August 14, 2024 • 25 mins
#284 - Can hiring a house manager and a meal prep chef really transform your life? In this compelling episode, Teresa Hildebrand sits down with Kelly Hubbell, the visionary founder of Sage Haus, who shares her personal journey from burnout to balance. Kelly opens up about her experience of reclaiming her time and energy by outsourcing household tasks, which not only improved her well-being but also ignited a passion to help other moms do the same. Together, they discuss the concept of home systems that promote an equitable division of labor, reduce stress, and ultimately lead to a happier, healthier family life.
Managing your home like a business? It might sound unconventional, but Kelly explains how this approach can lead to significant improvements in both your personal and professional life. Learn practical tips for integrating household help into any budget, whether it's through existing services or creative solutions like hiring local teenagers as mother's helpers. This episode is packed with actionable insights designed to empower mothers, help them avoid the pressure of doing it all, and find effective support solutions. Tune in to discover how you can create a more balanced and satisfying home life by strategically outsourcing household responsibilities.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, my name is Teresa Hildebrand and this is
Organized Chaos.
We take a deep dive into livingwith intentionality, focusing
on what's important in our livesso we can truly feel our best.
It may feel chaotic at times,but with a little organization,
the right mindset and a ton ofself-love, we can still thrive.
Join me as we talk to otherbusy moms and experts who will
(00:31):
share tips and strategies tohelp you reach your goals.
Hope you enjoy this episode ofOrganized Chaos.
Now on to the show.
All right friends, welcome backto another episode of Organized
Chaos and, if you're new here,thank you for joining us.
So today I have a really specialguest with me.
I have Kelly Hubbell, who ishere to talk about outsourcing
(00:52):
the mental load of motherhood.
Okay, so who is Kelly?
Kelly is a mom of three andfounder of Sage House, a
platform helping busy parentsreclaim their time and energy by
outsourcing the mental load andcreating home systems for a
more equitable division of labor.
Her goal is to help moms on anybudget get the support they
(01:13):
deserve so they can feel morepresent in everything they do,
whether it's spending time withtheir family, growing their
business or doing the thingsthey love.
She's doing this through smallgroup cohorts, direct recruiting
placements for executives anddigital courses.
Kelly, I'm so happy you're herewith us and tell us a little
bit more about you and how yougot to helping moms reclaim
(01:36):
their time and energy.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, well, dude.
Well, thanks so much for havingme here.
This is a lovely way to spendsome time.
So much for having me here,this is a lovely way to spend
some time.
So I basically started SageHouse very organically.
The way that I got here isthrough my own experience in
outsourcing and offloading.
So what I mean by that is when Ibecame a mom.
(02:02):
I think you know, like manymoms, we come into motherhood
with a lot of gusto and a lot ofI'm going to be a do it all or
I'm going to be the mom who canbalance everything.
And, um, and I think you know Iwas able to hold pretty strong
on that until my second came,and then things really started
falling apart.
(02:22):
Um, and what I mean by fallingapart is I was feeling so
overwhelmed and burnt out at allof the things I was managing in
addition to taking care of myfamily and managing a full-time
career, and what I realized isthat there were a lot of things
I was doing that didn't have tobe done by me, and um, that I
(02:48):
really valued those shortwindows of time in the morning
before work and school drop-offs, in the evenings before bedtime
and then on weekends, and I, Irealized I didn't really want to
be spending those precioushours with that I could be
spending with my family onthings like household chores and
running errands and unloadingdishwashers and laundry, and so,
(03:10):
um, basically, I found someincredible people.
I call them my village and it'sthe combination of a house
manager Some people call themfamily assistants and a meal
prep chef who drops healthy foodat our home once a week, and it
was so life-changing that othermoms started reaching out to me
(03:31):
and asking me how, how did Ifind these people?
What did they help me with?
Um, you know, basically a lotof questions around hiring, but
also the systems I put in placeto allow them to help me.
And so that's kind of how SageHouse was born.
Was just me wanting to sharethe wisdom, I guess, and
(03:52):
experience for, you know,finding your village and people
to support you in your lifestyle?
And so I'm I'm now, you know,full-time on Sage House and I
House and I'm working with a lotof different families to help
them reclaim their time andoutsource the mental load, and
(04:15):
it's been really fun, it's beenreally insightful and I'm really
enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I love that story and I always find that the best
businesses that are created arebased off of the struggles that
we've gone through, and eitherpeople come to us and that we
can actually create a templateof that and pass it on to others
.
So I love your story andthere's probably moms listening
(04:54):
right now, thinking, man, I wishI could have like my own
personal chef and I wish I couldhave like a pet sitter or a
nanny or somebody to do mylaundry.
Like that just seems so crazyto think about.
But that's why you're here,because you're going to talk
about that.
And you're going to talk about,first off, what home systems
(05:15):
are, but also kind of like theaccessibility of it.
All right, because you knowyou're probably thinking you're
listening right now Like, okay,there's no way I can have
somebody come and do my laundryor somebody come and actually
drop off meals.
Like that just seems like adream, something that that is
not possible for me.
So let's start off with thehome systems.
(05:35):
Like what is a home system?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Sure, yeah, and I'm so glad you brought that up,
because my, you know, my goal isto.
I think this topic requires alot of context, and that's
exactly why we're having thisconversation today.
Um, you know, my goal is tohelp busy parents realize that
it is more affordable andapproachable and attainable than
(05:59):
they probably think it is toget more help on a day to day.
So, yeah, let's um, we can getinto like wait, this sounds so
bougie, how can I make this realfor my life?
Um, and then, but we can also,um, yeah, let's start with home
systems.
So I realized, in fact, after Ilaunched Sage house, that I had
(06:20):
skipped a step.
And what I mean is I I launchedSage house thinking, oh my gosh
, um house manager has changedmy life so much that every mom
needs a house manager anddeserves house manager and how
can I find every single mom onthe planet a five hour a week
house manager, Um, and.
But what I realized is I hadskipped this step, which is you
(06:42):
can't just hire someone and thenexpect your life to be changed.
Kind of like you can't justdownload an app on your phone
and, like expect to relieve themental load.
I think that what it takes is areally diligent sort of audit,
if you will, of what you'redoing today in your home.
(07:02):
Like what's happening today.
What are you doing?
How are you spending your time?
Your home, Like what'shappening today.
What are you doing?
How are you spending your timeand what are the things that
maybe you want to be done, thatyou're that are like not being
done?
Like, for me, it was like Icouldn't remember the last time
I'd washed the bath mats, orlike towels, Right, so it's like
the all of those things.
And and then it's creatingsystems around them.
(07:23):
And what systems are?
They're not checklists, they'renot just to-do lists.
What they are is reallycreating what is the standard of
care for our family, what isthe expectation around these
roles, who is the owner of them?
And basically really making aholistic system that sure it can
be updated and revised, but itis a foundation for your family.
(07:46):
I'll give you an example of ahome system that I'm working on
with my cohort right now.
There are 10 women that are inthis cohort and last week we
talked about feeding the familyand that system and it looks
different for different families, but there are core aspects of
that that you need to define asa family.
One is what is our?
(08:09):
How often do we want to becooking home cooked meals?
How often do we want to beeating out?
How does that fit into ourbudget?
If we could outsource this,what would that look like for
our family?
Who would coordinate that?
It looks like creating a recipebox for the six go-to recipes
that we, like our kids, eat, andthat we have ingredients list
(08:31):
ready to go so that when we'rebusy, we can pick the two meals
of the week, make two of them,eat leftovers until Friday.
It's basically creating a system.
It's like maybe it's making acalendar of every Tuesday is
taco Tuesday, every Friday ispizza Friday, so we know exactly
what we're doing for dinner andit takes the mental load out of
it.
So that's an example of a homesystem.
(08:53):
There's others that you know Iwork with my cohorts on like
what is the laundry system?
What are the daily routines?
So morning checklist, eveningchecklist, what are the things
we want to do?
Weekly, monthly, seasonalchores?
Those are systems that wecreate and we calendar and we
make sure there are owners forgetting done.
(09:14):
So that's kind of like homesthis.
I know it sounds like a lot,but there are actually ways to.
Once you get it down on paper,it actually is like really, it
really feels like, makes youfeel lighter.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, it's the whole organization of it all, right.
And you know you talk aboutmental load.
It's really kind of justdownloading that onto like a
paper or or even like justtalking about it out loud,
because a lot of the things thatyou were talking about, it's
all swirling around in our heads, Like you said the bath math,
(09:50):
and I laughed because I was like, okay, when they start to smell
, then it's time to put them inthe washer, right Um.
But there's all these littlethings that we, we don't really
understand how much is weighingus down, right Um, because there
are, especially if you're thetype of person that I am, like
(10:13):
everything is like okay, like Ihave to have everything
organized and I have to havelike and it has to be done by me
, like I have this thing whereI'm getting a little bit better
at that.
But it's really hard for me tokind of let go of things because
I feel like, well, I can justdo it right now.
But then I don't realize thatit's not just about the time
(10:33):
that you're taking to do that,you know, x, y and Z thing right
now, it's the time that youspent thinking about doing that
thing for after during, you knowit's just all of that and all
of that accumulates with themany different tasks, that thing
before, after, during.
You know it's just all of thatand all of that accumulates with
the many different tasks thatwe have, right.
So having systems is soimportant and I love the fact
(10:54):
that you're you know you'retaking pieces of it like the
whole meal thing, right Havingto think about.
You know you have, let's say, afamily of four.
You have to think about howyou're going to feed everybody
and if everybody likes the samething.
If you know, in a perfect world, but usually that's not the
case, so there's all these likeintricacies, right.
That really kind of weighs down.
(11:14):
So I love, I love the fact thatyou have systems.
So now let's get into like howthis has actually changed your
life and specificallyoutsourcing, because that's one
of the things that I talk aboutas well, and I talk a lot about
like the business related thingsand outsource, but when it
(11:35):
comes to like home life, I'mstill working on that.
But how has that changed yourlife?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, well, first I want to just say, like I related
to home systems, once youcreate the system, you can then
offload it and outsource it andand start to let go of.
This is the way I want it doneand that's a huge part of like
(12:01):
my programs and my my coachingfor parents, which is like
systems lead to properdelegation and onboarding of the
kind of help that you need.
So it's like think about it aslike almost a um timeline, right
, or like a.
You know it's like a ramp, soyou got to create the systems
and then um, but to your point,yeah, in terms of outsourcing
(12:24):
and how it's changed my life.
I mean, I think when weconsider running our home like a
business, a lot of the sameprinciples apply and they result
in a lot more satisfaction forus in life, in our personal life
(12:45):
, in our career life.
I mean, for me, we ended uphiring a house manager right
after, like I said, right afterwe had our second and it
basically was it changed my lifebecause, like you said, it
wasn't just the fact that shesaved me an hour going to the
grocery store, she saved me themental me running through what
(13:10):
do we need at the grocery storeI should check the pantry, I
should go through the fridge andsee what we're low on.
And then I have to get to thegrocery store and, oh, on the
way home I might as well fill upthe car with gas.
And then I get home and I haveto unload all those groceries
and reorganize the pantry.
I mean, knowing that that'sjust going to be done for me on
a Friday so that we have all theingredients to make French
toast on Saturday morning, islike so worth its weight in gold
(13:35):
for me and my family.
And I think like the biggest,the biggest life change was
feeling more present ineverything I was doing, because
that that to-do list wasn't juston repeat in my head.
So when I was, when I was inwork, when I was working, I
(13:55):
could get in flow states.
I could be really focused.
I had less distractions.
When I was in meetings, I couldbe like more, more paying
attention and more engaged.
When I was with my kids, Iwasn't worried about, like you
know, all of the things I had todo over the weekend to set us
up for success.
Instead, I was, like you know,looking for bugs in the backyard
(14:17):
and like really feeling like Iwas there with them doing that,
and so I think that's thebiggest piece of it is it's not
just the time.
I mean sure it frees me up tolike go get my workouts in for
the week.
Like the fact that I can workout for two or three hours
during the week because my housemanager takes over tasks is,
first of all, amazing for myhealth.
(14:37):
She also happens to watch ourkids every Friday night for
three hours so that my husbandand I can do a standing date
night.
So it's been incredible for mymarriage to be able to spend
time with my partner and then,yeah, just feeling more present
and I mean it's amazing.
And this is why I am on amission to help other families
(15:02):
start small, even if it's justfive hours a week, of giving you
five hours a week.
What would you do with fiveextra hours a week?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, and I do want to go into that in a second, but
I do want to go back tosomething that you said and I'm
so glad that you pointed thisout about home systems, and that
is that you're creating thesystems not necessarily for you
to be able to do them.
It's for you to have somethingthat you can pass along to
someone else, right, that youcan delegate, so that way that
(15:35):
portion of the task that you docan be done by somebody else
when you're ready to do that,right?
So it's not like, hey, you'rejust gonna like organize
everything so beautifully inyour life so that you can have
more control over it, likethat's, that's not the purpose,
right?
The purpose is to create asystem so that you can actually
(15:56):
easily give it to someone else,so that it frees you up, so time
and energy wise.
So let's go into how this canactually be possible for
families, right, because how canit be that you can actually
hire people or delegate anoutsource task that you would
(16:18):
normally do in your household oryou know, whatever it is that
you, you know, have that, thatmental load, that all of that
stuff going on in your head,like how is it that you can, um
you know, do this in any budget.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, um, happy to talk about that.
I think one thing that I willmention before I get into that
is part of what's so importantabout the home systems again is
getting your partner on boardtoo and collaborating with them,
because that really creates alot of buy-in and teamwork that
I think a lot of partnershipsright now are missing and I
(16:58):
think there's still a lot oflike gender division of labor
issues that we're working on,and so so I just want to mention
that, like, I think a huge partof this is working with your
partner, getting buy-in fromthem, and then that kind of
leads me to the way that I workwith people to figure out how to
work it into their budget isstep.
(17:19):
You know, I have a five-stepmethod I call it the Sage House
method for hiring and recruitingyour village, and the first
step is having a conversationwith your partner about your
budget.
I think it's important to thinkthrough, you know, how many
hours of $100 a week or $200 aweek could buy you of like
(17:43):
someone's time sort of in yourarea, wherever that is, you know
, based on where you live.
Um, I also think there are alot of really creative ways to
stretch your budget, so I'lltalk about that for a second.
I think one is, believe it ornot, 80% of dual income
households already have cleaningservices.
(18:04):
They have a housekeeper orcleaners that come once a week,
once a month, something likethat.
I have found that some of myclients have simply asked their
existing cleaners can you spendan hour folding laundry if I
have it all done, and that savesthem an hour or two in a week,
and that saves them an hour ortwo in a week.
(18:28):
I think having a mother's helperaround to help you do things
around the house is also a greatway to sort of like stretch
your budget.
I know there's a lot of liketeenagers who live in my
neighborhood who are always sortof like posting signs about
either babysitting or being amother's helper.
I think those are ones.
I think again, there are ones.
I think, um, again, there are alot of kids on my street who
want to walk my dog, and walkingmy dog for 30 minutes twice a
(18:50):
day saves me an hour of time.
So it's like finding people inyour community who want to like
help you and be a part of yourvillage.
I think is a way to just tofind more support on your budget
.
Again, I think, when it comes tothinking about an investment in
(19:13):
this, again, I think it's whatis the opportunity cost of not
having more help?
And I think, particularly forentrepreneurs, like a lot of
your audience, teresa is, youknow, I'm I'm familiar with this
.
I'm starting a business rightnow.
Like every minute of my day isso valuable for me that I want
(19:36):
to be spending it either with mykids and my family or working
on my business and growing mybusiness and networking and
connecting and findingpartnerships and, you know, um
uh, connecting with incrediblepodcast hosts like you.
So it's like, I think, forentrepreneurs especially, it's
hard.
It's a big leap to say, wow,I'm going to outsource these
(20:00):
things that don't need to bedone by me, like unloading my
dishwasher, doing my laundry,running my Amazon returns back
to the store.
But like, what would an hour befor you if you found a new
client, if you spent that timeon doing business development
for you?
Like you know, I think you'vegot to start thinking about,
(20:20):
like, what are the opportunitycosts?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I'm so glad you said that, because we don't realize how
much that can help and it, likeit, allows us to really be
creative as well.
Because even if you're, youknow you have that extra one
hour time and you're notnecessarily going to use that to
extra one hour time and you'renot necessarily going to use
(20:44):
that to, you know, do somebusiness development or, you
know, do something for yourbusiness, it can still give you
time to just sit there and likebe able to create more or just
like free your mind, giveyourself some time to relax,
because that's also okay.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's also okay to just do nothing.
I mean, we do plenty around andsometimes I feel like I
actually, when I coach othermoms like that guilt comes in
right, because you feel like youalways have to be doing
something, whether it's becauseyou have to prove your worth or
because you know you're just.
(21:21):
You just feel guilty about notdoing something, that's working
towards something else, when inreality you really need space to
just, you know, be in a quietspace or, you know, just give
yourself me time right, ascliche as that sounds like, that
will also pay off you, you know, in in dividends.
(21:41):
So I'm so glad you brought thatup this.
We could talk about this allday right, I know.
But I think you gave thelisteners a lot of great
information.
If someone wants to check youout and find out more about what
you do, where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, so I mostly hang out on Instagram at my sage
house.
House is spelled H a, u, s, soyou could go follow me there.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
I'm starting to be a little bitmore active on LinkedIn,
especially because I'm superfocused on supporting especially
working moms, who I think arefeeling like I think every mom
(22:21):
is feeling the the overwhelm,but I especially feel like
working moms are, and so I'm onLinkedIn.
Uh, kelly Hubble is my name.
Um, you can find, you can followSage house too.
And then I guess I would say,if you're interested in just
starting, if you're just curiousabout what are some things I
could offload or outsource,there are two ways to get
(22:47):
started, and one is I've got afree five-day program and you
can find that on my stand store.
There's a link in my Instagramso you can get that, and then
there is a free quiz on mywebsite.
So for those of you who arelike, these are really crazy
long lists that this woman istalking about.
What does she mean?
Um, there's an eight questionquiz that when you click through
it, it basically um results ina dashboard of all of the things
(23:10):
you, all of the time you'respending right now managing your
household, and then it also hasa big, long list of all of the
things you're probably doing.
So that is like a conversationstarting with your partner.
That is just understanding like, oh my gosh, I'm spending 20
hours a week managing myhousehold on top of my full-time
job or raising children or allof these things.
And so those are the places Iwould start.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
If you're just interested in next steps, I love
that and I will add those tothe show notes.
So thank you so much for beinghere, kelly.
This was such an amazingconversation.
What would you say like?
What are some encouraging wordsyou would give to the listeners
?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, you know, I would just say don't be so hard
on yourself, and you're notalone, you know.
I think again, I think that wehave false expectations being
set on us, not just by ourselves, but it's a result of societal
and cultural pressures that havebeen put on especially women,
(24:11):
for a long, long time.
And you know, we've been toldthat we can do it all and that
we should be super moms.
In fact, you know, we say thatto each other like, oh, you're
such a super mom.
And I'm like, can we stop?
Like we don't all want to besuper moms, like I don't, you
know, I want to, like you said,do nothing, I don't, you know,
because it's better for mymental health.
I don't, I don't, you know.
(24:32):
So I think that, like, my adviceis just, you're not alone,
don't beat yourself up.
Find solutions.
Like I am such a solutionoriented person.
Like, yes, we can doom, scrollall day and be like, oh,
parenthood and motherhood is sohard, I'm so overwhelmed.
But like there are also a lotof solutions out there and Sage
house has a lot of solutions.
(24:53):
If, like, they work for you,they worked for me and my family
, so they might work for you.
And so I would just say like um, you know, don't get down.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Go and seek solutions that work for you and your
family.
Yes, thank you, I love those.
So thank you so much for beinghere.
You know, if you guys take one,you know little tidbit of
advice from this episode is that, like Kelly said, like you
(25:25):
don't have to do it all, like Ipreach that all the time Like
give yourself, you know, thespace that you deserve.
This can all be figured out andyou'll find your flow right.
It's just about like reallyseeking those solutions.
So thank you again, kelly,thanks for having me.
Hey, my name is Teresa Hildebrand and this is
Organized Chaos.
We take a deep dive into livingwith intentionality, focusing
on what's important in our livesso we can truly feel our best.
It may feel chaotic at times,but with a little organization,
the right mindset and a ton ofself-love, we can still thrive.
Join me as we talk to otherbusy moms and experts who will
(00:31):
share tips and strategies tohelp you reach your goals.
Hope you enjoy this episode ofOrganized Chaos.
Now on to the show.
All right friends, welcome backto another episode of Organized
Chaos and, if you're new here,thank you for joining us.
So today I have a really specialguest with me.
I have Kelly Hubbell, who ishere to talk about outsourcing
(00:52):
the mental load of motherhood.
Okay, so who is Kelly?
Kelly is a mom of three andfounder of Sage House, a
platform helping busy parentsreclaim their time and energy by
outsourcing the mental load andcreating home systems for a
more equitable division of labor.
Her goal is to help moms on anybudget get the support they
(01:13):
deserve so they can feel morepresent in everything they do,
whether it's spending time withtheir family, growing their
business or doing the thingsthey love.
She's doing this through smallgroup cohorts, direct recruiting
placements for executives anddigital courses.
Kelly, I'm so happy you're herewith us and tell us a little
bit more about you and how yougot to helping moms reclaim
(01:36):
their time and energy.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yeah, well, dude.
Well, thanks so much for havingme here.
This is a lovely way to spendsome time.
So much for having me here,this is a lovely way to spend
some time.
So I basically started SageHouse very organically.
The way that I got here isthrough my own experience in
outsourcing and offloading.
So what I mean by that is when Ibecame a mom.
(02:02):
I think you know, like manymoms, we come into motherhood
with a lot of gusto and a lot ofI'm going to be a do it all or
I'm going to be the mom who canbalance everything.
And, um, and I think you know Iwas able to hold pretty strong
on that until my second came,and then things really started
falling apart.
(02:22):
Um, and what I mean by fallingapart is I was feeling so
overwhelmed and burnt out at allof the things I was managing in
addition to taking care of myfamily and managing a full-time
career, and what I realized isthat there were a lot of things
I was doing that didn't have tobe done by me, and um, that I
(02:48):
really valued those shortwindows of time in the morning
before work and school drop-offs, in the evenings before bedtime
and then on weekends, and I, Irealized I didn't really want to
be spending those precioushours with that I could be
spending with my family onthings like household chores and
running errands and unloadingdishwashers and laundry, and so,
(03:10):
um, basically, I found someincredible people.
I call them my village and it'sthe combination of a house
manager Some people call themfamily assistants and a meal
prep chef who drops healthy foodat our home once a week, and it
was so life-changing that othermoms started reaching out to me
(03:31):
and asking me how, how did Ifind these people?
What did they help me with?
Um, you know, basically a lotof questions around hiring, but
also the systems I put in placeto allow them to help me.
And so that's kind of how SageHouse was born.
Was just me wanting to sharethe wisdom, I guess, and
(03:52):
experience for, you know,finding your village and people
to support you in your lifestyle?
And so I'm I'm now, you know,full-time on Sage House and I
House and I'm working with a lotof different families to help
them reclaim their time andoutsource the mental load, and
(04:15):
it's been really fun, it's beenreally insightful and I'm really
enjoying it.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
I love that story and I always find that the best
businesses that are created arebased off of the struggles that
we've gone through, and eitherpeople come to us and that we
can actually create a templateof that and pass it on to others
.
So I love your story andthere's probably moms listening
(04:54):
right now, thinking, man, I wishI could have like my own
personal chef and I wish I couldhave like a pet sitter or a
nanny or somebody to do mylaundry.
Like that just seems so crazyto think about.
But that's why you're here,because you're going to talk
about that.
And you're going to talk about,first off, what home systems
(05:15):
are, but also kind of like theaccessibility of it.
All right, because you knowyou're probably thinking you're
listening right now Like, okay,there's no way I can have
somebody come and do my laundryor somebody come and actually
drop off meals.
Like that just seems like adream, something that that is
not possible for me.
So let's start off with thehome systems.
(05:35):
Like what is a home system?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Sure, yeah, and I'm so glad you brought that up,
because my, you know, my goal isto.
I think this topic requires alot of context, and that's
exactly why we're having thisconversation today.
Um, you know, my goal is tohelp busy parents realize that
it is more affordable andapproachable and attainable than
(05:59):
they probably think it is toget more help on a day to day.
So, yeah, let's um, we can getinto like wait, this sounds so
bougie, how can I make this realfor my life?
Um, and then, but we can also,um, yeah, let's start with home
systems.
So I realized, in fact, after Ilaunched Sage house, that I had
(06:20):
skipped a step.
And what I mean is I I launchedSage house thinking, oh my gosh
, um house manager has changedmy life so much that every mom
needs a house manager anddeserves house manager and how
can I find every single mom onthe planet a five hour a week
house manager, Um, and.
But what I realized is I hadskipped this step, which is you
(06:42):
can't just hire someone and thenexpect your life to be changed.
Kind of like you can't justdownload an app on your phone
and, like expect to relieve themental load.
I think that what it takes is areally diligent sort of audit,
if you will, of what you'redoing today in your home.
(07:02):
Like what's happening today.
What are you doing?
How are you spending your time?
Your home, Like what'shappening today.
What are you doing?
How are you spending your timeand what are the things that
maybe you want to be done, thatyou're that are like not being
done?
Like, for me, it was like Icouldn't remember the last time
I'd washed the bath mats, orlike towels, Right, so it's like
the all of those things.
And and then it's creatingsystems around them.
(07:23):
And what systems are?
They're not checklists, they'renot just to-do lists.
What they are is reallycreating what is the standard of
care for our family, what isthe expectation around these
roles, who is the owner of them?
And basically really making aholistic system that sure it can
be updated and revised, but itis a foundation for your family.
(07:46):
I'll give you an example of ahome system that I'm working on
with my cohort right now.
There are 10 women that are inthis cohort and last week we
talked about feeding the familyand that system and it looks
different for different families, but there are core aspects of
that that you need to define asa family.
One is what is our?
(08:09):
How often do we want to becooking home cooked meals?
How often do we want to beeating out?
How does that fit into ourbudget?
If we could outsource this,what would that look like for
our family?
Who would coordinate that?
It looks like creating a recipebox for the six go-to recipes
that we, like our kids, eat, andthat we have ingredients list
(08:31):
ready to go so that when we'rebusy, we can pick the two meals
of the week, make two of them,eat leftovers until Friday.
It's basically creating a system.
It's like maybe it's making acalendar of every Tuesday is
taco Tuesday, every Friday ispizza Friday, so we know exactly
what we're doing for dinner andit takes the mental load out of
it.
So that's an example of a homesystem.
(08:53):
There's others that you know Iwork with my cohorts on like
what is the laundry system?
What are the daily routines?
So morning checklist, eveningchecklist, what are the things
we want to do?
Weekly, monthly, seasonalchores?
Those are systems that wecreate and we calendar and we
make sure there are owners forgetting done.
(09:14):
So that's kind of like homesthis.
I know it sounds like a lot,but there are actually ways to.
Once you get it down on paper,it actually is like really, it
really feels like, makes youfeel lighter.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yeah, it's the whole organization of it all, right.
And you know you talk aboutmental load.
It's really kind of justdownloading that onto like a
paper or or even like justtalking about it out loud,
because a lot of the things thatyou were talking about, it's
all swirling around in our heads, Like you said the bath math,
(09:50):
and I laughed because I was like, okay, when they start to smell
, then it's time to put them inthe washer, right Um.
But there's all these littlethings that we, we don't really
understand how much is weighingus down, right Um, because there
are, especially if you're thetype of person that I am, like
(10:13):
everything is like okay, like Ihave to have everything
organized and I have to havelike and it has to be done by me
, like I have this thing whereI'm getting a little bit better
at that.
But it's really hard for me tokind of let go of things because
I feel like, well, I can justdo it right now.
But then I don't realize thatit's not just about the time
(10:33):
that you're taking to do that,you know, x, y and Z thing right
now, it's the time that youspent thinking about doing that
thing for after during, you knowit's just all of that and all
of that accumulates with themany different tasks, that thing
before, after, during.
You know it's just all of thatand all of that accumulates with
the many different tasks thatwe have, right.
So having systems is soimportant and I love the fact
(10:54):
that you're you know you'retaking pieces of it like the
whole meal thing, right Havingto think about.
You know you have, let's say, afamily of four.
You have to think about howyou're going to feed everybody
and if everybody likes the samething.
If you know, in a perfect world, but usually that's not the
case, so there's all these likeintricacies, right.
That really kind of weighs down.
(11:14):
So I love, I love the fact thatyou have systems.
So now let's get into like howthis has actually changed your
life and specificallyoutsourcing, because that's one
of the things that I talk aboutas well, and I talk a lot about
like the business related thingsand outsource, but when it
(11:35):
comes to like home life, I'mstill working on that.
But how has that changed yourlife?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, well, first I want to just say, like I related
to home systems, once youcreate the system, you can then
offload it and outsource it andand start to let go of.
This is the way I want it doneand that's a huge part of like
(12:01):
my programs and my my coachingfor parents, which is like
systems lead to properdelegation and onboarding of the
kind of help that you need.
So it's like think about it aslike almost a um timeline, right
, or like a.
You know it's like a ramp, soyou got to create the systems
and then um, but to your point,yeah, in terms of outsourcing
(12:24):
and how it's changed my life.
I mean, I think when weconsider running our home like a
business, a lot of the sameprinciples apply and they result
in a lot more satisfaction forus in life, in our personal life
(12:45):
, in our career life.
I mean, for me, we ended uphiring a house manager right
after, like I said, right afterwe had our second and it
basically was it changed my lifebecause, like you said, it
wasn't just the fact that shesaved me an hour going to the
grocery store, she saved me themental me running through what
(13:10):
do we need at the grocery storeI should check the pantry, I
should go through the fridge andsee what we're low on.
And then I have to get to thegrocery store and, oh, on the
way home I might as well fill upthe car with gas.
And then I get home and I haveto unload all those groceries
and reorganize the pantry.
I mean, knowing that that'sjust going to be done for me on
a Friday so that we have all theingredients to make French
toast on Saturday morning, islike so worth its weight in gold
(13:35):
for me and my family.
And I think like the biggest,the biggest life change was
feeling more present ineverything I was doing, because
that that to-do list wasn't juston repeat in my head.
So when I was, when I was inwork, when I was working, I
(13:55):
could get in flow states.
I could be really focused.
I had less distractions.
When I was in meetings, I couldbe like more, more paying
attention and more engaged.
When I was with my kids, Iwasn't worried about, like you
know, all of the things I had todo over the weekend to set us
up for success.
Instead, I was, like you know,looking for bugs in the backyard
(14:17):
and like really feeling like Iwas there with them doing that,
and so I think that's thebiggest piece of it is it's not
just the time.
I mean sure it frees me up tolike go get my workouts in for
the week.
Like the fact that I can workout for two or three hours
during the week because my housemanager takes over tasks is,
first of all, amazing for myhealth.
(14:37):
She also happens to watch ourkids every Friday night for
three hours so that my husbandand I can do a standing date
night.
So it's been incredible for mymarriage to be able to spend
time with my partner and then,yeah, just feeling more present
and I mean it's amazing.
And this is why I am on amission to help other families
(15:02):
start small, even if it's justfive hours a week, of giving you
five hours a week.
What would you do with fiveextra hours a week?
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, and I do want to go into that in a second, but
I do want to go back tosomething that you said and I'm
so glad that you pointed thisout about home systems, and that
is that you're creating thesystems not necessarily for you
to be able to do them.
It's for you to have somethingthat you can pass along to
someone else, right, that youcan delegate, so that way that
(15:35):
portion of the task that you docan be done by somebody else
when you're ready to do that,right?
So it's not like, hey, you'rejust gonna like organize
everything so beautifully inyour life so that you can have
more control over it, likethat's, that's not the purpose,
right?
The purpose is to create asystem so that you can actually
(15:56):
easily give it to someone else,so that it frees you up, so time
and energy wise.
So let's go into how this canactually be possible for
families, right, because how canit be that you can actually
hire people or delegate anoutsource task that you would
(16:18):
normally do in your household oryou know, whatever it is that
you, you know, have that, thatmental load, that all of that
stuff going on in your head,like how is it that you can, um
you know, do this in any budget.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, um, happy to talk about that.
I think one thing that I willmention before I get into that
is part of what's so importantabout the home systems again is
getting your partner on boardtoo and collaborating with them,
because that really creates alot of buy-in and teamwork that
I think a lot of partnershipsright now are missing and I
(16:58):
think there's still a lot oflike gender division of labor
issues that we're working on,and so so I just want to mention
that, like, I think a huge partof this is working with your
partner, getting buy-in fromthem, and then that kind of
leads me to the way that I workwith people to figure out how to
work it into their budget isstep.
(17:19):
You know, I have a five-stepmethod I call it the Sage House
method for hiring and recruitingyour village, and the first
step is having a conversationwith your partner about your
budget.
I think it's important to thinkthrough, you know, how many
hours of $100 a week or $200 aweek could buy you of like
(17:43):
someone's time sort of in yourarea, wherever that is, you know
, based on where you live.
Um, I also think there are alot of really creative ways to
stretch your budget, so I'lltalk about that for a second.
I think one is, believe it ornot, 80% of dual income
households already have cleaningservices.
(18:04):
They have a housekeeper orcleaners that come once a week,
once a month, something likethat.
I have found that some of myclients have simply asked their
existing cleaners can you spendan hour folding laundry if I
have it all done, and that savesthem an hour or two in a week,
and that saves them an hour ortwo in a week.
(18:28):
I think having a mother's helperaround to help you do things
around the house is also a greatway to sort of like stretch
your budget.
I know there's a lot of liketeenagers who live in my
neighborhood who are always sortof like posting signs about
either babysitting or being amother's helper.
I think those are ones.
I think again, there are ones.
I think, um, again, there are alot of kids on my street who
want to walk my dog, and walkingmy dog for 30 minutes twice a
(18:50):
day saves me an hour of time.
So it's like finding people inyour community who want to like
help you and be a part of yourvillage.
I think is a way to just tofind more support on your budget
.
Again, I think, when it comes tothinking about an investment in
(19:13):
this, again, I think it's whatis the opportunity cost of not
having more help?
And I think, particularly forentrepreneurs, like a lot of
your audience, teresa is, youknow, I'm I'm familiar with this
.
I'm starting a business rightnow.
Like every minute of my day isso valuable for me that I want
(19:36):
to be spending it either with mykids and my family or working
on my business and growing mybusiness and networking and
connecting and findingpartnerships and, you know, um
uh, connecting with incrediblepodcast hosts like you.
So it's like, I think, forentrepreneurs especially, it's
hard.
It's a big leap to say, wow,I'm going to outsource these
(20:00):
things that don't need to bedone by me, like unloading my
dishwasher, doing my laundry,running my Amazon returns back
to the store.
But like, what would an hour befor you if you found a new
client, if you spent that timeon doing business development
for you?
Like you know, I think you'vegot to start thinking about,
(20:20):
like, what are the opportunitycosts?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I'm so glad you said that, because we don't realize how
much that can help and it, likeit, allows us to really be
creative as well.
Because even if you're, youknow you have that extra one
hour time and you're notnecessarily going to use that to
extra one hour time and you'renot necessarily going to use
(20:44):
that to, you know, do somebusiness development or, you
know, do something for yourbusiness, it can still give you
time to just sit there and likebe able to create more or just
like free your mind, giveyourself some time to relax,
because that's also okay.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It's also okay to just do nothing.
I mean, we do plenty around andsometimes I feel like I
actually, when I coach othermoms like that guilt comes in
right, because you feel like youalways have to be doing
something, whether it's becauseyou have to prove your worth or
because you know you're just.
(21:21):
You just feel guilty about notdoing something, that's working
towards something else, when inreality you really need space to
just, you know, be in a quietspace or, you know, just give
yourself me time right, ascliche as that sounds like, that
will also pay off you, you know, in in dividends.
(21:41):
So I'm so glad you brought thatup this.
We could talk about this allday right, I know.
But I think you gave thelisteners a lot of great
information.
If someone wants to check youout and find out more about what
you do, where can they find you?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, so I mostly hang out on Instagram at my sage
house.
House is spelled H a, u, s, soyou could go follow me there.
I'm also on LinkedIn.
I'm starting to be a little bitmore active on LinkedIn,
especially because I'm superfocused on supporting especially
working moms, who I think arefeeling like I think every mom
(22:21):
is feeling the the overwhelm,but I especially feel like
working moms are, and so I'm onLinkedIn.
Uh, kelly Hubble is my name.
Um, you can find, you can followSage house too.
And then I guess I would say,if you're interested in just
starting, if you're just curiousabout what are some things I
could offload or outsource,there are two ways to get
(22:47):
started, and one is I've got afree five-day program and you
can find that on my stand store.
There's a link in my Instagramso you can get that, and then
there is a free quiz on mywebsite.
So for those of you who arelike, these are really crazy
long lists that this woman istalking about.
What does she mean?
Um, there's an eight questionquiz that when you click through
it, it basically um results ina dashboard of all of the things
(23:10):
you, all of the time you'respending right now managing your
household, and then it also hasa big, long list of all of the
things you're probably doing.
So that is like a conversationstarting with your partner.
That is just understanding like, oh my gosh, I'm spending 20
hours a week managing myhousehold on top of my full-time
job or raising children or allof these things.
And so those are the places Iwould start.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
If you're just interested in next steps, I love
that and I will add those tothe show notes.
So thank you so much for beinghere, kelly.
This was such an amazingconversation.
What would you say like?
What are some encouraging wordsyou would give to the listeners
?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, you know, I would just say don't be so hard
on yourself, and you're notalone, you know.
I think again, I think that wehave false expectations being
set on us, not just by ourselves, but it's a result of societal
and cultural pressures that havebeen put on especially women,
(24:11):
for a long, long time.
And you know, we've been toldthat we can do it all and that
we should be super moms.
In fact, you know, we say thatto each other like, oh, you're
such a super mom.
And I'm like, can we stop?
Like we don't all want to besuper moms, like I don't, you
know, I want to, like you said,do nothing, I don't, you know,
because it's better for mymental health.
I don't, I don't, you know.
(24:32):
So I think that, like, my adviceis just, you're not alone,
don't beat yourself up.
Find solutions.
Like I am such a solutionoriented person.
Like, yes, we can doom, scrollall day and be like, oh,
parenthood and motherhood is sohard, I'm so overwhelmed.
But like there are also a lotof solutions out there and Sage
house has a lot of solutions.
(24:53):
If, like, they work for you,they worked for me and my family
, so they might work for you.
And so I would just say like um, you know, don't get down.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Go and seek solutions that work for you and your
family.
Yes, thank you, I love those.
So thank you so much for beinghere.
You know, if you guys take one,you know little tidbit of
advice from this episode is that, like Kelly said, like you
(25:25):
don't have to do it all, like Ipreach that all the time Like
give yourself, you know, thespace that you deserve.
This can all be figured out andyou'll find your flow right.
It's just about like reallyseeking those solutions.
So thank you again, kelly,thanks for having me.
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