In my recent Self-Publishing Success Story, I mention that I am a very efficient person. If you are going to write books and raise a family, you need to be! :) This is an area that I have a lot of experience in and in today's video, I share my best efficiency tips with you.



To get an expanded discussion on each of the tips, please watch today's video. I have summarized them for you here.

Tip #1- Wake up well before your family. I usually wake up at 5:30am, a few hours before my children wake up. This quiet morning time is perfect for getting tasks done. I have the energy and motivation and it sets me up for the day. I feel prepared.

Tip #2- Cut out television. No seriously. A recent New York Times article stated that the average American adult watches 5 hours and 4 minutes of television a day. While you probably don't watch that much TV, imagine the hours you could recoup if you cut out television watching entirely.

Tip #3- Cut down on social media. For many of us, using Facebook can be a guilty pleasure. But track how much time you spend on your social media sites. This digital hobby could be taking up valuable hours and minutes in your day.

Tip #4- Make goals for yourself. If you are entering into a new season, make goals for yourself and take action to accomplish them. For example, during our summer break, I made the goal of organizing the pantry, establishing a filing system and clearing/ de-cluttering the homeschool room. I'm nearly finished with all three of those goals and it feels good!

Tip #5- Embrace schedules and routines. Utilizing routines doesn't mean you have a boring life, it just means your work is regularly getting done, which frees up time to enjoy other things. I have a cleaning schedule, a cooking schedule, and a working schedule among other regular weekly routines.

Tip #6- Use a planner. I put important appointments along with directions and alerts in my phone, but for everything else, I like to use a written planner. This helps me visualize my week and it honestly keeps me more prepared than when I only used the calendar feature on my phone. I use the The Happy Planner . Here is a link to all Happy Planner products on Amazon



Tip #7- Meal plan. In addition to planning our weekly meals, I really enjoy freezer cooking. Freezer cooking has helped us so much! It's wonderful knowing that a healthy, homemade meal is always available on the days where I am too busy to cook, or simply don't feel like cooking. It helps me be efficient without compromising our family mealtimes together.

These tips really only scratch the surface. If one of these topics interests you and you'd like to know more about it, please let me know in the comment section and I would be happy to expand the discussion in future video.

News
There will be four videos this week on The Daily Connoisseur! Tomorrow, I'm sharing my favorite scents for the Mrs. Meyer's line, Thursday's video is an interview with Nikki Moreno of Inspired by Nikki, and Friday's Natural Home with Jennifer is sharing a laundry detergent review. I hope you'll join me!

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On Instagram
The Madame Chic books featured on IntentionalSimplicity...

✨Favourite Things part 2 of 5✨ The Madame Chic collection by Jennifer L. Scott. These beautiful books are such a delight to read and full of inspiration and practical tips. My life is truly richer for having read these books 🌷 . #afewofmyfavouritethings #favouritethings #favouritethingsparty #party #ladiesnight #girlsnight #madamechic #lessonsfrommadamechic #athomewithmadamechic #polishyourpoisewithmadamechic #jenniferlscott #goodreads #bookworm #booklove #booklover #happyreading #bookrecommendations #instabook #selfimprovement #inspiration #loveyourlife #loveyourself #enjoyeveryday #simplejoys #simplepleasures #intentionalsimplicity #livingwell #womenlivingwell #chicliving #kimberleysreads @dailyconnoisseur

A post shared by Kimberley (@intentionalsimplicity) on Nov 14, 2017 at 7:31am PST

Comment of the Week
On last week's Homeschooling Update, Rachel writes, "I’m so glad you all had a great year! I am currently homeschooling my 3 older children (rising 1rst, 4th, and 6th grades) with a delightfully active 3 year old in tow. This is our 5th year, and we all enjoy it. I’m thrilled that I get the opportunity to spend so much time with my children while they are young. Our days are (usually) joyful and satisfying, and my children are thriving socially, academically, creatively, physically, spiritually, really all the ways I can think of. I love your books and your blog! I think of your work sometimes when I’m tempted to be sloppy, lazy, grumpy, and living in my pajamas. Getting dressed everyday makes a huge difference in my attitude and productivity! Thanks for the inspiration you give me to keep classy. Much love!"


Hi Rachel, your comment was very encouraging! I loved to read about your positive experience with homeschooling. I'm thrilled that it works so well for your family. Fantastic!

Thank you for watching today's video. I would love to hear from you. Do you struggle with efficiency? Do you have any efficiency tips to share with us? Have you noticed an area in your life that you could adjust in order to be more efficient? Let us know and your comment could be chosen as comment of the week on The Daily Connoisseur.

I'll see you tomorrow for a special bonus, Natural Home with Jennifer, video.

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Today's video is a collaboration with Mina Irfan from The Universe Guru. Mina contacted me with this great idea to do a collaboration on 5 Tips for an Efficient Home. Today, I'm sharing 5 tips on my channel, and she is sharing 5 tips on her channel. You can watch her video here.

This was a really fun topic for me. I had way more than 5 tips, but I streamlined them to the most pertinent.

Prepare the night before Think about what makes your morning hectic. Is it breakfast? Getting dressed? Preparing school lunches? Helping the children get ready? Whatever it is that causes you stress, see if you can take care of it the night before. Set the table for breakfast. Set out the lunchbox and place non-perishables in it. Choose your clothes for the next day. Have your children lay their clothes out. Place all backpacks by the front door. Everyone's nightly to-do list will be different, but you will come to appreciate this added effort the night before to make your morning run smoothly.

Use your slow cooker The slow cooker (or crock pot) is my favorite kitchen appliance. Late afternoon/ early evening are very busy times at our house. The children are back from school and we are doing homework, practicing instruments, catching up and having downtime together. I'm also normally quite tired during these hours. That's why I love to prepare a meal in the slow cooker in the morning, when I tend to have more energy and while the kids are at school. I love the feeling of having dinner prepared come 5pm! It also makes the house smell so good. I love that our home smells of home-cooking when the children get back from school. The benefits of the slow cooker are endless.**

Embrace routines We live in a world of order and our homes should reflect that. Try to eliminate chaos wherever you can by implementing routines for everything from dealing with the incoming mail to going to bed at night.

Run your home like a small hotel What do you like about staying at a hotel? Is it the serene, clutter-free bedroom? The immaculate lobby and reception area? The sense of calm and order? Get excited about running your home, just as if you were the manager of a small, boutique hotel. With this motivation, you will plan your meals with gusto and use your implemented routines to create an orderly and efficient home.

Adopt a ten-item wardrobe The benefits of the ten-item wardrobe are vast, one of them being that it makes your home life run more efficiently. Why? Because you are not wasting countless hours choosing what to wear. You are not wasting money on clothes you don't need and aren't your true style. You end up choosing to look presentable every day which boosts your energy and productivity, plus so much more.

I hope you check out my video today where I expound on all of these topics, and why I believe they can help you to run your home more efficiently.

**Many people have asked which slow cooker I use. Our All Clad slow cooker is over ten years old and our particular model is no longer available. However, I did some research and this Crock Pot slow cooker is Amazon's pick, is very affordable and has excellent reviews online. If you are looking for a new slow cooker and you try this one, let me know how you like it!

Comment of the Week
Oh my goodness, there were so many amazing comments from last week's Teatime with Jennifer video and blog, it was really hard to choose my favorite! Here are two great comments:

Jenna G writes: I have been following your channel and reading your books for a few years now, I've never commented but I just love what you have to say. You have inspired me to live in a new way with a renewed love for the simple things in life. Whether it's food, beverages, clothes, or the simple pleasures of making your home look beautiful, it's just fun! I used to have two closets jam-packed full of clothes, and now I'm down to one small closet thanks to the 10 item wardrobe. I love cleaning out my closet multiple times each year and updating my wardrobe. I find joy in keeping my home looking nice with my husband. And I totally agree about looking presentable always, even when no one else will see you that day! I hope your books and channel are around for years to come. I love looking forward to your new videos each week. :)

Tara M writes:
Before reading the Madame Chic series I used to be an offender of wearing yoga pants everyday (I think I am wearing yoga pants in my icon pic :). I too, had the opinion that it didn't matter since I wore a long shirt over and I thought you couldn't tell. I also work from home. But after reading the books, I decided to give it a try. I have to say I have converted. I no longer wear yoga pants daily. I wear real pants. And I will say, "don't knock it til you try it". I feel so much better. I realized that when I was in my yoga pants, I wanted to lounge around, read, or go on the internet. When I am dressed, I am more efficient, more organized and I feel better when I go to the store. I am in a better mood. I love not wearing yoga pants. At the end of the night, early, I take a relaxing bath and put on my pj's and then I relax, pray and listen to some classical or meditation music. So, now I have a place for my relaxation time. I love it!~ Thank you Jennifer for shedding light on this. My cheat is, I found dressy, nice pants, that are just as comfy as yoga pants. I usually wear nice, dressy leggings with a long dress top and ballet flats.

Thank you ladies, for sharing your great testimonials with all of us. I love to hear how the Daily Connoisseur and Madame Chic philosophies are improving your lives.

This week I would love to know... What do you think of my tips for running an efficient home? Do you have any to add yourself? Do you struggle with efficiency in your home life? Let me know in the comment section, and yours could be chosen as comment of the week on the blog!


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FTC: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. Links may be affiliate.