Thanks, Claire! When I wrote this several years ago that was my experience, and I was kind of disappointed about it because I had wanted to make friends, but I realize ti’s not everyone’s experience! Thank you for sharing your story and encouraging others. Volunteering is a wonderful thing and I didn’t mean to discourage that, just when it’s the right season for moms.

I will say I completely disagree with #4. Maybe it is how I am hardwired, but volunteering has been the absolute best way for me to make friends and become better freinds with acquaintances. But I am the PTA president “type”, so there you go!

My motto is a happy volunteer is a good volunteer and if you are stressed and guilt-ridden, you aren’t happy! Volunteering should be a fun “extra” and some people just have more room for “extras” in their life than others…..but it’s still an “extra”.

I am so glad you found my blog! It wasn’t until someone imparted this wisdom to me that I stopped feeling bad about not signing up for so many things! So I am glad this advice was encouraging to you, too. I would love it if you would share this post on your Facebook page so it might be encouraging to other moms this time of year!

Ha ha! First thank you so much for saying all that! I love that you love DoSayGive. Second, I am so glad you asked about liketoknow.it because it can be super confusing. Basically some people like to shop on Instagram and if you do, too, then this is for you. So if you see a photo of mine on Instagram with the #likeit hashtag, you can “like” the photo and the exact product details (and links to where to buy) will be emailed to you. So last night with the book thing, people registered with liketoknow.it received the five books (and the tent!) linked directly to Amazon and PB Kids.

If you want to register go to http://www.liketoknow.it and you can “Sign Up” from their home page. You can still get pretty much everything on my website, too. Again, this just makes it easier for some people. Let me know if you have any problems if you end up signing up! As I said in that blog post, with any affiliate links, if you end up purchasing something I feature or recommend, I do get a [small!] commission. The nice thing about using my links (either on the blog, Instagram, or Facebook) is that companies know that DoSayGive sent you to their site, which helps for future collaborations and potential discount codes! Thanks again for reaching out!

You’re so sweet to comment. It’s totally ok! There will be a season for that…I am preaching to the choir here but doing something that increases your stress factor a little or a lot is just not necessary in our stage of life…

Thank you so much! I remember those days – I know it’s annoying when people say it goes by fast – but it does. You won’t ever regret saying no to “busyness” if that meant you go to to spend more time (and less stressful time!) with your little ones! Please share on Facebook if you want!