan, but having a lot of buffer room and wiggle room is what is very helpful to me. So, like, I want to know, I want to look on my list and I want to go to say, “Okay, here’s what’s coming next and here’s the timeframe that I want to do it in.” But it’s not every 15 minutes I allow a lot of buffer because for me that just feels a little bit more free. I also allow at least 2 to 4 hours of just completely free time where there’s nothing planned every day because I know that I’m going to need some downtime. I know that interruptions are going to happen. And then when the interruptions happen, I’m not feeling all stressed and frazzled and frustrated because I planned. I planned extra time for this.

Julie [00:16:50] Right. It seems to me, too, that you are spanning something that’s very interesting in terms of how to manage time, how to look at time. That is the idea that it feels to me that when my oldest kids started getting older, there were things that began to open up in terms of time constraints and things we were able to do. And then when you add younger kids back into the mix, it reminded me again, Oh, this may have been why I felt a lot more frazzled when my oldest kids were younger. Now I can recognize a little bit more of the patterns, the rhythms, the seasons. How do you incorporate honoring those different seasons in your life when it comes to making the most of your time? Because let’s face it, when you’ve got little ones at home, everything takes, I don’t know what, four times as long. I mean, just trying to get out the door into the car is a whole episode. So how do you toggle back and forth? You’ve created this buffer that’s got to help a lot. Are there some other tips and tricks that you use when you have little ones underfoot to make sure that the routine is working for you and doesn’t feel like a task master, that you feel like you’re always failing that?

Crystal [00:17:57] Yes. Well, I think it’s knowing your personality, I think that’s really important. And so for some, you know, for a mom that has little children and she’s a stay at home mom, maybe it’s just that you have these four things that you do every morning and there’s no time. There’s just in the morning block we’re going to do these four things in, you know, that gives you this freedom that you’re not feeling like, well, we got to be done by 9:30 because it says on the schedule this. For me, I find that having a little bit more of structure, maybe it’s because the way I was raised is helpful for my personality and also because with working full time and having certain things that have to happen at certain times, it’s helpful to do that. But I would just encourage anyone who is listening right now who you’re feeling like you’re so overwhelmed with just life. The first chapter of the book is really where it’s at. The first section is all about just starting from the posture of prayer. And for me, that is really when I am trying to micromanage all the details and control everything and everyone in my life, I’m going to be perpetually exhausted and weary and stressed because I’m trying to be God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit to all these people. And it’s not working. He hasn’t called me to that. So, I would just challenge you if you’re feeling that stress rising in you, for me, stress is usually an indication that I’m not resting in the Lord. And so starting from that posture of I don’t have what it takes and I’m not enough in my own strength, but in Christ, I can do all things and I want to rest in Him and trust in Him and give Him whatever I have for the day. I’ve been studying where Jesus feeding the 5,000 and how know it was just these five loaves and these three fish. It’s like so many days. I feel like this is all I’ve got. God, I didn’t get very much sleep last night, and there’s so much to do. But I’m going to just give what I have to You. I’m bringing it to You and I’m asking You to blessed and multiply it. And when I live from that space, instead of, “Oh, we’re got to figure out all these things and, you know, micromanage and control everything…” When I live with my hands just open, I have so much more just rest in peace and joy and I’m able to just be where I am. Be where my feet are planted and show up there and not worry about the future. Because I can trust that God is going to give me what I need for right now and for the next 20 minutes and the next 20 days and the next 20 years.

Julie [00:20:34] Right, Right. Crystal, help us understand. There are times that I will feel like my time management has been a little more on point. I’ve gotten some things knocked out, some big projects. Okay, I got it, I got it. And then I will go into a season where it’s almost hard for me to tell if there’s too much on my plate or if I’m just resisting getting some stuff done. So procrastination can sneak into our lives and can be a huge interrupter in the way that we are managing our time. How do you distinguish when it’s something that there’s just too much going on and you maybe need to do some kind of inventory of what all you’ve agreed to and then the places where procrastination sneaks in? Or let me ask you this, just does procrastination sometimes become a symptom there might be too much going on? Your body’s just calling full stop. Talk to me about that whole realm of both inventory, what we have going on and recognizing what procrastination is doing. How do we get unstuck in that swamp?

Crystal [00:21:36] So often when I find myself just kind of where I’m spending my wheels in, it’s like I’m trying to keep busy, to keep myself from doing the things I really need to do. I call it productively procrastinating and I can be really good at that. That’s usually for me, it means that either there’s something that I’m scared off, like something I’m fearful of, that I’m trying to avoid. Like maybe I need to have a hard conversation or I need to just step in and take a risk with something and I don’t really want to. Like, I just send an email recently that I put off for quite a while just because it’s kind of scary. Or it can mean that I’m tired and a lot of times I find that I’m just not very productive when I’m tired. So one thing that’s been really helpful to me is to have a habit tracker. I talk about this in the book a lot, where you track these areas in your life that you’re working on. And so if it’s something that it doesn’t come naturally to you, it’s not a habit. It doesn’t just happen, but it’s an area that you want to work on and prioritize putting it on a habit tracker where I check it off every day. So I have 11 things on my habit tracker and one of them is to get 7 hours of sleep now, right now with three little ones under three, it’s not 7 hours, but we just consider 7 hours that happen in a 24 hour period.

Julie [00:22:56] We’re going to get the credit.

Crystal [00:22:59] But if I don’t get to 7 hours of sleep in pretty consistently, I find that I am then tired, which then makes me be a lot slower in how I get things done and just procrastinate a lot more. I’ll find that I’m just picking up my phone and I’m scrolling on my phone just because I’m tired. So, Habit Tracker for me has been so helpful because I’m tracking my nutrition, I’m tracking my exercise, I’m tracking just how I’m taking care of myself, and then I can look at it. And just a few weeks ago I had a week where I was just feeling frazzled and I was feeling…Just I wasn’t productive. And I looked at my tracker and I realized three days in a row I had not gotten 7 hours of sleep and I was just tired and I knew, okay, I need to prioritize sleep. And when I did over the weekend, it was just a matter of going to that a little bit earlier instead of staying up. It was amazing how it changed my productivity. And so that’s one thing that I am a huge believer in, is that we need to be tracking some things so that we can have some data to work from. And then also sleep is super important. And I also think getting feedback from other people. So if I’m feeling just overwhelmed, like I don’t even know where to start, I just feel stuck just going to my husband or a good friend and just saying, “Here’s all the things that I feel like I need to do.” They can kind of help me sort through is it that I’m resisting something that I’m stuck? Is it that I’m actually procrastinating? Is it that I am just tired? Is it something else in my life? And so having someone else to bounce it off of so that they can give me some clarity of did I take on too much? What do I need to quit? What do I need to say no to? Or is it just that maybe I just need to take a nap?

Julie [00:24:42] Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes a nap can fix a lot of stuff. A lot of existential crisis can be mitigated through a good nap if you can just get one.

Crystal [00:24:53] Or (ILLEGIBLE AUDIO), I would say.

Julie [00:24:54] Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Crystal, how do we navigate in a culture where a lot of times where we begin to feel overwhelmed or there are changes were wanting to make, we’re wanting to come up higher in our careers or wanting to spend more time with our children or whatever the thing may be. We might want to spend more time volunteering at church, whatever the goal is. And yet we sometimes encounter this situation where we’re being encouraged to hustle harder, to grind harder, to want it more, or to make it more central on the vision board. If we can just imagine it and envision, envision it, then we can do it. How do we contrast that with really understanding the confines of a 24 hour day? Because the irony to me is in money saving mom, you’re helping people understand how to best steward the money they have and to potentially look for opportunities to earn some money and to gain some money back. You know, money is one of those things that it’s not static. It can continue to go and go. But you make the very poignant point in the book that this 24 hour day thing, we don’t get any say. There’s not going to be a committee meeting going, “Really God, if you can make it a 32 hour day and if you could reduce our sleep needs to, I don’t know, say 4 hours…” I mean, this one, this one is set. So how do we handle how do we push back? How do we sometimes maybe need to embrace and put it in into fifth or sixth gear, this whole hustle, hustle, grind, grit, culture?

Crystal [00:26:25] So first off, I really think that we need to get to the root of why are we wanting to chase after something? For me, for the longest time I was hustling because I was trying to find my worth and approval in accolades, in numbers, and I was not finding it in Jesus. And so I was just chasing and exhausting myself and burning the candle at both ends because it felt like I had to do more and more. It was never enough. And getting to a place of understanding how much I am loved by God and living out of that love and that my worth is not in my work and that my approval is not in my performance. That I am loved for exactly who I am. That has just given me so much peace at being able to say yes and it being able to say no. Because then I’m no longer chasing after the approval and the admiration and the accolades I can rest and who I am in Christ, and then I can make decisions out of that space. And so I personally feel like, yes, there are seasons when we there are harder working seasons. I wouldn’t call it like a hustling season. For instance, right now I’m in the middle of book launch and there’s a six week period when you launch a book that for me, it’s usually kind of like you’re taking on another part time job. There’s just a lot of things to do to launch a book well, and so I usually work 40 hours, I’m working about 60 hours, but we know that. And so we plan for that and we just kind of change what we prioritize in our life for that six week period. But it’s not forever. It’s a six week period. And I keep reminding my husband of like, you know, the finish line is coming and then things are going to change. So I think there are times when, yes, you’re going to be putting in more hours and kind of putting your head down and working hard. Or that you’re maybe at something where, you know, you have a newborn. There’s just a lot that comes with having a newborn or you’ve just adopted a child or taken then, you know, you’re just started fostering a new child or you are caring for an elderly parents or a child is really sick and in the hospital. You know, there are times when it’s going to take almost more than we feel like we have to give. And that’s where it’s really relying upon the Lord. But I feel like that there are also should be seasons in our life where we are just completely stretched so thin and burning the candle at both ends. So finding that balance of where is our why? What is our motivation for why we’re doing what we’re doing, and are we truly resting in Jesus? And if so, then I feel like even when life is swirling all around us, we will feel that peace in our heart. But if we’re feeling just that frenzy, I got to do more. I got to do more, I got to do more. That’s usually not from a place that is really healthy place.

Julie [00:29:20] Absolutely. And boy, if I live some seasons where I’ve felt that, where I have been wanting to achieve more, do more, prove more, and it is a great recipe for total burnout and exhaustion, and we’re doing it to ourselves. It’s that inner dialog about trying to make ourselves, quote unquote, enough. You have two questions that you say are foundational when it comes to really managing time well. And the first one is how can I make this easier? And the second one is what can I do to simplify this? I love that because I have to say in my challenges with managing time well and including things like sleep and self-care and exercise in there, I can get a lot done if I don’t include those things, but it doesn’t go very well. But I do think there’s something and maybe it’s just the multi kid thing Crystal? I don’t know. But I have to say there are several things that I learned. Oh, there’s got to be an easier way. There’s got to be a way to simplify this. How do you navigate that and what are some of the things that you put in place? Give us some some practical tips on things that you’ve realized, hey, this is the easier way to do this. This is a way to simplify it.

Crystal [00:30:25] So one of the things that I try to do is I try to simplify brain clutter. And so I try to take as much out of my head that I possibly can so that there’s space for my brain debris, which sounds weird, but I have found that when it’s out of my head, I am so much calmer. I think if I don’t have all these 27 or 2700 things swirling around in my head that I need to do, need to remember, need to call, need, detect, need to think about, I need to bring, need to buy. I can just breathe. And so what I talk about in the book is this hybrid planning system that I have where I use Google calendar to brain dump everything and I’m constantly with something comes into my head, putting it in Google calendar, putting it somewhere so that it is out of my head, but it’s in a safe space that I know I’m going to be reminded of it when I need to be reminded of it. So that’s something that is very helpful to me as much as we can to remove the clutter from our head and have a good system for that. I also try to simplify things that we just we have to do during the day. And I don’t even like to use the term I have to do. I like to say get to do. But things like laundry, things like cooking, things like cleaning, things that, you know, in order to just function and have our family function. Let’s come up with really simple systems for, you know, with clothes. I’m like, simplify how many clothes you have, and then you usually have less laundry and you’re going to wear more. It’s easier to get dressed when you have fewer clothes because there are fewer choices. Simplify your meals you don’t need to have. You know, I feel like Instagram has given us this really false sense of what we’re supposed to be feeding our kids. And it’s really okay if you have soup and a crockpot for dinner and it all came from cans and maybe you have some carrots in a baggie that you put out with the soup? That is dinner. And so to give yourself that grace and permission, we simplify meals, I simplify my wardrobe, I simplify my hair and my makeup. I wash my hair once a week. I always wear it the same way, and I use five the same five makeup products every day. So it’s stuff that I, you know, get to do or what if we’re going to call it have to do or get to do, but that it’s simplifying the systems we have good system for when the mail comes in the house, you know, just file it and trash it and then there’s not piles. So, yes, all of this takes time to put into place, but we can slowly work towards better systems that are going to then help us so that we’re not just running around feeling like I’m constantly just on the brink of barely surviving, but I’m actually able to focus on the people in front of me and love them well and show up for the things that God has called me to because I’m not stretched so thin.

Julie [00:33:08] And those really are the goals, right? To be there for our people, to make sure we’re walking in the path that God has designed for us and not being distracted by all the stuff that pulls at us along the way. Well, I’m so thrilled for you about this new book. The title, again, is “The Time Saving Mom How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy your Life and Accomplish What Matters Most” by Crystal Paine. Crystal, where can the listener go to find out more information on the book to interact with you, to see all the things you have going on, and to see these new additions to the family who have arrived recently?

Crystal [00:33:39] Yes, I’d love to show off my babies, so I am very active on Instagram, on Instagram stories. I’m the @MoneySavingMom on Instagram and I would love for you to follow me there. I share lots of behind the scenes. If you are interested in saving money or grocery shopping menu planning, you can see my very simple cooking that I do and just systems that we have in place for our family. Then also pictures of my little ones, sometimes of my teenagers when theys approve and just lots of great deals as well. I’m also our site is moneysavingmom.com. If you like things all things deals and saving money. Then the book is available wherever books are sold. Right now the best deal is on Baker Book House, which is actually the publisher but also of course Amazon and Christian book and all the other places.

Julie [00:34:28] You know, this is random, but I think of you often because you found this great deal on a massage gun that I buy it through a link through your site. And it was a fantastic deal. And boy, do I appreciate that thing. So I think of you often when I’m working on my shoulder that gets all kicked up from sitting at a desk. I know that make just just makes your day. So there you go.

Crystal [00:34:49] I love being able to find deals for things that, you know, it’s something that’s going to make someone’s life better. And it’s also a great price and it’s going to save the money. It’s such a win win.

Julie [00:34:58] Oh, absolutely and I’ve been a beneficiary of that. Crystal, so great to see you again. Can’t think of anybody better to help us navigate this very finite thing we have called time. So many great ideas and tips and of course your heart and your purpose are always in the right place. So, Crystal, appreciate you so much.

Crystal [00:35:16] Thank you so much for having me on.

Julie [00:35:18] Again, many thanks to Crystal for being on today. So many great ideas. And hey, I wanted to ask you a big favor. If today’s episode was really helpful to you or it had some ideas and some wisdom that you think would be really great for someone in your life, be sure and share the episode, if you don’t mind. That is just one of the best ways that you can let us know that the podcast is resonating with you, that we are bringing you the things that you’re wondering about, the things you’re needing help with. As always, Rebecca has put together great show notes for this episode, so all the links and different ideas and things, you want to go back and refresh your memory on, be sure and check out at the show notes. Be sure and check out AllMomDoes.com for all kinds of encouragement and community and connection. I’ll see you next time on the All Mom Does podcast.