Time Management for Moms: Crystal Paine

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Time Management for Moms

Guests:Crystal Paine

From the series:Time-Saving Mom (Day 2 of 2)

Air date:February 17, 2026

Crystal (00:04):

We need to know what we’re prioritizing in our life, because we all are prioritizing something. Even if we haven’t determined: “These are my priorities,” our life indicates what we’re prioritizing. But is it in line with what we want to be prioritizing?

Dave (00:27):

Welcome to FamilyLife Today, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I’m Dave Wilson.

Ann (00:33):

And I’m Ann Wilson. You can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com. This is FamilyLife Today.

Dave (00:46):

Question for you: “Do you think I’m good with my time? Do I manage my time well?” Okay, you paused way too long.

Ann (00:55):

No; I think you do, actually.

Dave (00:56):

I’m not looking for a positive response; you do?

Ann (01:00):

Yeah. I think that we don’t live on the same internal time clock. Mine’s always going really, really fast; and yours is slower, which is really good for me—frustrating—but good for me. But yeah, I think you manage your time well. Do you think I do?

Dave (01:15):

I think you manage it a lot better than I do; you get a lot more done—

Ann (01:18):

I don’t think so.

Dave (01:19):

—in a day than I do. I honestly think I waste a lot of time.

Ann (01:24):

But sometimes, my attitude can be determined by how much I get done in the day; and that’s not always a good thing.

Dave (01:32):

Well, we all need help with time. And we’ve got the time-saving mom, Crystal Paine, in the studio with us today. I call you the time-saving mom. You’re really known as the—

Ann: —money-saving mom.

Dave: —money-saving mom. Welcome back.

Crystal (01:44):

Thank you so much for having me.

You were talking about not being good with your time.

Dave (01:49):

I want to hear what you have to say.

Crystal (01:50):

I just witnessed you. She was saying you were the one that—you [Dave] were saying, “We got to get along; we got to get the interview,”—and you [Ann] were back, just talking with people. I want to encourage you that talking with people, that is using your time intentionally.

Dave (02:05):

You’ve written a book. You’ve been thinking about this, I’m guessing, for decades; right?

Crystal (02:09):

Yes—I actually—I opened the book, talking about my high school graduation speech. I was not the valedictorian. I was homeschooled—let’s clarify that—so I graduated at the top and the bottom of my class, but I got to give a speech. My whole speech was: “Time is short,” because that’s something that I’ve been really passionate about for years and years.

Ann (02:30):

Well, let’s talk about what the book is called. Your book is called The Time-Saving Mom; and the subtitle is How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy Your Life, and Accomplish What Matters Most. Every mom, hearing that, wants that.

Dave (02:44):

If we’re going to be wise about our time, here we go. We started yesterday with, I thought, a great discussion. I’m so inspired, even now, to go home and be more thankful.

You talked about this four-step process, which I guess is your way to say, “Okay, you want to redeem your time—you want to do what God says here in Ephesians 5—it looks like this…” Remind us of the first “P”; and then, let’s go further down the list.

Crystal (03:07):

It’s to start your day with a posture of prayer; so Prayer is Step #1.

The second is Prioritize. It really goes along with that. We need to know what we’re prioritizing in our life, because we all are prioritizing something. Even if we haven’t determined—“These are my priorities,”—our life indicates what we’re prioritizing. But is it in line with what we want to be prioritizing?

I talk about my six-times-two priority system in the book. This is where I have six priority areas that I wrap my time, and my life, and my energy around. I don’t prioritize them every day; because if I were to try to prioritize them every day, I would feel completely overwhelmed. There’s no way, humanly possible, I can do them all every day and do a good job of it.

(03:56) Instead, I pick two per day; and then, I rotate them. Over the course of the week, I have spent intentional time in each priority area, at least, twice. This just frees me up to really be fully present where I am, but also know that I’m going to hit those other areas at other parts of the week.

Dave (04:15):

That makes way too much sense.

Ann (04:17):

And for those who haven’t been listening, or who didn’t listen yesterday, let’s just reiterate: Crystal, you have six kids. You [listener] could be thinking, “Well, she must have all kinds of time and must have all kinds of ways to prioritize her time”; but you are living a fast-paced life, with a lot going on. Give us an example of what this looks like to prioritize.

Crystal (04:39):

Yes; for instance, your marriage, it would be amazing for you to be able to have a date night every single day; but that’s not realistic for most families. For my husband and I, we have teenagers, who oftentimes have things in the evening. But twice a week we can have intentional time—maybe, that’s an hour of us talking; or that’s an at-home date night; or that’s us going out with another couple—so twice a week.

Ann (05:02):

Some people are like, “Twice a week, with six kids?!”

Crystal (05:05):

I think, a lot of times, if you determine that something is important to you, you’re going to make time for it. Our marriage is really important to us; and we know that, someday, we’re not going to have these kids in our home. “So what’s going to be the glue that binds us? If we don’t intentionally prioritize our marriage right now, we’re going to pay for it soon.” And so for us, that is saying, “Twice a week, having intentional time together.”

Same thing for our kids. Every day, obviously, they are a priority; but twice a week—maybe, it’s a family movie night; maybe, it’s that I’m going to take one child out on a one-on-one date—that twice a week I’m going to do something very intentional with my kids.

And then, the business: every day I’m working; but twice a week, I’m going to spend intentional time.

Dave (05:53):

So what are the six [priorities]?

Crystal (05:55):

My health, which includes spiritual, and emotional, and physical health; and then, my marriage; the business; our home; and friendships; and my kids. And the kids aren’t last; that’s just how I said it.

Ann (06:11):

As a listener, I’m thinking, “Okay, I’m going to prioritize these areas; and this is what it’s going to look like this week…” Is that what you’re saying?

Crystal (06:20):

A lot of times, people who have read the book, get a little bit hung up on: “I need to plan this all ahead of time to make sure that I hit all of these areas perfectly.” I do it one day at a time. It’s just every-day kind of deciding: “You know what? That particular child is struggling, and I have this free block in the afternoon. I’m going to take them out for a one-on-one date,” and “Also, my laundry really needs to get caught up on. So today, those are the two areas that I’m going to focus on.” Yes, I’m going to do some other things; but those are going to be the big priority areas that, at the end of the day, I’m going to have accomplished those.

(06:56) And then, the next day it might be: “You know, my husband and I haven’t really connected much. I’m going to make sure that tonight, after the little ones go to bed, we’re going to watch a show together,” and “Also, I’m going to get together with a friend this morning; and we’re going to go on a walk, while we’re pushing our kids in strollers.” It’s just every-day kind of deciding. There will be some things that I’ll know ahead of time; so there’s some days, where it’s already predetermined. But on the other days, I just really take it a day at a time. I don’t stress out about doing it perfectly every single week; but just try to rotate the priorities so that I’m spending good intentional time in each area, twice a week. And by the way, there are seven days in the week, and there are only six priority areas; so you got a free day.

Dave (07:32):

It’s called Sabbath!

Ann: I like that we’ve already talked about prayer—so even as you’ve been making that a priority, you’re praying all-day long about everything—you’re praying, “Lord, what should they [priorities] be today?” And God will highlight. It sounds like He highlights the things that need attention that day. I like that.

Crystal (07:49):

Yes; oftentimes, when I’m starting my day with prayer—like I talked about just starting my day, praying over my day—as I’m doing that, something will come to mind:

a friend. He’ll just really impress [upon me] this friend to reach out to and offer something;

or this child that really needs to have a conversation or just connect with;

or just realizing my soul and my body is weary: “Today I’m just going to take some time to just go on a walk and breathe”; or do something that’s just going to really refresh me.

In that time of prayer, oftentimes, that’s when it will come to me: “This is what I need to prioritize today.”

Dave (08:23):

Okay; I have two questions. I don’t know which one to ask first. The first one, I guess, would be: “What if your spouse”—this is not personal—“What if your spouse isn’t on the same page?”—you are intentional; they’re not.

Ann (08:37):

You mean like spending time together?

Dave (08:38):

Yeah; you have these six [priorities] and you’re going to try and rotate. You sort of have a plan that’s—we’re going to get to that in a minute—but these are your priorities. Your spouse either—maybe, is totally against it; or just doesn’t go along with the plan; or interrupts the plan and messes it all up—I’m guessing that happens quite a bit, or it could be a child. But I’m thinking, “In your marriage, how do you navigate that?”

Crystal (09:00):

Well, I think, first off: “What is the time during the day that you have that you are in charge of?” For a lot of women, if your spouse works, there’s time that you have that you get to decide how you’re going to spend it. Whether that’s, “Okay, I’m going to focus on the kids during this time,” or “…a friend,” or “…the house,” or “…my health,”—doing it during the time that is your time. So that, maybe, when your husband comes home from work, if he works outside the home, that you just don’t plan anything then; because that’s: “Okay, I’m going to go along with whatever; because he likes to be spontaneous.” So deciding: “What are the time blocks that I have that I am in control of? That’s what I’m going to focus on,”—versus being frustrated because—“I made this plan.”

(09:47) Most evenings, I don’t really plan out. I leave them free; because, once my kids come home from school, they have plans; and they need to talk; and we just need to hang out as a family. And so for me, leaving those free. There might be a few nights a week that the kids have activities, or there’s something planned; but for the most part, I try to have blocks of time where it’s just free so that I’m not making my family feel like: “You got to follow my plan.” This is, during my time when I get to choose how to spend the time, I’m going to be intentional with it.

Dave (10:17):

I know you’ve got a good answer for this one—interruptions: the water heater broke; the AC goes out; you have a fender-bender; and so the plan that you have—

Ann (10:26):

—one of your kids is sick, or throwing up all day. Those are the things women are thinking about.

Dave (10:31):

A lot of times, we get derailed; and we’re done.

Ann: We give up.

Dave: I’m guessing there’s a way to get derailed but not be done.

Crystal (10:38):

The great thing about this system is that—if you just are focusing on one day at a time, and if you’re rotating your priorities—let’s say you get into a fender-bender or a child is sick, that’s your opportunity to be like, “You know what? We are just going to move this [planned activity] to the next day; and today, it’s going to be, ‘I’m going to focus on my child, because they’re sick; and they need me.’” I love that it’s not: “Every Monday, it’s this…” “Every Tuesday it’s this…” It’s as you go about your week.

Dave (11:04):

That’s good.

Ann: That is good.

Dave: And you have that extra day to push one into, I guess.

Ann (11:13):

Hey, have you ever wondered how to help your kids really connect with the story of Easter during Lent?

Dave (11:19):

I have.

Ann (11:20):

And one thing we have loved in our home is using Resurrection Eggs. Each of those

12 eggs has a little symbol that helps kids see; and then, touch the story of Jesus’ journey to the cross and the resurrection. It just naturally sparks these great questions and conversations; and there’s no prep needed, which is always great.

Dave (11:40):

We actually, recently, did this with our grandkids. You talk about questions and conversations; it was awesome. So if you’re looking for a gentle, meaningful way to walk through Lent with your kids or grandkids, this is a beautiful place to start. We’ve also got a fun storybook and a coloring book—great [included] with Resurrection Eggs—or on their own, if your family already has a set.

Ann (12:04):

You can get your bundle or set of Resurrection Eggs at FamilyLifeToday.com.

Ann (12:16):

Let’s go to the next step of the four steps.

Dave: I like it that they’re all “P”s. I’m a preacher, so I like “P”s.

Ann (12:19):

So we hit “Pray”; we’ve hit “Prioritize.” And now, “Plan”—planning, using this system that you’re talking about.

Crystal (12:26):

I have what I call a “hybrid planning system.” I use Google Calendar, and I use a time block to-do list. Now, this is where it gets to some people—could feel like, “This is overwhelming; I don’t want to do this,”—

Dave (12:38):

I felt that when I read this; I’m like, “I don’t know if I even understand this”; so this would be good.

Crystal (12:42):

Well, I am just sharing what works for me; but I don’t want anybody to feel like I’m saying, “This is how you need to do it.” But, for me, I found that the less that I have in my brain, the more that I can just breathe. Google Calendar, for me, is where I brain-dump everything—anything that I think of that I need to remember; that I need to do; any blog post I need to write; anything I need to do with the business; anything for the kids’ activities—I brain-dump it all as all-day task in Google Calendar. So then, it’s out of my head; and it’s in a safe place.

(13:21) And then, my time block to-do list is my brain-on-paper for that specific day; and that is my time budget. I look at my Google Calendar before I go to bed at night—look at what is on the all-day task for the next day—and then, I just write out a time block to-do list.

You were talking about interruptions. One thing that I do is I pad this with a lot of extra time, because interruptions are going to happen. If I have made my schedule so packed, that there’s no space to breathe—then, when that child spills the milk, when there’s a poopy diaper, when the teen needs to talk—I’m going to feel frustrated because: “This is my plan, and you’re interrupting my plan.” But if I have padded it with extra time in every time block—plus, at the end of the day, I allow usually two to four hours of completely free time—then, when the interruptions come, I can be like, “I planned for this. I can totally stop and take care of this,”—and be present there—”because I have time to be able to be present.”

Ann (14:17):

So you have that—you’ve just unloaded this dump of all these things you need to do—it’s on your Calendar. How are you figuring out what you’re going to do?

Crystal (14:26):

As I’m thinking of something—let’s say it’s: “Oh, I’m supposed to bring treats to that thing in three days,”—as I go to put it on Google Calendar, I’m thinking, “Okay, when do I need to have them by?” I put it on that day; I just put it on whatever day I need to remember it by. If it’s a project that needs to be broken up over a few days, then I will break it up over the few days.

Now, this has taken me a long time to kind of get into the system of doing this. It usually takes me maybe five minutes of my day, as I go throughout the day, to just brain-dump the things into Google Calendar.

Dave (15:03):

And obviously, it leads you to the last part of your process; because you can’t do that in the morning. You actually do it the evening before, the prep?

Crystal (15:11):

So yeah, prep is not only your evening routine and your morning routine, which I talked about—like setting my day up for success starts the night before—writing out my time block to-do list. And really doing things the night before: just a few things that kind of calm your body down, get yourself to sleep well; and then, start your day with intention; and having a simple morning routine.

But prep is not just that; it’s also the mindset. We talked yesterday about that mindset shift about—not saying: “I can’t do that,” or “I’m not that,”—and really recognizing that so much of our success happens between our ears, and what we tell ourself. Whether it’s negative or positive, that’s going to impact how we actually live and the motivation that we have.

Dave (15:56):

I think, at least for me, I waste—when I read your process and, especially, the prep—I thought, “That’s one of my weaker areas. I want to relax at night; I want to watch something; I want to drink a Diet Coke,”—all the wrong things.

Ann (16:12):

Those aren’t all wrong.

Dave (16:13):

I think about tomorrow; but I’m like, “I’m going to wait until tomorrow; and get up, and jump on it. ” That just was like, “No, no, no.” It doesn’t take a long time; right?—pretty quick?

Crystal (16:23):

A lot of times, it’s like, “Could you do it early; and then, go drink your Diet Coke and relax?” Getting it done—maybe, it just takes you 15 minutes—a few things that you can do to set yourself up for success the next day; and then, go relax; because relaxing is also setting yourself up for success for the next day. But you’re going to relax a lot better when you know that you’ve set tomorrow up for success.

Ann (16:46):

I’m imagining your Calendar right now with six kids. You’re working; your kids are working for you as well, your older ones. There has to be so much going on just to survive the day, and to feel like, “Yeah, we’re getting all this done.” There’s got to be so much. Do you ever feel like, “I’m so overwhelmed”?

Crystal (17:11):

I don’t often feel overwhelmed, because I usually live fully present where I am.

Ann (17:16):

And so that made me think, like, “Are you on social media? Are you scrolling a lot?” I’m guessing you’re not.

Dave (17:22):

Of course, she’s on social media. She’s the social media—

Crystal (17:25):

That is true.

Dave: —mom.

Crystal: I am on social media a lot, because that is my job—the Money Saving Mom on Instagram—but I don’t scroll very often. I do allow myself to scroll sometimes; because that’s, for me, relaxing. I have a few people I follow, that I really am inspired by what they do. I have times, when it’s like, “Okay, I did the things on my list; and now, I can just enjoy being able to sit here and scroll on my phone a little bit. We were talking about enjoying relaxing; that’s the thing for me. Budgeting, when it comes to money is not this restrictive thing; it’s freedom, because I’ve predetermined how I’m going to spend my money. So then, I can enjoy spending money on something—that someone might think, “Well, that’s extravagant,”—but it’s like, “But we budgeted for it.”

(18:10) The same is true with our time. If we budget it, and we spend it well, and we pre-decide how we’re going to spend our time. We, then, have time to invest—in our marriage, time to relax, time to do fun things, time to be present and show up with a friend—time to do these things because we’ve been intentional on the frontend.

Ann (18:30):

As a listener is tuned in, how would they start? Maybe they haven’t had any sort of plan, any sort of strategy. They’re looking at these “P”s. How would they get started?

Crystal (18:41):

I think the biggest thing is starting with prayer—starting with recognizing that you cannot do this life well on your own—just starting your day. This is not going to take you any extra time—while you’re brushing your teeth in the morning or getting your coffee ready—just pray over your day. Have that spirit of prayer/that posture of prayer. Instead of worrying about what’s going to come today—worrying about this or that—use that energy to pray over your day; start with that.

Ann (19:09):

I like that, too. And I would add: if you have time—even as you’re brushing your teeth; I’ve done this, too—I’m listening to Scripture sometimes, which now, I’m getting the Word. Sometimes, I would do it in the car, too—my kids are hearing it—and that’s a good thing too. I like that: starting with prayer; we’re starting with God.

Crystal (19:26):

Yes; really, it’s that principle of tithing: giving the first fruits to God. One of the things—when my husband and I were in really lean years—we committed that we were going to tithe. We were going to give 10 percent, even though the 90 percent didn’t make sense; we couldn’t figure out how it was going to pay all the bills—it always did—it always stretched. It’s the same thing with starting our day with God, and saying, “I’m going to trust You, that even though I feel like I don’t have time for this, this is one of the most important things that I can do. I’m going to give the first fruits of my day to You, and I’m going to trust you for the rest of the day.” And He is always so faithful.

And then, I would say just a simple second step is, instead of trying to do a full-time block to-do list or Google Calendar list—if you feel completely overwhelmed—sit down and just brain-dump everything in your head; and then, pick just a few things that you’re like: “This morning, I’m going to do these three things,” “This afternoon, I’m going to do these three things,” and “Tonight I’m going to do these three things.” Just start with that. Start with just being intentional with those things and just see what happens. If you just start with prayer, and a little bit of intention—change your attitude, and your perspective, and see life as a gift—I bet you will decide that you, not only have more time, but that you also enjoy your life a whole lot more.

Dave (20:44):

When you said a minute ago—“freedom”—that’s the word you often don’t think of when you think of a money budget—you think, “restriction.” Even when you think of a time plan—you think, “Everything’s going to get restricted,”—and it’s the opposite; right? You actually experience freedom; because it’s controlled, in a sense. Again, we don’t have control of our lives; God does. But the plan gives you a sense of—I’m sitting here, going, “No wonder you’ve got a thankful heart; it’s an overflow,”—it’s a fruit of some of this planning.

I’m not kidding; when I got to your final chapter, and I read about you thought David was going to be adopted by somebody else; and that did fall through. And then, it comes back to you guys, I thought, “Who would say, ‘Yes,’ to this?” Because you know, better than anybody, the huge responsibility that’s going to be, not just for a few years; but you called it: “…saying ‘Yes,’ to forever.” Part of me—you know this—part of me is like, “You were able to say, ‘Yes,’—you and your husband—because of the plan; right?”

Crystal (21:53):

Yeah; I feel like it’s because of being intentional with time and money. We see the years of that foundation—of walking through hard things, and learning to trust God in struggling—and the foundation, that God has built and given us, and seen Him be faithful. That’s what gave us the courage. It’s not because we’re incredible people, but because we serve an incredible God. We’ve seen Him be so faithful, and we know that He will continue to be faithful.

When He called us to say, “Yes,” stepping into that—and knowing that I don’t know what the future is going to hold—there are some days when it’s hard; it’s hard to think of the future. But I know I keep going back to—and just reminding myself again, and again, and again—that God has been faithful, and He will be faithful.

Ann (22:43):

I think that’s a good reminder for every listener: “God sees you; He has been faithful, and He will be faithful.”

Dave (22:50):

I was going to say the same thing. I think it’s easy—like I know a mom sitting there in her kitchen, or a dad—it’s easy to think, “You people—on the radio, on a podcast, you pastors—you have these special lives that God blesses in a special way,”—and that’s why Crystal’s able to say He’s faithful. Guess what? He is faithful to you the same way! It’s no different. We don’t have [anything] special; He is faithful.

Man, I’m not a mom, but I’ve watched you; and it’s so overwhelming! All the things you moms carry—we, dads, are amazed; we could never do it—I just want to say to that mom, who is overwhelmed right now: “He’s faithful. Trust Him. He will meet you right there, and He’ll get you through today.”

Ann (23:32):

Moms are pretty remarkable.

Dave (23:34):

They are.

Dave: Another great day with Crystal Paine—

Ann: I love her.

Dave: —getting our life organized. Her book is called The Time-Saving Mom. And let me tell you, this applies to dads, too. The subtitle is How to Juggle a Lot, Enjoy Your Life, and Accomplish What Matters Most.

Ann (23:56):

It’s so good.

Dave (23:57):

And you can get it by clicking the link in the show notes at FamilyLifeToday.com.

Ann (24:02):

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Ann (24:31):

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Dave (24:45):

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