Parenting is maybe the biggest job of our life, and we enter it with virtually NO TRAINING, and sometimes plenty of baggage from our own childhood.

But where there's a will, there's a way.  Every parent wants to do the best job, and also, every parent goes through a time when they feel like a failure.

In this episode, April Bragg interviews Parenting Coach Kristin Schmoke to find out her tips and strategies for navigating parenthood with grit and grace.

From holes in the walls to parents' greatest fears and failures - this is a vulnerable conversation between two women who are coaches, Christians, and parents of teenagers.

Kristin shares her tips for making the years less conflict-filled and more connection-focused.

May the nuggets shared by Kristin encourage you on your parenting journey of a lifetime!

To learn more about Kristin Schmoke, Parenting Coach:

 https://www.kristinschmoke.com/

 https://www.instagram.com/kristin.schmoke.parenting/

Ever WANTED to get rid of more, but felt like it was too hard?  

It is hard! Too many decisions and our brain wears out.

Our we start getting nervous and asking "What if I need this?"

And as our fears and confusion arise, our dreams of a calm home with everything in its place fade away - and we're left wondering, "Is there something wrong with me?  Why can't I keep this place cleaned?"

There's nothing wrong with you - maybe what's wrong is you are trying to declutter the HARD way.

This episode of Bragg...About Life will share with you the 3 steps that I recommend you do to make sure you are working WITH your brain instead of against it.

It's not about pushing through - it's about leaning in.  Leaning into the bright future you envision - the things you will be able to do on Saturday instead of playing catch-up, the way your home will welcome you when you walk in through the door, or even the way others will say "I wish my home always looked like this! You are so organized!"

Remember, there is more to life than housework.  Don't let "stuff overwhelm" crowd out your dreams!

It's not your imagination.  Stuff is practically walking itself into your home.  

We are inundated with freebies.  Free coffee mug from a church, free t-shirt from a fundraiser, free toy in every happy meal.

But this doesn't mean we have to spend all our weekends cleaning out our house.

We CAN put a stop to the free stuff - when we know deep in our core that we already have ENOUGH.

That is the difference with the Declutter & DONE method.  We declutter ONE time, thoroughly, then we enjoy our newly transformed space, and then we naturally say "No thank you" to all the "free" gifts that we really don't want.  

And it works.  Why?  Because this decluttering method works with our brain - and focuses on abundance and pleasure rather than scarcity and fear.  Try it.  It's a game changer!

How to Organize ANY area of life (or even your life) in 3 stages.

If you think "I'm not good at organizing", it may simply be because you are skipping one of these 3 stages.  

There are 3 stages to moving toward a goal - and if we miss any of these 3 stages, we tend to lose either our motivation or our momentum.

When we know these stages, then we can use this framework over and over again, in ANY area.  

In this episode, I will also share WHERE I started in my own life, and why.  

Enjoy!

Organizing vs Decluttering

"You're a professional organizer, right?"  NOPE!  

Even though I help working women Create a Home That Takes Care of Itself, I find myself explaining time and again - it's very hard to create an organized home if we start with organizing.

Decluttering and organizing are two terms that get used interchangeably, but they serve 2 different purposes.  When we understand what those purposes are, then we can use them accordingly.  In this episode, I explain why Decluttering, when done to completing, is SUPERIOR and EASIER than jumping straight into Organizing - even if you hired a Professional Organizer to do it all for you!.

By the way - this is not a criticism of professional organizers either - they are gifted people who are amazing at what they do!  

This is for the average woman who feels like she is "not naturally organized".  What if that's NOT TRUE?  

What's For Dinner? Why This is the Answer to a Chaotic Day

Something unexpected came up in a day that was already full of, well, life!  And now you're wondering how to get everything done?

Or, perhaps you are in a season that is overwhelming you from all sides - and you know something needs to change, but you're not sure where to start.

I always start here - by answering this simple question.  In this episode, I share why I start here, how I go a step further by creating a super easy default meal plan, and the benefits of asking this question.

Indecisive? How To Make Better, Faster Decisions with 3 Questions

Maybe some people make decisions quickly.  I'm not one of them!

However, I have learned that confident decision making is an actual SKILL that we can practice and get better at.

In this episode, I'll explain why we hesitate to make decisions, and share 3 questions I have developed to help me make decisions faster and better, without getting stuck in the "what if it's the wrong decision" trap.  

If you would like a FREE Clarity call, click here - https://aprilbragg.as.me/Clarity

The "good parent" test...

Is there a right way and a wrong way to parent?

What makes a good parent or a bad parent?

I've waited 20 years to talk about this loaded topic - PARENTING.

Everyone and their brother has an opinion on how YOU should be raising YOUR kids.

It's the biggest job in the world - the most important job - and that thought right there STRESSES us out as parents...

And the ironic thing is, the more we worry about how we might possibly screw up our kids or let them down, the more anxious we feel, and the WORSE we respond in the moment.

How do we break this cycle of worrying about "not messing up the biggest job in the world"?

How do we bring the best of ourselves to this season of life, AND enjoy the journey too?

By giving yourself the "Good Parent" Test.

I think you will like this test.  My desire is to help you define for yourself how you want to show up as a parent in your child's life, so that you can RELAX and ENJOY the parenting years.

It's been a decade since I first had the idea, "What if instead of cleaning up this clutter all the time, what if I just got rid of it?" 

It was life changing.  I had no idea how much my life was going to change but today, 10 years later, I share the top 5 benefits I've exerienced in life since decluttering a decade ago.

More time? Less stress? Better relationships? Can decluttering be the key to these? Let's find out!

With all of the modern conveniences available to us that did not even exist 100 (or even 10) years ago, we should have PLENTY of time at our disposal.  

Yet our modern life feels more hurried and hectic than ever.

One of the reasons is because we are requiring more out of ourselves than ever before.

Juggle parenting with running a business and volunteering in our church or community.  

The problem is, we have 2 types of time stealers - the minor kind and the major kind.

The minor time stealers are bad enough - the phone notifications, procrastination, and interruptions that takes an ordinary task from 5 minutes to 55 minutes or longer!  

But the major time stealers are the ones that are causing us to miss whole seasons of our life, because we can get so busy that we don't have time to remember that "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

In this episode of Bragg...About Life - I share the 5 major time stealers, and what we can do about them.

Enjoy!