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Savannah Scott Romcom Author

Slow Down, Mama: Budgeting Your Time

May 23, 2021 By Patty Leave a Comment

23 May

I’m doing a series here to dovetail with my book, Slow Down, Mama: Intentional Living in a Hurried World, to help you slow down and savor your life.

Our goal isn’t “slowing” as in, doing nothing. The purpose is to live a life where you curate your choices so that what you add into your days, and how you spend your time makes the greatest impact and adds the deepest meaning. 

BUDGETING BASICS

If you think about budgeting money, often the first thing you need to do is look at where your money is going. The same goes with our time and energy. In order to budget well, spend well, and invest well, we need to assess what we are already doing with our time. 

 

A LITTLE PRACTICE

Today I want to encourage you to take a really short bit of time, like five to ten minutes and do this simple exercise: 
  1. Fold a piece of paper in half.
  2. On one side write out all your responsibilities, obligations, and activities that make demands on your time and energy.
  3. On the other side write a list of your goals, dreams, or longings.
  4. Then ask yourself what could be released on the side of your paper that is filled with your current “to-dos” to make room for something on the side with your “wish list.”
It’s sometimes this simple. We just need to step back and look at our lives and recalibrate.
We can go mindlessly through life allowing demands and commitments to pile up and pull at us, or we can stop, assess where our time is going and make a choice to change something.
♥

 

Buckets of Grace

And I know sometimes we’re so overwhelmed that even evaluating the way we use time feels like a project … just one more chore on the to-do list. If that’s you, don’t do this. But do something else. Give yourself buckets and buckets of grace until you feel ready. I know what it’s like to be weary and lose motivation. You won’t stay there, I promise. Bookmark this exercise and come back to it later. 
♥

 

One Woman’s Story

A great example of this comes from my friend in Indiana. She is the mom of six children. After reading through my book, Slow Down, Mama: Intentional Living in a Hurried World, and going through the devotional Slow Down, Mama: Thirty-One Days to Help You Slow and Savor with a group of friends, she decided to make a change.

 

She had been highly focused on keeping her home perfectly clean. While a clean house is a wonderful thing, and cleaning is part of life, sometimes we end up putting cleaning at the heart of our to-do list and we lose sight of the things that matter most. 

 

My friend decided to start taking walks with her six children and spending time outdoors instead of trying to keep her home perfectly clean. We’ve talked about this and delighted in the awareness that years from now she won’t look back remembering clean counters and dusted surfaces as the most valued contributions she made in the world. Instead, she’s pouring into relationships and lives. She’s chosen being present with her kids over keeping a perfect home. She still cleans. She just doesn’t idolize cleaning and let it take over her life or her time. 
Want to hear my story of a small change and sacrifice we made to gain more family time that paid off in BIG ways? Check out my post on Family Dinners. 
♥

 

Finding Community

If you want to share what you came up with as you folded your paper and made a choice to build in something life-giving, the women in my Sweet Reader group on Facebook would love to encourage you as you live a more intentional life (and girlfriend, intentional can be “getting more rest” or “spending less time running errands.” It doesn’t have to be solving a problem or achieving a goal. It needs to be what fits you.)
We are a group of women who gather to share life and books.

 

Regular Encouragement and Books

If you want to read the book that started this movement, you can find Slow Down, Mama: Intentional Living in a Hurried World and the devotional that can go with the book or be used separately both on Amazon. 
If you would like to receive my monthly email to help you slow and savor you can sign up here. When you do you will receive a link to my free book, Ten Keys to Avoiding Power Struggles.

If you want to receive my weekly email about my fiction writing (clean romance) where I share a sneak peek at my life as a writer and some book recommendations, you can sign up here. You will receive a link to the free prequel novella, The Matchmaker’s Accidental Arrangement. 

 

A Weekly Invitation

Every week I post another tip for you to … Slow Down, Mama! Join me here for more encouragement and practical wisdom to help you live for what matters most. 
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Filed Under: Parenting, Time Management Tagged With: Cultivating Habits, Healthy Boundaries, Overcoming Overwhelm, Rest for Moms, Slow Down Mama

About Patty

I write to encourage your heart, feed your soul, and give you wisdom for your life. Motherhood is my passion. I've been married to my surfer/skater husband for over 20 years.  We have two boys and a home full of neighbor kids most days.

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Hi, I’m Savannah …

I’m a Zumba dancing, coffee sipping, road tripping girl and I love writing closed-door romcom!

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Woooo hoooo! We’ve got winners! That’s right. Woooo hoooo! 
We’ve got winners!
That’s right. 
TWO WINNERS. 💜

Congrats to @tesshomelibrary and @spinmeastorybook 

You each won a paperback copy of CruiseShipped! 

CruiseShipped is a forced-proximity, vacation romcom with a hot fireman and a sassy, spirited event planner. 

40 Midwesterners take a wedding cruise together. What could possibly go wrong? 

Brooks & Gabriela met years ago. They saw one another once since then and spent a day together they’ll never forget. When they wind up on the same cruise, their attraction is as strong as ever. But they live in different cities. How will they find their happily ever after? 

And for those of you who didn’t win, stay tuned. We’re doing a Friendshipped-themed Box-o-Bordeaux giveaway next week! 

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Here we are … another #wipwednesday Only six m Here we are … another #wipwednesday 

Only six more until this book is out in the world. 

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Cam is downright oblivious. 
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Riley has crushed on Cameron for years. He’s her best friend’s older brother. Totally off limits. 

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CruiseShipped is on Audiobook! If you’re looki CruiseShipped is on Audiobook! 

If you’re looking for the perfect summer read, get away to the Caribbean with forty midwersterners and a couple whose kisses will melt your flip flops. 

You’ll laugh
You’ll swoon
You’ll want to pack your bags. 
The HEA will make you smile so big. 

He’s a fireman from a small town. 
She’s a spirited, sexy event planner from Boston. 
They met years ago. 
Now they happen to be on the same cruise for a week. 
They want so much more, but they’ll take what they can get. 

And … to celebrate the release of CruiseShipped on audio, @bookworm_wordnerd and @aurorabookreview and I are teaming up to do a giveaway!

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To enter for a chance to win …

🛳️ Follow all three of us:
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#FirstFeelingsFriday. 💜 Do you like Insta-love #FirstFeelingsFriday. 💜

Do you like Insta-love stories? I’ll be honest, I mostly don’t. 

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Gabriela is passionate and sassy. She speaks her mind and takes risks easily. She’s a confident woman from a strong, loving family. 

Brooks is a sweetheart. He’s a fireman, like his dad and brothers before him. His family bonds are more complicated. 

When these two meet, actually even before they actually ever speak, there’s an electrical charge in the air. They flirt from the first moment their eyes lock. 

What’s the problem?
Well, Brooks lives in small town Bordeaux. Gabriela lives 850 miles away in Boston. 

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When they see one another again at a wedding, they decide to give themselves a day together the day after the ceremony. 

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If you like closed door romance with forced proximity, a vacation to the Caribbean, a small town vibe, and more hot kisses than you can imagine … CruiseShipped is for you. 

This book has heart, laughs, and a surprising HEA. (It is recommended to read CruiseShipped before reading Ripped & Shipped because Ripped & Shipped has a spoiler for CruiseShipped) 

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Are We There Yet? Nope. Not yet 😉 But, it’s Are We There Yet?

Nope. Not yet 😉 But, it’s coming … July 2023!

Cameron and Ben have jobs on Marbella Island their first year out of college. 

Riley and Madeline are going back to California for their last year at UCLA. 

Riley’s had a crush on Cam for years. 

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1. Cameron is Madeline’s older brother. That’s right, as in Riley’s bff, Madeline. 

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Cam’s the responsible, goal-oriented young man with a secret in his past. 

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Townshipped … a bride-on-the-run, amnesia romcom Townshipped … a bride-on-the-run, amnesia romcom. 

People have said this book made them love the amnesia trope. 
And, why not?
When “Em” lands on Aiden’s property and remembers nothing, she wakes in his guest room. 

He’s a farmer … but not that kind of farmer. 
Not like Old MacDonald. 
Nope. 
Aiden’s got heart. 
And he keeps that heart tucked under those pecs. 

Aiden’s friends have always teased him, saying things like, “it’s not as if a woman’s just going to land on your doorstep and fall in love with you.” 

Never say never. 

Townshipped is in KU, on Amazon, and on audiobook … even through Hoopla in many places. 

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Feeling that itch to escape to a small town where Feeling that itch to escape to a small town where life is simple, people know one another better than they know themselves, the townspeople meddle, the seniors get into shenanigans, the men are hotter than July heat, and the corn grows taller than the fishermen’s tales?

I’ve got just the place for you. 
Come to Bordeaux (Bored Ox), where the cattle are bored but you never will be. 

This seven-story series of stand-alone romcoms will make you laugh and steal your heart. 

🌽 friends to lovers in Friendshipped 
🐄 second-chance romance in Battleshipped 
🚜 forced-proximity, amnesia romance in Townshipped
🧢 older brother’s best friend in Censorshipped 
🏡 grumpy-sunshine, single dad in Doctorshipped
🏝️ vacation, forced proximity in Cruiseshipped
👠 enemies to lovers, fake dating in Ripped & Shipped 

The books are available on Amazon, KU and in audiobook (dual POV with two narrators). 

Slip away to the middle of southwest Ohio for some snort-laughter, hot kisses, and happily ever afters that will keep you smiling. 

One thing about a sweet small town. You might leave it, but it won’t leave you. Come on back anytime. 

(Video is mine - filmed in #pasorobles Ca when I was on a writing retreat finishing Ripped & Shipped). 

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#smalltownromance #ohiolove #imashipper #shippersforlife #bookseries
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