I’m not the kind of person who upgrades her electronics all the time. I’m far more likely to use them until they’re unusable. And so I’ve recently been preparing for the demise of what has been my main home business computer.

This could be a serious problem if I weren’t prepared for the situation. As it is, I can think more on what I want from its successor. This wouldn’t be the case if I weren’t prepared for situations such as this.

It took me a while to realize that yes, my 5.5 year old computer is really going. Crashing more often. Requiring regular chkdsk scans. I did some digging and was able to see that yes, it has been throwing errors which usually indicate that the hard drive is going. Most days it can’t even open Task Manager anymore… and yes, I’ve done a variety of virus scans to make sure that it’s not just some nasty the computer has caught.

Now, you can replace a hard drive. It’s a lot of work, but certainly cheaper than a whole new computer. Only problem is that the sound card also seems to be going, which leaves me reluctant to trust that I won’t have to replace still more parts soon. I’ve replaced computer components before, although the hard drive would be the first of those for me.

This is the reason why I always keep backups of all my important data, both locally and with a trusted online provider. Making the switch to a new computer is always inconvenient, but at least I won’t be missing any data or need to recreate my browser profiles. That’s a huge deal.

You could say I have triple redundancy on my local backups. My business computer is backed up to my laptop, my husband’s computer and my external hard drive. But seeing as I know I’m not immune to natural disasters, I keep an online backup too. Companies such as Mozy and Livedrive offer online backup services so you don’t have to worry about a local natural disaster or a computer crash destroying all your files. Your files are safe elsewhere.

I don’t just back up business stuff, of course. Family photos are carefully backed up too. It’s all too easy to lose all your family photos if you aren’t careful. That’s the problem with digital photos. Good thing they’re so much easier to replace than printed photos if you take the time to store copies elsewhere.

I’ve already warned my husband. He can call it my Mother’s Day present. We’re going to visit family next weekend, and that puts us near Fry’s Electronics, my favorite electronics store. Really. That’s not a paid plug or anything. I just happen to really appreciate how well they’ve treated me with this computer when it needed warranty work. They aren’t my nearest computer shop, and I still want to go back there for the next one.

In a very real sense, work at home parents celebrate “Take Your Child to Work Day” every day. But once a year it’s the official day, April 26 this year, and your child may have questions about it. How can you make the day special when your child is around your work every day?

1. Send them to work with someone else.

If your kids are used to seeing you work at home, what about having them see how someone else works? Send them to work with your spouse or a friend, and get a day’s break yourself.

The great part for you is that you get more quiet time to get your work done.

Obviously, your child needs to be old enough to be well behaved all day if they’re to go to someone’s office or other place of work. Don’t send the little kids.

Of course, children should only be sent in to work if employers are agreeable to the idea. You don’t want anyone to be in trouble at work because there’s a kid hanging around all day with them. The best places to send them are companies that plan for the day and have activities the children can really participate in. If kids aren’t really welcome or would interfere too much, don’t even try it. You want others to respect the work you do, make sure you respect theirs.

2. Have your child be more involved in your work.

If your kids are staying home with you, get them more involved than usual on “Take Your Child to Work Day.” They probably have a general notion of what you do, maybe even help you with bits, but what more can you teach them about your work? This is a great time to show them some of the details.

Don’t forget to include the challenges involved with working at home, such as dealing with the household chores, caring for the kids and so forth. It’s great to help your children see the kind of balance you have to strike in order to earn a living from home. Just make sure you emphasize the importance of taking your work seriously. If work needs to get done, the chores can probably wait.

3. Discuss careers they’re interested in.

Kids usually have a pretty good idea about the careers they’re interested in. Their ideas may not always be especially realistic and may bear no resemblance to the fields they eventually go into, but it rarely hurts to let them explore a genuine interest. Find out what they’d like to do when they grow up and help them learn more about that career choice. It doesn’t matter whether or not you think it’s realistic or they’ll stick with it, just take a better look at career options with your child.

Of course, it’s not always possible to take your child out of school to bring him or her to work. I don’t doubt that my daughter’s school would resist the idea, as they’re doing STAR testing this week. Still, you can consider whether regular school, state tests or seeing you at work is really most beneficial to your child this Thursday.

Also, remember that since you’re at home, you can teach your kids about the work you do anytime you like. You don’t have to wait for the calendar to tell you to. You’re an example to them all the time.

One thing I tell people who want to work from home over and over is that it’s not always easy. That’s because it isn’t, of course, despite what the home business opportunities tell you. Most of us are going to have to work really hard to work at home successfully. Today I decided to share some of the things that I find make working at home challenging.

Kids

Kids. I have three of them, and they all provide challenges in their own way. The two oldest have the usual sibling arguments, which can get loud at times. Even if I don’t interfere directly, the noise is a distraction. They also have homework, and sometimes need help with it.

Add in soccer practices for my son and art class for my oldest daughter. My husband and I alternate taking them to activities so that the entire load isn’t on either of us. These activities make for somewhat rushed evenings, as the kids are better off eating dinner before their activities, especially my son as soccer takes a lot of energy. That means dinner ready a half hour to an hour earlier than usual.

My youngest doesn’t go to school yet, but she’s very determined to be right by me much of the day. The time the other two spend in school isn’t all that quiet because there’s just one kid to take care of, and she wants a lot of it. If I spend too much time on my laptop, she starts telling me to move it so that she can sit on my lap. She’s only three, but most days she does not nap, and if she does, it’s usually after her siblings are home, so I wouldn’t call it quiet working time. How I miss when she took naps earlier in the day.

Family Time

We make sure to take some family time every week. Theoretically, my husband gives me one day each weekend where he does most of what the kids need and I work quietly on my business. In reality, it only works that way some of the time. That part gets really frustrating,  but we try to make it work when possible.

I don’t entirely mind that because family time is important. That’s why I only allow for one work day each weekend. If it has been a rough week in terms of productivity, I really hate having so little time, but I consider the balance more important.

It gets harder if the family time involves going off to see family elsewhere for the whole weekend. Laptop and WiFi or no, it’s just a lot harder to work while visiting other family members.

Still, family time has to be a priority or it wouldn’t happen enough. My husband and I try to pick an adventure for our family to do once a month, so it’s not all sitting around the house. It can be as simple as playing all day in the snow, or as involved as taking the train to Los Angeles to get somewhere interesting.

Online Games

I’ll admit it, sometimes I get sucked into one online game or another, and play way too much of it for a couple weeks. They’re really, really bad for my productivity and I know it. They’re fun, of course, and sometimes my kids like to share in the games, talk strategies and so forth.

Other Online Distractions

Facebook and email aren’t my biggest online distractions. Reading articles is. I’ve always been a voracious reader, and remembering to stop reading and start working isn’t always easy. There’s always just one more interesting link to follow….

Volunteering

I volunteer a lot at my kids’ school. This year I’m reading with the kids in my son’s first grade class. At about an hour and a half a day, 3-4 days a week, it really eats up the time.

I really enjoy this, however. It’s a different activity, a focus on something different. It has made a big difference for some of the kids who really needed help with reading, which is great to see. It’s also good for my youngest. I call it her “preschool in miniature” as she gets time with other kids, hears a lot of stories, and learns a bit about how to behave at school. Work time lost or no, it’s worth it too.

Household Stuff

I don’t keep anywhere near a perfect house, but even a somewhat messy house takes a lot of care, especially since I cook most meals on my own. Thank goodness the kids handle some chores and my oldest is learning a little bit about cooking. Having the kids do it isn’t always faster or easier, but it’s very necessary.

Still, three kids can make an incredible mess very quickly if you don’t keep on top of it. I usually don’t, so cleaning up is not that quick much of the time.

Despite the problems, most of my distractions aren’t things I’d give up easily. Certainly not time with the kids and other family members. Certainly not cooking meals for my family or letting my kids join a small number of activities they enjoy.

Other things I definitely would do better if I had better control of them. The extra online stuff is definitely an area I could control a lot better many days. Sometimes I do a bit better than others by remembering to comment on blog posts I read, so that at least I get a link to my site, but I really don’t do enough of that for the time spent, and I know it.

What are your work at home challenges, and how do you cope?

Have you seen this video yet about Caine’s Arcade? Caine is a kid who designed and built his own arcade games out of cardboard. Then he sat around waiting for customers to play his games, long enough that it became a standing joke in the family.

Then one day he got a customer…

It’s not just his creativity which impresses me. It’s the persistence. How many people would give up when their business was so hard to get started? Now his arcade has a Twitter account, Facebook page, and people are donating money to a college fund for him. It’s really something to check out.

I hope Caine continues with his creative, entrepreneurial efforts. He’s off to a great start.

As for the rest of us, learn the power of Facebook and Reddit. We can’t all have this kind of success with social media, but it’s amazing when it happens.

via Free Range Kids

Working at home is quite appealing to the spouses of military personnel. Having a job that might travel with you is a huge help financially. Military families may move frequently, making steady, outside the home work difficult to manage. Fortunately, there’s an initiative called Joining Forces, which has located businesses which will hire military spouses to work from home.

One of the great parts of this is that this gives military spouses a group of companies that are legitimate. While not everyone will find a suitable job, this increases the odds and decreases the chances of scams. That’s always a good thing in the work at home industry.

Just as with any other job, of course, the key to a military spouse landing one of these jobs is to pay attention to what you have to offer the potential employer. Think about what qualifies you for the position. Applying willy nilly to jobs just because the company wants to hire military spouses isn’t going to get you a job. There are lots of people out there in your same situation. Being the right person for the job is.

Many of these jobs are in customer service, and require different skill levels. It’s not necessarily that difficult to work in customer service, but you do have to have a very quiet place to work, as most employers expect you to have no background noise at all.

Also, remember that you don’t have to stick to these jobs. There are other work at home opportunities out there, and if none of these jobs appeal to you or aren’t a match for your skills, there are other options out there. I have a sister who works as a software developer from home, for example.

The next step is to be ready to work. Especially if you haven’t worked at home before, it can be difficult to adjust. There’s a lot of flexibility and independence, which makes it vital that you motivate yourself. Many people get into trouble working at home because they aren’t prepared to essentially supervise themselves. Distractions in the home, whether it’s kids, friends, family, pets, housework, television or internet, abound, and you have to learn how to work around them.

To look for jobs for military spouses in general, check the Military Spouse Employment Partnership Career Portal. CareersOneStop is another resource. These are not all work at home jobs, but the employers should understand a bit better about your needs. You can also learn about companies that have made commitments to hire military spouses and veterans at http://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces/commitments.

The companies which joined this initiative in April 2012 are:

• Alpine Access
• Arise Virtual Solutions, Inc.
• Dial America
• Etech Global Services
• Hilton Hotels
• Prosperity America
• Quality Contact Solutions
• Agility Marketing
• QCSS Inc.
• SP Data
• Veteran Call Center, LLC