This is a question for all the parents who work from home. I'm struggling to find the time to get my work from home business off the ground. I don't have family who can help out as everyone is working or studying. Id love to know how you make working at home work for you. How do you balance your day between kids, house work and paid work. Does your partner help out if you have one and how often? any other hints or tricks you can think of. Thank you
3 Replies
Assign time specifically for those things...set a routine....things will invade but if you keep to your routine and catch up where you can on the things missed by the invaders everything chugs along
ROUTINE. It took me three years working from home before I finally established one. Mine is, morning - breakfast, get older kids ready for school, clean kitchen (spotlessly) and if I have time vacuum floors. Getting up earlier has been a godsend for me. It allows me to get a lot done before school drop off. My kids also go to an early start school (first bell 8.15) so some mornings are mayhem. Come back from dropping kids, organise activities for toddler, put on a load of washing, make toddler snacks, fold and put away yesterday's washing (do it every day and it's never a mess). From roughly 10-2, I can work. Mine is in the creative field, so I find it my toddler isn't happy, then I can't do it. I hate plonking him in front of the tele, so he plays outside ( I can see him the whole time). If I'm lucky he'll go down for a sleep from 11.30 - 2. Then I pick the kids up from school, hang out the washing, wipe down bathroom mirror, sinks etc, dinner goes on at 4pm (every day!). House is generally pretty clean with this system and I do get my work done, but seriously, some days all planning goes out the window and it does depend on my toddler. Next year, I'm putting him in kindergarten and trying to work outside the home, because working from home is absolutely 10 x harder than working outside the home (I've done both!). Good luck!
I was lucky I grew up working in the family business so while it can be all consuming working from home was something I was accustomed too and knew how to not let work consume the home life and not let home life derail the business