I had a friend recently ask me, “How in the world do you do chores in your family with all four of your kids?” And I thought that would be a great podcast episode. So today I am gonna share with you how we do chores in the Ray household. Resources from this episode: Chore Chart Dry erase pockets 3M small Hooks Affiliate links have been used in this post! I do receive a commission when you choose to purchase through these links, and that helps me keep this podcast up and running—I truly...

Okay, confession. I am a major time management junkie and I love it. I love planning. I love buying my new calendar for the year and getting my favorite pens and highlighters and making a plan and writing an appointments and making lists. I love managing stuff. I love managing my time. And today I'm gonna share with you five of my favorite time management tools that have really helped me through the years because we all have 24 hours in a day, but it all comes down to how we manage our time. ...

Today, I am gonna be telling you all about how I create a strategy for my life. And I know that sounds very broad and possibly overwhelming, but hang with me because I feel like I have been given some amazing tools to help me in four main areas of my life: my faith, my home, my work, and my legacy or my life overall. So that's what we're gonna talk about today, how to create a strategy for your life. If you're feeling like you need some clarity, then this episode is for you.   Resources...

While so many women wear multitasking as a badge of honor, I will readily admit that I am the worst at multitasking. I—it's terrible. I get so distracted and cannot do it. And I'll be frank, this has not served me well in motherhood because the interruptions are great and we'll talk a little bit about that. But today I just wanna share my thoughts on multitasking and how it doesn't help anyone and how it's so much better if we can focus on one thing at a time. Resources from this episode: ...

Be where your feet are. This simple phrase has brought me back time and time again from feeling scattered and overwhelmed to simply being present. It's taught me a lot about my own limits and how God is limitless, and I found a lot of encouragement in that. So today's episode is all about that phrase, be where your feet are. And I hope you find it encouraging.   Resources from this episode: Birds and Bees (code WORKANDPLAY for 20% off) Episode 195 - Birds & Bees With Megan Michelson ...

Today, I am so excited to share with you one of my very favorite things to do. I know this is really nerdy of me, but I love writing out my ideal week. This is something that I do at least twice a year, sometimes three times a year, because there are different times in my year that just look different. An ideal week looks different, and today I'm gonna walk you through my process of how to create an ideal week so that you can be living the life that you want in and week out with a lot of...

So we all know that play is such an important part of our lives. It's easy to talk about work all the time, and it's a little bit more difficult as we get older to talk about play and incorporate play into our lives. But what I found out is it's so important to do it in small ways every day. If you can incorporate small play into your life on a daily basis, it really makes your lives and your work that much better. And that is what we are talking about in today's episode.  Resources from...

Well, it is back to school for the Ray family this week. I know everybody starts school at different times, but for us, school starts back this week. I’m so excited. And with school comes a lot of different ideas about new rhythms and routines that we wanna implement as a family. I personally get really excited about it, but one thing that God has been putting on my heart over and over again this year is implementing rhythms of faith to go alongside our rhythms of school and that is what...

Today’s so special because I have a long-awaited guest joining me. Jess Ray is a singer/songwriter/producer from Raleigh, North Carolina. She has her own series of albums that hold some of my favorite songs ever written, and she’s part of a worship band called Mission House. She helps lead a local movement of worshipers here in Raleigh under the ministry named Feast and Feast. Her musical career has weaved in and out of Christian spaces, mainstream circles from house concerts, including my...

Today is the 200th episode of work and play with Nancy Ray. I am so excited to celebrate with you. I can't believe it. I can't believe I've done 200 of these episodes. That's crazy. I'm so grateful that you have been listening. I hope today's episode is just fun. I thought of 200 of my favorite things, which is kind of wild, and it also took me a really long time to come up with 200 of my favorite things.  But the hope was that maybe there are some things that I'm enjoying in my life that...

This week, we’re diving back into our 2-part series as Will and I celebrate 15 years of marriage (crazy, I know)! This week, we’ll be talking about kids and home life—from how we balance everything after adding kids to the mix to how we keep our home running smoothly amid the day-to-day busyness. It’ll be a fun one, so listen in!   Resources from this episode: Episode 198 - 15 Years Married : Part 1 Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family by Paul Tripp ...

Back in January, I did a big survey of all of my podcast listeners and one of the most requested people that I was asked to interview on the podcast was my husband, Will! Today, we’ll kick off a two-part episode series just to cover some of the most-asked questions about travel and finances for us. We'll talk about kids and home life next week.   Resources from this episode: Episode 068 - 12 Years of Marriage, Part 1 Episode 069 - 12 Years of Marriage, Part 2 Episode 124 - We're Debt...

Summer is here—and after a long school year of hard work, it’s time to kick up our feet and play! Today’s episode is going to be fun and two-fold. First, we’ll talk about the practical: how to plan your summer well. Then, we’ll dive into part two and talk about the actual summer plan and what kind of mindset can help you have a summer filled with both rest and play!   Resources from this episode: The Corner Store Nancy Ray Book Club Mildliner Creative Marker Affiliate links have been...

Today is the last episode of May is for Mamas this year, and I hope you have loved it as much as I have. Today, I get to have a conversation with Kari Trent Stageberg, the author of The Blessing. Her story is unbelievable, as you'll hear in today's episode, and her simple encouragement to speak life and be a blessing to not only your children, but to everyone you encounter, was just the reminder I needed.   Resources from this episode: The Blessing Social Media: Strong Families Kari...

Hello and welcome to another episode of May is for Mamas. I am so excited about the guest that I have today on the podcast because I kept thinking “If I could choose someone who would deliver a lot of value to my listeners who are mamas this month of May, who would it be?” And I kept thinking about Megan Michelson. Megan is the co-creator and co-host of Birds & Bees, an online course with an amazing woman named Mary Flo Ridley. The two of them teach about sex and how to talk to your kids...

I'm back with another May is for Mama's episode, and today I'm releasing one of my Patreon-only episodes into the world. This episode was published to my Patreon community last year, and it's the first time I've ever done this, but I love this precious woman so much, and I loved what she had to say so much that I knew eventually I had to share it with everyone. Elizabeth Ray, who we affectionately call Grammy in our home, is my husband's mom, so she is my mother-in-law and she is one of my...

 Welcome to another episode of May is for Mamas, and this is Mother's Day Week! We are approaching Mother's Day and I had the thought, I want to create a podcast episode that is a gift to any mom who is listening. And oftentimes for Mother's Day, we wanna get a massage or we wanna get away, or we want a new bag, or we wanna be served breakfast in bed. And all of these things are good and of of course, of course we want most of all those homemade cards from our kids that is the best. And just...

Welcome to May is for Mamas, where I dedicate every episode in the month of May to the Mamas listening. We are kicking it off with a beautiful, encouraging conversation with Ashlee Gadd on why it's so important to keep creating in the margins of motherhood. Ashlee is the author of Create Anyway, which is a beautiful book. It just came out and I could not get my hands on it fast enough. Y'all. It's so good. Listen, Ashlee is a wife, a mom of three, a follower of Jesus, a writer, a...

Jumping in right off the bat with a few really fun announcements! Number one, I have a new website as of today and a new brand, new colors new look. Shout out to Sammy Jo, I love you. Thank you for creating such a beautiful space. Head to nancyray.com to see it. Number two, along with the website, I am launching a Mastermind group (!) for a group of women, only 12 women who are business owners in the Raleigh area. I'm so excited. You can go to my website to learn more and I'll talk a little...

Let's talk about family trips. Listen, there is so much planning and work that goes into taking a family trip, but there's also these golden memories of play and adventure that come out of that work. Today, I'm going to share with you how we work hard and we play hard on family trips and I'll share my favorite tips to hopefully make your next family trip a little bit easier!   Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon

Today I have some simple encouragement for you, which is just a glimpse into what God has been teaching me lately. I have found that when I complete another Contentment Challenge, it's good for me to take a minute to recap the biggest lessons the Lord has taught me during this fast of sorts, because I find that every time I give up shopping or extra spending for a limited time—which is what the Contentment Challenge is—it frees up space for him to do things in my life and to address some...

I currently work one day a week with the occasional help of maybe one to two evenings a month. This episode is all about how I maximize my very limited work hours!   Resources from this episode:  My Weekly Planning Checklist Download Work & Play Patreon 2 Second Lean, by Paul Akers Deep Work, by Cal Newport Episode 041 - My Plan to Work One Day a Week  

Today is a book club episode where I'm gonna be sharing my three biggest takeaways from the book Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. I love the tagline of her book, which is "What I learned about making and breaking habits to sleep more, quit sugar, procrastinate less, and generally build a happier life." Doesn't that sound awesome? For a list of all the books that I'm reading this year, head to nancyray.com/bookclub. Sometimes we just need a good kick in the pants from someone to show us...

There is never a shortage of decisions to be made in regards to your work. What should I be doing for my career? Should I stop working when I have children? Do I go back to work? And if I do, when should I go back to work? How much should I be working? Should I close down my work? Should I start something new? Should I hire someone? Do I need to fire someone? How do I spend my time this year? How do I spend my time today? The decisions go on and on. In today's episode, I'm going to...

I've had three best friends for over 20 years: Jess, Heather, and Sam. And the four of us are called The Minkies, and I invited them to do a special episode of the podcast, just me and my best friends sharing our story, sharing our favorite memories and what it's taken for us to maintain a long lasting friendship for over two decades. So it's a very fun, different episode today. There's a lot of laughing and joking and storytelling, and when it comes to work and play, these ladies, they...