Welcome to CJS

Hey mama. I’m Caroline, and I’m here to help you conquer the chaos of motherhood and actually enjoy it again. 

I’m a bit of a weirdo. For some odd reason, systems and routines come naturally to me and I LOVE them. I’m the girl who was creating homework systems in the 4th grade when my elementary school gave me my first planner. 

Now, as a grown woman, I’m still planner and routines obsessed. Except this time, I take that obsession and combine it with my passion for motherhood and use it to help other mamas conquer motherhood. 

I believe that motherhood can be simple. 

I know, sounds impossible, right? I mean, its motherhood. It’s hard. Its messy. Its emotional. Its draining. It’s frustrating. It’s all the things. How can it be simple? 

You’re so right. It is all those things. Its hard and draining and frustrating while being wonderful and heart melting at the same time. 

Simplified motherhood doesn’t necessarily mean motherhood without problems,  challenges or emotions. 

Simplified motherhood means creating creating space to be present in those emotions, problems and challenges. It means creating space in our homes and our minds so we can be the best mothers we can possibly be. Mothers who are present. Mothers who have a full cup to pour from. Mothers who don’t feel completely out of control every day because time got away from us and our kids are destroying the house and dinner isn’t on the table. 

No way, mama. When we make motherhood simple, we can eliminate a good amount of unnecessary stress and overwhelm so that we have the space to tackle the really hard things (like those big emotions in those little bodies) and the really good things (like those sweet sweet giggles or those glimpses of your babes holding each other’s hands.) 

Let me clue you in on a little secret, though: I wasn’t always this confident in my motherhood journey. 

Like most mamas, the overwhelm of motherhood completely blew me away when I first became a mom, which for me happened the day I got married. Yep, my husband had a 13-year-old son and was raising him full time. I became an instant full-time stepmom the day I came back from my honeymoon. 

Insert overwhelm.

I wasn’t just a weekend step-mom. I was an instant, full-time mom who had to provide meals my stepson wouldn’t hate, set boundaries my stepson wouldn’t resist, manage loads of smelly teenage boy laundry along with our laundry, keep a house clean and tidy, manage middle school activities and schoolwork, and work a full time job. The pressure was on, and let’s just say I didn’t handle it very well. 

A year and a half later, we added a baby girl to the picture and then I was really in over my head. 

I was constantly running around like my hair was on fire, spinning on a hamster wheel, buried in anxiety. I was on stress overload, constantly running on E, couldn’t remember the last time I had done anything for myself, frustrated with feeling like I could never sit down, always feeling like someone was pulling and tugging from me, and not to mention we just had so much STUFF! 

As much as I love routines, I had zero routines to help me do motherhood well. I had my baby on a great sleep schedule, but that was about it. I was in survival mode, burning the candle on both ends trying to keep up with mounds of laundry, dreading dinnertime, always ripping and running from work to errands to track practice, and honestly feeling guilty for how miserable I was. 

I had prayed for motherhood. It was NOT supposed to be like this.

Out of desperation, I began ruthlessly getting rid of everything that was causing me overwhelm. I filled donations bags with endless amounts of clothes and reorganized my closet so I could breathe when I went to choose my outfit for the day. 

I organized my kitchen and began putting the food I needed access to every day in jars so I wasn’t stressed out digging through my pantry. 

I removed everything that wasn’t a basic necessity from makeup to coffee mugs.

I made sure that there was an intentional home for everything that WAS left over and that it would be SIMPLE  to maintain this organization for me and my family.

I sat down and figured out what my TRUE causes of overwhelm were and created simple, effective systems around every pain point and tested them until they WORKED. 

I finally felt myself breathing again. Who knew that freeing my physical space from clutter would free my mental space and allow me to begin seeing and thinking clearly again. I felt free. I took my time back, conquered my overwhelm, and created space for me to be present as the mom I desired to be. 

I know this all might sound obvious. It seems as though everyone is jumping on the minimalism bandwagon. We all know that clutter and lack of routine cause overwhelm. 

But, as mamas, just because we know this to be true, doesn’t mean it’s easy to actually do. 

First of all, we have kids. And kids mean more stuff. Clothes, toys, gifts from grandparents, growth spurts, the whole nine. It can feel impossible to simplify, let alone maintain simplicity with kids since their stuff seems to multiply. 

Second of all, when it comes to creating systems and routines to help us be effective in motherhood and take back our time, well, that actually takes time and we don’t have time, sooo…..we just stay in a constant state of overwhelm. Sound familiar? 

Third of all, structure, routines and minimalism tend to scare us. We feel that they will be impossible to maintain with our busy schedules. We tend to say, “good for you,” to those who have routines but they feel hard for us so we shy away from them. 

Minimalism in and of itself just sounds complicated even though it’s supposed to make things easier. It feels overwhelming because its actual work that has to be done and overwhelm is the exact thing we want to get rid of. 

These are all very real feelings. Simplifying is not necessarily easier. Maintaining a routine or a system can sometimes require a little extra effort in the moment that we don’t necessarily feel like taking even though we know its worth it. 

When you’re in over your head in the trenches of motherhood, the last thing you have capacity for is the resolution. You want it to be fixed like, yesterday, but you just can’t right now. And, that’s okay. I get it. 

That’s why I’m here. I’ve done the hard work for you. I’ve been in (and am still in) those mamahood trenches with you, and I’m here to help you climb out of them. 

Together, we can help you simplify, minimize, and organize your time and space so that you can get back to doing motherhood well and finding JOY in it again. 

Welcome, mama. We can do this together.