Life can be very hectic as a wife, mother, full-time employee, and part-time mommy blogger.

My husband and I have been working from home, at night, since the pandemic started. Few months after the beginning of the pandemic, my relative who took care of my daughter Skye, had to leave us for a work opportunity abroad.

I work full-time taking supervisor calls for a known US bank. I only worked on-site for about three months during the pandemic due to business needs.

Nowadays, It has become more challenging with a toddler. I have to juggle household chores, being a wife, and taking care of my child while making sure that I am productive at work as well as a part-time mommy blogger.

This is me with my daughter, Skye.

• Share household chores

Sharing household chores is important in a happy marriage. I am blessed to have a husband to share the chores with. He cooks, sometimes wash the dishes, clean our electric fans and windows, as well as other tasks in the house.

He is also a hands-on Dad. He assists our daughter Skye with assignments and projects while I do other household chores such as the laundry or cleaning our humble abode. 

• Save time where you can

We take advantage of online groceries and online shopping as it really saves us time and more importantly, these days it’s safer to do these online. We don’t cook daily so we can rest. At least once a week we order food online or we stock up on frozen meals and just heat them for lunch or dinner. Sometimes, our leftover cooked dish will be consumed the next day.

• Learn to say no

At work, sometimes I am assigned to edit videos for the team or for the whole department. Sometimes, I say no to my manager nicely if I am so busy with life at home or if I am going through something personal.

Mommy blogging offers sometimes come left and right. If I can’t deliver the quality post a brand needs or If I really don’t use the brand, I say no politely and thank them for reaching out to me.

• Plan ahead

I have a list of things to do for the day. I log out from the graveyard shift at 6:30 am then I prepare Skye for school. I log her in for an online class and then do some household chores. I list deadlines of submission and posting for brands I work with so I won’t miss anything.

Photos are shot a few days before the deadline to give me enough time to edit or reshoot when required. I schedule shoots on my rest days.

My husband is very supportive. I wouldn’t be here as a Mommy blogger without him. Most of our photos are taken by him. He always helps me prepare Skye for a shoot. He allows me to have quiet time to write for brand postings and articles.

He shows he is proud by sharing my successes on his social media accounts and I appreciate that. Late last year, he bought a bicycle which he uses to exercise and to pick up products for brand postings. Yes, he sometimes picks it up himself for as long as his bike can carry the load.

Invest in Props

To help me manage content creation, I invested in props. Sometimes, the only time I can shoot is during my break time at work or after sleeping in the afternoon. Good light is an investment so I got  a softbox light. Thank you to Mommy Herl of @hungryherl for recommending this through one of the webinars initiated by Brandbuzz PH and for the photography tips that she and Mommy Roni @eatsroni have imparted. I am grateful for all the free webinars offered by Ms. Gie and Sir Marco since the beginning of the pandemic. It truly helped us hone our crafts.

With my husband Mark and our only child.

Skye and I joined a photo challenge by Brandbuzz PH where we have to show behind the scenes of the photo pretending we’re on the beach. Who does not miss the beach, right? Skye enjoyed this challenge a lot. We kept on laughing and enjoying the beach vibe on the bed haha. We took this photo at night with the help of soft box light. It didn’t seem to be taken at night, agree?

I also invested in plates, glasses, cups, cutlery and photography backdrops for food postings. Through learnings from webinars, white plates with different shapes are the best options so they can be used repeatedly without recognizing they’re being used multiple times for brand postings, however it is also okay to have colorful or printed plates sometimes.

Use Editing Apps

It’s very helpful to use apps where you can schedule your Instagram and Facebook posts such as Facebook Business Suite. Some postings require specific time and it’s so helpful that we can schedule the posts on specified time and date. Remember to always make sure that all mandatories are met before scheduling it.

There are also lots of editing apps that are very helpful in content creation such as the Photoroom app where you can edit background to plain white and more. Explore all other apps that may be applicable to you.

Make time for yourself

I enjoy jumping rope at least once a week. I sometimes read a book or watch a movie in my free time. My husband lets me sleep longer hours on my rest days. I let go of Mom’s guilt for sleeping 10-12 hours a day on my rest days.

I deserve it. Sometimes, I even sleep up to 15 hours. I make up for the average 5 hours of sleep on workdays. I invest time in skincare too.

From one working Mom with no nanny to another, I feel you. We can do this. I hope these tips help you during this challenging yet rewarding Motherhood.