Woo to the hoo. We’re celebrating three amazing years of sharing our adventures (and misadventures) in home improvement with you guys in this virtual place that we call home. So you know what that means… some blogiversary madness is about to ensue.
Year four is sure to be full of projects, both big and small. And we always like to use our blogiversary week to share some inside scoop and kick off the next 365 days right. This week we’re planning lots of fun stuff, from a video with some insanely ugly shots of our house before every single project that we chronicled on the blog (let’s just call the footage “vintage”) and some behind the scenes info about how we live and work and do pretty much everything in between.
Oh and we have a pretty exciting blogiversary giveaway, so stay tuned for that later this afternoon. But first we’ll serve up this email answer:
Q: Have you two ever written a “typical day in the life of” post? I just finished reading about your latest project and realized that every time I read your blog (after a profound sense of “FANTASTIC!”), I wonder how you schedule to get done all that you appear to be doing (house projects + two blogs posts a day + mood boards/other work + responding to comments so frequently + baby + all the rest that comes with life and house maintenance), and I would be fascinated to know if you have any scheduling/time-saving tips. I’m a very organized, list-maker, and master-scheduler myself, and I still can’t figure out how you do it. Regardless, WELL DONE! – Constance
The funny thing is that Southern Flourish magazine (hooray for free online glossies!) actually asked us to write a day in the life post for their latest issue, which conveniently hit the interweb just last week. Everything from diaper changes and Clara feedings to projects and post writing is in there. Heck, we even detailed what we ate for breakfast. Oh the glamour! So you can check out those deets right here (click to read):
And click here to flip through the entire issue of Southern Flourish. Gotta love free online inspiration.
On the subject of Constance’s question about if we have any scheduling or time-saving tips, we must admit that we’re definitely in the “still learning” phase of baby juggling. We naively thought that John coming on once Clara was born would kick us into turbo speed, but two adults plus one baby pretty much equals one lone ranger who gets to blog all by their lonesome while the other parent is on baby duty. No matter how many people told us that a baby was a full time job we somehow thought we’d have more wiggle room to get things done. But the good news is that we’re getting much more efficient after a fair amount of experimentation and flexibility. When Clara naps we’ve learned to use that time to dive into projects (an hour at a time, until she wakes up and we wait for the next nap to finish what we started). We also give thanks every day for the miracle that is babywearing (Clara + baby carrier = hands free typing/cleaning/project-ing/etc). And we’re not too proud to occasionally eat cereal for dinner, or do anything else that we can do to squeeze a few more precious moments out of each day.
Plus we’re getting better at taking photos, writing posts, answering comments, and doing all those other blog duties even faster (seriously, you should see us size pics for web, we’re a blur I tell ya)… which leaves more time for makeovers and projects and of course some Clara lovin’ as well. One thing we’ve noticed is that we’re faster when we focus on one task and complete it instead of trying to multitask (which results in running around chaotically and somehow getting less done) so we do our best to systematically cross things off as we go instead of trying to do a million things at once. So our secret is less of a miracle cure-all and more of a learn-as-you-go-and-do-whatever-works-best approach. Oh and we definitely believe in list making (in fact John whispers “my list!” as we leave the house since I often get into the car, shout “my list!”, and run back into the house for it since I never like to be without my beloved piece of paper with little boxes that I check off as we accomplish things).
And although we’re pretty busy these days, we’re just counting our blessings that we were able to have John come work full time on YHL so we have someone to be on baby duty while the other one of us can devote time to YHL, because we can’t imagine what the state of the blog would be if there weren’t two of us around to switch hit. And the best-of-all news is that Clara is so worth the trouble. Seriously, we don’t know what we ever did without her. Plus she makes us want to feather our nest even harder (er, better?) with her precious needs and wants in mind.
Stick around for the rest of the blogiversary hijinx (cue the parade of homeowners marching by with hammers and paint rollers). We can’t wait to crack YHL open and share all the gooey goodness inside…
Sunny's Life in Rehab says
Happy Blogiversary, Youngsters. You’re still my inspiration.
katy says
Do you guys ever use Automator on your macs to do repetitive tasks like photo sizing? Ever since I had my son, I’ve been loving the black magic that is automator for computer-related stuff. If only there was automator for cleaning and laundry!
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve been meaning to implement some automator magic one of these days! Thanks for the reminder!
xo,
s
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
Oh man! That is my dream life, my hubby saying home to blog with me. Minus the baby, though (we already had one and he’s in grade school now.)
I know that it’s a TON of work (as I have a blog, and don’t even do 5% of the stuff you guys do on yours and I’m overwhelmed!), but that is my dream for us someday.
I’ve gotten a LITTLE better on planning my blog posts and such, but it’s still hard to have a schedule.
Question for you: have you ever thought that it might be time to hire a part time assistant? I know that you probably like doing everything yourselves, but could an assistant help with some of the work, even just a few hours, 2x per week? If you feel too stressed at times, it could be something to think about.
Or even, a sitter to entertain Miss Clara for a couple of hours per day, once in a while? When I used to work at home (different job), I hired a teen who lived on our street to come in and play with our son once in a while. I was still nearby if he needed me, but was able to get more done during the times she was here.
You are doing a great job getting everything done, but boy are you guys busy! thanks for still taking the time to have a great blog for all of us, even with a lil’ baby around! :-) Laurie
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Handy Man, Crafty Woman,
You’re right, we like doing everything ourselves (we’re DIYers through and through). So for now hiring a sitter or an assistant to help out isn’t really on our radar. Obviously if we ever get to a point where we can’t juggle things anymore, or we don’t find joy in what we do, we’ll definitely have to reevaluate things!
xo,
s
Susan says
Congratulations on the fabulous blog! I come read every day – sometimes twice a day :) My husband and I bought a ’77 rancher that is in need of some major fixing up so I love your inspiration and ideas. Thank you for sharing you life with us readers…
Happy Project Monday!
Oona says
Congrats on three great years, boys and girls! Here’s to many more! *raises non-alcoholic drink in toast*
City Chic - Jamie says
Congrats you guys! I love the day in your life article! Keep up the fantastic work, can’t wait to see what you are up to in the next year!
Julie B says
Congratulations on the Blogiversary! I love reading your blog everyday! I learn so much…not only home related tips, but also money saving ideas and baby info. The hubs and I have no kids yet – only the furry kind…cats :), but I am excited to use all the baby ideas in the future. We bought our first house a little over a year ago and are excited to start putting our own touches on it. Thanks for all you do and share with us!
Stacey says
Happy Blogiversary! I’m a newbie, but have been addicted since finding your site via a random search on how to strip wallpaper from plaster walls…gotta love the web ;o) Now, I’m driving my husband nuts w/ all of the projects I want to take on! Can’t wait to see what you guys have up your sleeves for the coming year!
Jen says
Wow.. this makes me tired just thinking about it! It’s impressive that you are able to get as much done as you do with little formal structure. I get a lot done but only because I need to be at work during certain hours, and at class during others. I don’t know if I’d have the self-discipline to get it all done if I knew I could just go for long walks in the park or take a nap in the shady backyard!
susan says
I hope you know by now that I love your blog. Even after reading that “day in the life” article (it was a fun read, by the way) I still don’t know how you accomplish it all, but then, I never know how I get through each day either with three crazy kids running around ;)
Congratulations on three years! Hurray! A part of me really wants you to eventually move into a new place so that we can see even more fabulous transformations, but at the same time, I’m hoping that you can stay where you are forever and ever (well, as long as it is a good fit for your family). A bit of a bitter sweet conflict which I’m sure when the time actually comes will be much more pressing on your mind than mine!
RC says
Combined with creating custom Actions, Photoshop’s File > Automate > Batch feature is the way to get a tone of images automatically processed (resized, etc.) quickly! Bridge is even more powerful for things like Batch renaming and processing using Photoshop without ever opening Photoshop… Also, I absolutely love Adobe Camera Raw. I color correct/brighten photos/crop/adjust white balance with Camera Raw most of the time. It’s quicker than working in Photoshop and it’s easy to export a jpg. Plus you don’t have to save another large files, all changes are recording in a companion .xmp file. (Camera Raw can also color adjust .jpg files if you are not shooting in Raw.) Okay, probably way too much technical info – I’m a graphic designer who uses this stuff all the time so I get really into it.
YoungHouseLove says
Love it RC! Thanks for the info!
xo,
s
Barbara says
Maintenance, all on one page. Brilliant idea! Why didn’t I think of that?
Avione says
Hi y’all,
I just read the magazine. Your day sounds wonderful to me. How long have you two been full time bloggers? It doesn’t look like you have outside jobs but I may be wrong about that.
I would love to read a post on the ups and downs of blogging as a job. Have you done one of those yet?
Congratulations on 4 years of blogging!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Avione,
John came on full time with the birth of Clara four months ago and I’ve been a full time blogger for a while now. Here’s a post all about how the blog grew and got to where it is today (we think it’s the one you’re reading, but just to be sure): https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/09/how-did-we-get-here/
We’re so grateful that we get to do what we love!
xo,
s
Avione says
I just saw your post on the journey! I am reading it now :)
Nancy says
Loved this post about how you do it all.
I just had my 3rd child, but had forgotten how much work a baby is. And now that she’s moving, aye me!
I’ve had to recently revive my college habit of daily written lists! It’s nice to know that you don’t mind eating cereal for supper sometimes.
As always, you are in inspiration.
Funnelcloud Rachel says
I’m so glad you linked to the Day in the Life post, because that is a question I’ve been meaning to ask you guys – so thanks for the sneak peek into how you get it all done!
Of course, that opens up more questions, like what other blog-related tasks (besides writing the actual posts) keep you busy day-to-day? How to you get advertisers – do you approach them or do they approach you? I’m just curious (and envious) as to how you support your family through your blog. You don’t have to reveal actual numbers, I’d just like to know how the whole process works!
Oh, and one more question – what do you guys do for fun (besides DIY projects and blogging?) – do you hang out with friends, go out to dinner? And do you ever force yourselves to take a break from blogging?
Sorry for so many questions – you guys just seem to balance everything so well! Congrats on three years of a great blog!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Funnelcloud,
We actually have a post coming up this week that will reveal more about the behind the scenes business of running a blog, but to answer your question briefly: we don’t approach advertisers, we just work on trying to write great posts and nurture the blog so that we attract readers who like what we’re doing, which seems to draw advertisers to us (and it’s so much more rewarding than spending time hunting down potential sponsors- we’d much rather be blogging and taking on projects!). We do have to spend time coordinating giveaways each week (which we’re not paid for, we just love rewarding our lovely readers) so we iron out those details each week and write up those posts when we’re not taking on projects or blogging about our own home. We also write up House Crashing and Reader Redesign posts and spend at least 10 hours a week answering comment questions since we pride ourselves upon getting back to people and helping them out as much as we can. As for other things that keep us busy, we also write a weekly column for BabyCenter.com and a regular column for Do It Yourself magazine. Fun, fun, fun.
When it comes to how we support our family doing this, we definitely live as affordably as possible (we have a number of posts about how we save money on the bottom of our Projects page) and our sponsors are what allow us to keep YHL up and running (along with our side writing gigs for BabyCenter and DIY mag), so we’re forever grateful for their support. As for what we do for fun, it’s pretty much just Clara time and blog time (along with project time and a dinner here or there with family and friends) but we love what we do so it doesn’t feel much like work. At least most of the time. We’re not really good at taking breaks since the internet is 24/7 and there’s always a comment question or another project on our to-do list to tackle! We’ll have to work on that…
xo,
s
Newlyweds on a Budget says
i loved the Day in the Life article! It’s still amazing how you guys seem to do it all…
Carla says
Congrats on 3 years! I had to laugh when I read your strategy for DIY with a little one. I can’t tell you how many projects take several naps to complete at my house. Baby wearing is helpful for sure. When our big boy out grew the front pack I hit craigslist up for a backpack – totally worth it!
Essie says
Congrats on your Blogiversary! You guys do a wonderful job of making us feel like we are a part of your home and your lives.
I know it’s NOT easy giving up your privacy and also NOT easy blogging 10 posts/week, arranging great give-aways, responding to comments, and thinking of long-term projects, etc. Whoever thinks it is really should try it for a week or so. I did, but decided I like reading blogs more than creating my own. :)
Wishing you both many, many more years of continued happiness and success!
Marie-Ange says
Congratulations on your 3rd Blogiversary!!! I’m just so inspired by you guys to get some magic in our home! Thanks for all the time and effort you put day in and day out in the blog! Reading your “typical day” sounds busy, and yes, I agree with you on that (being mother to 3): it’s basically a learn-as-you-go and do-what-works-best approach here too!
Just one advice: remember to take some time off here and there for just the 2 of you guys as well! Afterall, it’s because of your love for each other that this whole adventure started!
Kelly P says
Congrats on the Blogiversary! Your blog is my favorite – even more so now that I fully understand all that goes into it. You guys are busy! Great article too :-)
Sally says
Nice day in the life feature! And I got a cool surprise – Jason Travis, whose day begins on the page after yours, photographed my brother’s wedding this spring!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny! It’s such a small world.
xo,
s
Kathy says
Happy Blogiversary Sherry, John, and Clara!
Being from the Northwest, I’d never seen “My Southern Life” magazine before. It has gorgeous photos and design layout, and your Day in the Life article is great! Thanks for sharing it here.
Nikki says
Oh, youngsters, you guys just rock. I discovered you in August ’09 shortly after my wedding. We’ve since acquired a fluffy terrier- and now we’ve got bundle #1 on the way, due in April! Just keep doing what you are doing–you two truly are an inspiration for young couples like ourselves who want to live beautifully (and smart-ly) on a budget! It will be interesting to see what adventures we have in store for the lot of us in our 700 sq feet condo! Yikes! Here’s to another bazillion years blogging…
kelly says
congrats! its easy to see why this blog has made it this far and i’m sure will continue on for a longggggg time! (please please) i find so much interest in this blog i’ve definitly used a lot of ideas for my own house as well!! thanks so much for the inspiration, and here’s to many more years of awesome blogging :)
Rebekah says
Congratulations on 3 years on the Blog! Love building your life organically. I am a huge risk taker as well and it’s always the risk that’s paid off!
@ Hope on maintenance organization. We also keep file folders of all of the “handouts” you get with your appliances etc. My husband registers them all – in case there is a recall or a part missing. You’d be surprised how many times we’ve needed info on a model # etc and needed to recall our pamphlets. And our 2 yr old daughter has the largest file yet – with all of her gear!
Sara says
Love the day-in-the-life, keep it up! And you look so sane!
Lu: Plymouth Web Design says
A Very Happy Birthday to you!!! Let’s hope you have many more years to come and this site has been extremely resourceful and interesting to look through, Thanks :)
pearls and green tea says
Congrats on 3 years!! I’m also looking forward to your post about the behind the scenes stuff in creating a blog. I’ve had one for a year or so and don’t even have a track on my visitors. I had no counter for like 6 months, then got a really bad one and just switched yesterday. What do you you use to keep track of visitors?
Also, at what point in the 3 years did it become income, as opposed to a hobby?
Anyway, I’m a huge fan and long time reader! I’m excited for many many more years of YHL!!
http://pearlsandgreentea.blogspot.com/
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Pearls & Green Tea,
We use WordPress stats along with Google Analytics to count visitors (two of them gives us a more accurate picture than one. As for how our blog baby grew, here’s a post that we wrote about that: https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/09/how-did-we-get-here/
Hope it help!
xo,
s
Amy L. says
Hey John & Sherry,
You clearly are 100% dedicated to your home, your family life, and this blog. I was wondering what do either of you do about “me time”? I worked with (outside of the home) and lived with my boyfriend for over a year. We went to work together, came home together, and everything in between. It was great, but at times I felt like I needed a mental health break, and looked for ways to get out of the house and just be alone for a while (great excuse for an occasional pedicure!) While it’s awesome that you two can manage all the family time while working from home, I believe it’s very healthy (and actually necessary) to still be able to foster some alone time. Do you have ways that you take time for yourselves alone during the day or week?
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Amy,
John and I actually met in NYC where we worked together, so toiling away and then hanging out together is actually something we’re used to. We generally appreciate each other’s company, so although we’d never claim that we never fight or get annoyed with each other, we’re happy to do something that we love together every day. We definitely try to get in “me time” too (John goes for runs and plays racquetball with friends while I go to lunch or go shopping with the girls on weekends). As for cabin fever, we get that too! Which is why we love going for walks, running out for supplies, and taking road trips as much as we can!
xo,
s
laura says
Congratulations! Here’s to 33 more years to come! ;)
Anne says
I must admit, I feel better knowing you’re no more productive than I am with a baby to look after.
I would like to know what your thoughts are on lead in your next house? We have to do all our home improvement projects with little spectators, so I dictated no houses from before 1975, so I could sit in the playroom and scrape trim while they play.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Anne,
Clara’s safety is paramount, but we love older homes. One thing is for sure, she definitely won’t be exposed to lead paint at all if we end up with an older house (thank goodness we have lots of relatives here in Richmond who can watch her if we’re dealing with peeling lead paint). Time will tell what we end up with!
xo,
s
tmeade says
Z me! I just found your blog and lurve it!
Liz Pabst says
Please oh please let me win!!!