Ever have one of those days when you just want to push the “delete all” button – in your inbox and life in general? I’m having one of those…weeks. I not only want to clear my inbox and start all over, but I wish I could do the same with my house and other aspects of my daily life.

I know many of you strive to manage it all and have some type of work-life balance, much like me. So, in an effort to help each other out, I’m going to lay it all out and share my current struggles. Perhaps in doing so, I can get rid of the mental clutter and move on to actually setting a plan of action to get things done. Or, at the very least, it will provide an outlet for venting.

Current challenges I’m struggling with:

• 160 unread emails: plus a bunch more marked unread and starred for action
• Messy house: every room in our house needs help
• An ever-growing to-do list: I have several projects I’m working on outside of managing this blog and my pregnancy blog. Each project has a to-do list that seems to add 2 items for every 1 I cross off.
• Cooking: Last night was the first time in a while – maybe a month – that we had an actual real meal. I’ve been traveling quite a bit, and dinner menu planning fell off the radar.
• Physical issues: Of course, due to the pregnancy, my energy and stamina are not what they should be. I’ve been able to keep up quite well, considering, as was pointed out by several friends who’ve seen me at recent events, but it’s still not what it could be.

So, what do I plan to do about it? I’m not exactly sure yet. I hope to stabilize one or two projects, so they can be more manageable. I may just hit delete on quite a few emails in order to get my inbox to a workable status. (Maybe. I’ll admit, it’s a little scary to think about doing that.) And, perhaps I can take advantage of upcoming weekends that are relatively free of commitments to dedicate time to the house and put a dinner menu back in effect.

Do you have current challenges you’re facing? Want to share with the rest of us in an effort to help each other with ideas for getting back on track?

This is sure to be one of those weeks when the balance fairies need to pay me a visit. With Christmas being ONLY 4 DAYS AWAY, my brother and nephew being in town from Milwaukee, client work to do, a blog to maintain, a house to keep clean, and my sanity hanging by a thread, I could definitely use some magical pixie dust that will help me get it all done.

It’s one of those weeks, when I have to be sure to write everything down, plan, plan, and plan, and remind myself to breathe. I’m sure we all have those times and perhaps many of you are sharing this moment with me this week as well.

With that, I decided to share a few things that I plan to do this week to help:

1. Use SimpleMom’s Daily Docket template to keep track of my daily to-do lists. I may even fill in a sheet for each day at one sitting and plan out my whole week.
2. Divide up my days to split my time between housework and blog/client work. If I specifically designate chunks of my days for each type of work, it’ll be better than just going with the flow of the day and risk getting caught up in one or the other.
3. Cook simple meals that will not take a lot of time. Meals like those on my sample weekly menu that allow for leftovers or two meals to be cooked at a time.
4. Use an online timer to limit my time online. I still want to ensure I don’t go MIA in social media, but I don’t have to be online hours at a time. Using the timer, will help me shut it all down when time’s up.

I’m sure that using these simple ideas will help me tremendously to stay sane. I may not get everything done I hope to, but I’ll feel less scatter-brained.

What do you plan to do this week to help you keep a low-stress level?