The Time Saving Mom Book is A Useful Resource

The Time Saving Mom Book Review

This week I purchased the brand new book, The Time Saving Mom, by New York Times bestselling author Crystal Paine.

I bought this book because it fits my interests and the niche of this blog perfectly.

One of my favorite things to do is read about how to make my life better. I like to read a million tips and then maybe only actually do two of them. Ha! Do you do that?

I ordered the hardback version from Amazon and carried it around the house with me. Me carrying this book around was funny because the boys all became interested in what I was reading. They kept referring to the book as if it were a person named “The Time Saving Mom.”

One time my eleven-year-old said, “Mom, Mom, look at me. Not the Time Saving Mom right now. Not her. Look at me. I need to ask you a question.”

I even read them some excerpts from the book, and I’m sure they loved that. Why is it so fun to pester little boys? I don’t know….Anyway…..

In a nutshell, what can you expect from The Time Saving Mom?

Well, the title sums it all up, doesn’t it? Crystal shares her best strategies of how to get more done each day. If you follow her advice, you will definitely feel more accomplished.

I have followed this author, Crystal Paine, for years because she does many of the same things I do, and I feel like I can learn a lot from her. She is a Christian mom, foster parent, and blogger at moneysavingmom.com.

Crystal is also an energetic, recovering productivity addict. Now she might not like me saying that, but I think I have heard her say that herself before. I have read her works for ten years now, and productivity seems to be her specialty. She accomplishes more per day than I probably do in a week because I move a little more slowly.

I have learned a ton of ideas from her which I do use in my everyday life. This book has new suggestions I am trying to put in place too.

I bought this newest book because I have noticed a gradual but dramatic change in Crystal over the past few years. And I greatly admire what she is doing.

You cannot become a foster mom, give birth twice around age 40 at the same time, adopt a special needs baby, and not learn some excellent life perspective.

Crystal may or may not have slowed down, but her priorities are very much in the right places. I am in awe of her work with foster children. When I see all that she is doing, it makes me want to learn from her so I can be better able to help others as well.

She had this Instagram post this past week that was so refreshing.

(And she has had so many posts that reflect her healthy attitude and life priorities. I knew I needed to read any book she writes at this point.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crystal Paine 🌻 MoneySavingMom (@themoneysavingmom)

From what I read in the book, she does still time block to what appears to be fifteen-minute intervals, a highly ambitious strategy which boggles my mind. I cannot do that. She does recommend giving yourself down time, and you can believe I do.

However, I absolutely CAN do time blocking by the hour. In this book, she talks a lot about focusing on what you CAN do.

What I like most about The Time Saving Mom book:

She has excellent tips you can take action on. It is not just a motivational book. It’s practical.

This is the year that I have committed to working on turning my blog into a business. I used to turn away paid blogging jobs, and now I am in search of them. It was just a hobby outlet for me before. Treating my websites as businesses is so much more work.

So returning to working after seventeen years of just being mom is this huge adjustment. I am in desperate need of time saving advice!

In the book, Crystal gives us some small, easy steps to help us with time management and also some larger changes which will take more time to implement.

In the back of the book, there is even a week by week plan for gradually working her tips into your life.

Also, the book has charts and thought provoking questions, which I enjoyed.

Crystal talks about priorities a lot, which I strongly relate to. For years, I have had more to do than I can actually do, so I have always focused on what my priorities are.

I made my husband answer all the priority questions in the back of the book. This is something as a mom I have thought about a TON, but I don’t think men are encouraged to do these reflective activities as much. He was a good sport and answered all the questions.

What more would I like to have seen from this book?

It was so helpful. I got more than enough from reading this, so I wholeheartedly recommend the book to everyone.

If I were to ask for anything more it would be some samples of her daily schedules and maybe some lists of chores she assigns to other family members to free up her time.

What changes will I be implementing from The Time Saving Mom?

I am making several changes!! Without giving away what’s in the book, I will give you two changes I am working on:

1. Time blocking in the morning. I have a schedule I loosely follow, but each day presents new to-dos, so the daily time blocked list gives you a more focused action plan. I do like that. (You can see this post for my daily schedule.)
2. Making myself more of a priority.

Actually, I need to talk about this whole making myself a priority thing for a minute because that was also inspired by reading this book.

For years and years I have struggled with this. Many parents do. You know you need to exercise and eat right and feed your spirit. Yes, we need to take care of ourselves in order to do our jobs well and stay healthy, but taking care of everyone else and our house and our tasks competes loudly with that.

This year I had my exercise time scheduled way down into the day because of getting the kids all off to school, morning chores, and other things I wanted to do. But you know what? Then I could not shower and feel ready for my day until way later in the day.

Crystal walks on the treadmill one of the first things in the morning, and that does not sound like a big deal. But it helped me to re-think my schedule.

You know what? I actually AM worth exercising for. If I do my Fit 52 workout for 15 minutes before I do my chores, I am more likely to actually do them instead of getting distracted. PLUS, I can shower and be ready for the day earlier.

So I am making that change. Walking was too hard to make myself do early because it is so cold outside, but I can do my little 15 minute workout in the basement just fine.

So yeah, definitely read the Time Saving Mom. I hope you will be as inspired as I was.

Make sure you stick with it through chapters 10 and 11 because those are at the end, but they were my favorite chapters. And read the additional charts and prompts in the back.

It is sold wherever you can buy books. Here is my Amazon link to it. If you buy it through my link, I get a tiny payment from Amazon. Oh! And yes, there is also an Audible version too, if you are an Audible fan like me.