Tips To Balance Work-At-Home Life
Have you ever considered becoming a Work-At-Home Mom? Here are some amazing Tips To Balance Work-At-Home Life that I have mastered over the past decade of working from home and raising my children at the same time.
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I have teamed up with some mom bloggers today for a super fun summer blog series. We are all sharing our different opinions and experiences from on the topic of Balancing Work-At-Home Life today. Be sure to check out how they balance this work-at-home mom blogging life.
The work-at-home mom's life can seem like a dream, but without setting up limits for yourself and your children, the work-at-home schedule is not anywhere close to a dream job. How do you balance being a work-at-home mom? How do daily routines and schedules work with a work schedule? Do you hire outside help? How to work-at-home moms balance it all?
I never set out to be a work-at-home mom. In fact, I was 100% set to return to my corporate job 6 weeks after the birth of my son. But, after an emergency C-Section, a long recovery, and a special needs baby, my perfect idea of returning to work fell completely apart. I quit my job and didn’t work for a few years and had a couple more babies. I grew bored at home and started a blog on a whim. My blog was a hobby that turned into a small business which is now my job. I am a work-at-home mom blogger.
Being a work-at-home mom is hard, but being a work-at-home mom blogger can be taxing. Full-time working parents work long shifts out of the home. But once they are home, work turns off. Full-time work -at-home parents must set a delicate balance between working and parenting. I learned over the years to set specific boundaries in place and to never cross the boundaries. Ido this to keep a great balance between my family life and my work life.
Tips To Balance Work-At-Home Life
Wake up early
I can’t stress this enough. Everyone has deadlines that are always there. Just go to bed, set your alarm and get up early in the morning. Do not try to pull an all nighter to meet your deadlines. Go to sleep, get up early and start refreshed.
Schedules / Calendars
I keep a family calendar in my kitchen and every member of the family has to update it with the time there is an appointment or activity. From the monthly family calendar, I back-fill my personal work-at-home schedule. I also take full advantage of working when my children are at activities. Like momst mom's, we are waiting around a lot of the time. I always have my laptop with me and take advantage of those 1 hour time slots. A schedule will keep you organized.
Daily to-do list
Be as organaized as possible. I have three children, with three different schedules, who all attend different schools and have different activities. I’m driving around the suburbs and city a lot. I have to be very diligent with my daily to-do list or things fall through the cracks. I also sometimes listen to podcasts when I am driving my kiddos around everywhere as well.
Dedicated Work Space
Designate an area of your home for your work. If this is not a possibility, at least have a space that is just for working and if possible, a spot where you can close the door and not be disturbed. My children know if the door is closed, they are not allowed to disturb me unless it is an emergency.
Set timers
This was a trick I learn pretty early on because the internet itself is so distracting. One click on a page will lead to another page and then to another and pretty soon, so much time has passed by and the task I was working on didn’t even get more than a glace. Set timers and stick to the task at hand. Once the timer goes off, move on to the next task and a new time frame. I also set a timer for “cruising the internet”. Once the timer goes off for family time, I do not work again until my next scheduled work-at-home time slot.
Batch Work
I love batch working. I set up my calendar each month and have at least two to three months of work completed ahead of time. I am able to complete work so far ahead due to having a set schedule in place. I only complete specific tasks on specific days of the week. For instance, I use a scheduler for a social media account and this is set up seasonally and monthly in batches on a specific day of the week. I never have to look at it until my next scheduled time slot because of careful scheduling.
Priorities
I can’t stress this enough as well. Place a priority on your family and home life and don’t let the work-at-home take over your life and home. Do not spend every available minute working. With careful and considerate calendars and schedules, your personal priorities won’t be encroached by work. It is so easy to just always have your cell phone with you and say just a minute let me check this or read and email or answer this email. I only respond to emails in my time slot and only ones that truly need a response. I delete a lot! I may miss some opportunities, but I have discovered over the years, my children’s happiness is a lot more important to me than a few bucks and a big headache.
Hire a Mother’s Helper
I had a mom in my neighborhood who I would swap childcare days with. She worked form home as well and we would swap kids so we could work. It was amazing. If this is not a possibility, hire a mother’s helper. I hired a college student to work for me one summer when I had my third baby because I had a very rough recovery. She eneded up working for my family for over 5 years. She was awesome and we are still friends. My daughters now babysit for her daughter.
I’m not perfect and there are times when I have ignored my children for too many minutes. The mom guilt is a real thing. I do struggle with a distraction like everyone else, whether it be from my children or life in general. But if you keep these Tips To Balance Work-At-Home Life in mind, perhaps you can transition to working at home as well. I think the Work-At-Home mom gig can be one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.
What's your advice for the moms working at home?
Here are real stories from work-at-home moms. 10 different stories of how moms balance life:
Aryn from Motherhood Musing | Kate from The Bejuled Life | Nicole from Nicole Leilani Blog |
Holly from Fiesty Life Media | Chelsee from The House of Hood Blog | Hannah from Honey and Betts