Sometimes the biggest challenge of being home with the kids is, well, the kids. Especially the ones too young for school. It’s exhausting not having a break from them at times. It can be hard to get anything done, whether you’re trying for a bit of housework or trying to earn money from home.

Even if you’re most comfortable with long stretches of work, parenthood often means learning to do more with small bouts of fast work. That’s just how kids are. You have to work hard, work fast and hope they’re feeling cooperative.

Here are some basic activities your kids may enjoy:

1. Having a friend over.

Believe it or not, once they’re used to each other this can really work. An extra child in your house can make it easier because the kids focus on playing with each other, not on trying to get your attention.

Work this one right and you can also earn trades with another stay at home parent. You take their kids, they take yours. Lots of fun for the kids and free quiet time for mom!

2. Water play.

Kids love water. I give my kids a plastic container full of water with some sponges and they take it outside and start scrubbing. This works best with some dish soap added so they have bubbles to enjoy as well.

Water painting can also work. Take a bowl of water, some paintbrushes, and some of the non-glossy ads you get in the mail or your newspaper. You can also use just plain newsprint. Young children love seeing the color change as the paper gets wet.

If the weather is warm enough you can also just set up sprinklers and work on things where you can still supervise as necessary.

3. Computer time.

My 3 year old loves to play on Starfall. It’s very simple for him to use, and means he’s working on the computer next to mine if I’m working. The controls are very simple for the ABC games, so you won’t be stopping too often to help your child out of a jam.

4. Paper and scissors.

Get some child safe scissors, give your child some paper, and let him or her at it.

You may have to watch things a little, as these are sharper than the ones we had as children, and experimentation will inevitably happen. But if you make the consequences good enough for any cutting of hair, clothing or other unauthorized objects the interest in cutting random stuff up goes way down.

The negative can be the cleanup. My kids can get paper just about down to confetti levels when they’re in the mood.

5. Mother’s helper.

I haven’t often used this one, but if a neighborhood child who isn’t quite old enough to babysit wants to earn a little money, this is a great way to let them help you. They just play with the kids and come to you with problems such as diapers, snack time or injuries.

6. Forts.

Kids love to make forts or tents. You can drape a sheet over the table, across some chairs, make it out of couch cushions, whatever works. It’s great for the imagination.

If you have a closet under the stairs you can also have what my family calls Narnia. You could refer to Harry Potter if that’s what your kids prefer, of course. They just play in the very back, doing whatever it is they want to imagine.

This is particularly fun if you are lucky enough to have an under stairway closet that has a turn in it. Kids love places that feel secret.

7. TiVo or DVR.

Yes, it can come down to turning on the TV. I have our TiVo set up to record my kids’ favorite shows. The nice thing is that since they can watch their favorites anytime they don’t spend any time at all waiting for it to come on. No watching a show just because it’s before a favorite, that is.

My 3 year old can even pause it. He loves that so that he can run to the bathroom or go play for a time in the middle of a show. Once he’s distracted from me he’s more likely to go play on his own. A single show running maybe 20 minutes sometimes lasts an hour because he has control.

Different things work for different families, and what works will change as kids get older. But getting any time at all to work when you’re staying at home can be a big treat.

I love working at home, especially not working for anyone else. The flexibility is a delight, and through the years I’ve learned to be more and more accountable to myself.

But when it comes to home business finances, you are responsible to more than just yourself. There are taxes to consider as well as the impact on your family’s earnings overall.

Home Business Income May Be Irregular

One of the nice things about traditional jobs is that you generally know what you’re going to earn. If your boss cuts your hours and you’re paid hourly, you know you’ll earn less, but for the most part there aren’t a lot of surprises.

Run a home business, on the other hand, and your efforts do not always correlate with what you earn. Sometimes earnings drop for no reason that you can see.

It may be that all your clients just happen to not need you right now. Or maybe the search engines aren’t favoring your site just now. Or you need to tweak your marketing copy.

There are a lot of possibilities out there, and you don’t have direct control over many of them. All you can do is keep working and try to bring the money back in.

Pay Attention to Taxes

It’s vitally important that you pay attention to what you are paying in taxes. When you are self employed you are responsible for all your taxes and Social Security payments. If you earn enough, you have to make quarterly payments. Paying them off each year on April 15 is not good enough… unless you enjoy paying penalties.

The dates can be a bit tricky until it becomes routine, as they do not exactly coincide with business quarters. April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 of each year are the important dates to remember in the United States. If they fall on the weekend then it’s the Monday after.

It’s a great idea to talk to a tax professional about your situation. Much better to have some idea of what you need to do right now than to wonder what went wrong as you try to file your taxes. If you can find one who specializes in home business and self employed people, so much the better. They will better understand your needs.

Retirement Account? What Retirement Account?

It’s easy to not think about retirement when you have to do all the planning on your own. This should be as important to you as saving up for your quarterly tax payments. And you do have options to plan on your own, no employer account required. You can do a solo 401(k) and/or SEP-IRA, for example. Research and decide what will be best for you.

The Health Insurance Blues

I’m lucky. My husband has a job and so we have health coverage through that. I don’t have to find it on my own.

Not every home business owner has it that easy. If you need to get health coverage for yourself and/or your family on your own, be prepared for the expense and figure out what is best for your needs.

When my husband lost his job earlier this year, we were very tempted to go without as he hunted for a new job. The COBRA ran about $1200 a month, which is painful. But just to be sure, we stuck with it.

Considering I got pregnant during that time, I’d say it’s a very good thing we kept ourselves covered. You never know what will happen in life. Finding some sort of health coverage, even if it’s just for emergencies can save you a lot of money if that emergency happens.

Have you run into other financial hazards working at home?

While driving my son to speech therapy 3 mornings a week, I keep hearing this ad for Blue Hippo, a company that is targeting people who have too poor of credit to get that utterly vital laptop. They really talk it up.

Drives me nuts.

Typical offer for people who have poor credit; they don’t care how poor your credit is. They say they will get you that laptop. And in my area they’re even offering a free MP3 player and digital camera to go with it, which I find hilarious. I’ve bought cheap ones of each for around $10 around Christmas last year. They have a ways to go to impress me.

Basically, you make a down payment and 13 weeks of payments before you get anything. By the complaints linked above, getting what you paid for is at least sometimes problematic, so I thought about other ways people could get a laptop if that’s what they really wanted.

Freecycle

Maybe a long shot, maybe not. No doubt it would not be a new machine, but if you just need a basic laptop you can ask. Someone might have one they want to get rid of.

Craigslist

I checked the listings in my area, and there were a variety of laptops available. If you’re paying for something you have to be careful about what you get, of course, but there were a number of cheap laptops listed.

Saving Up

Should be obvious, but to some it isn’t. Nice part is that if you save up you can get a new machine or one that has been refurbished, depending on your needs.

According to Wikipedia, to get the Blue Hippo computer it’s $99 down and $39 a week for 13 weeks. If you can stick to that plan you’ve saved up $606. You can get a laptop from Amazon in that price range. You can find them from Dellâ„¢.

Honestly, it just drives me nuts seeing something like this that takes advantage of the desperate, who, if they could make those payments could just as easily save up for a laptop on their own, and not pay an outrageous price.

Do Without

And you really can’t forget the option to simply do without if things are all that bad. How many people really, truly need a laptop computer? They’re nice… I really want one myself. I was having some serious laptop envy during BlogWorld. But I do not, repeat, do NOT need one badly enough to spend the money.

There are some people who can have a greater need for one, such as college students. It’s not an utter necessity at most colleges, even if they are getting to be more common.

That’s the part of the ad that drives me the most nuts in a lot of ways. They’re trying so hard to make it seem like lacking a laptop is a major impact on your life in general. It’s not. It can be an inconvenience for some lifestyles, but really, how often do most people pull a laptop out of a bag because they really need to use it? Not just for fun.

This post is a little off my usual path, but not completely from my point of view. I’m just seeing an ad that is targeting people who don’t have a lot of money, which is common for stay at home parents, and pointing out the ways around it. Seems reasonable to me, and the occasional rant feels good.

It doesn’t get much simpler. Head outside and watch the sunset as a family. Especially if someone notices you’re having a particularly beautiful one.

I suppose you could also watch the sunrise, but only if you’re enough of an early bird to not mind getting up so early. I’m not.

You can generally do this from home. You can do this on vacation. You can drive someplace that has a really great view just to watch the sunset.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that this was inspired by my 3 year old being very excited about seeing the sunset last night. It was very cute.

I saw this tweeted by eMom about PETA trying to get Ben & Jerry’s to switch to breast milk for their ice cream. Obviously just another publicity ploy, which is about all they ever seem to accomplish, but for once I’ll take the bait.

A stupid notion at best. You just have to look at how hard it is to get human breast milk for babies in NICU, and how many mothers struggle with production anyhow to realize that this is ridiculous.

Hey, I’m pregnant and planning on breastfeeding. Of course this idea annoys me.

So far as I’m concerned, there are very few uses I would allow my breastmilk to be put to. The first is obviously to feed my child. As I have so far always been one of the lucky ones able to produce excess, the rest I hope to donate to a milk bank so that it is available for babies who need it.

Not for ice cream.

I think one of the hardest things for me with this pregnancy has been rescheduling my work times to cope with the fact that sometimes I just get more tired.

At that I’m lucky. If I worked outside the home I’d just have to cope or call in sick. I do love my flexibility in work times!

This past weekend’s trip was one of those occasions where I had to think about what I wanted to do not only by, well, what I wanted to do, but also what I was really up for doing. Combine attending BlogWorld Expo with being 5 months pregnant and dealing with severe hip pain, and you really do start to think of excuses to just sit down.

Which makes it really hard to network until you get to a table full of people you can talk to. But it’s really good for attending sessions.

I was just glad to only be 5 months along. Another month or two, and I very much doubt I would have risked it. I came too close to losing my son late in my previous pregnancy to take chances.

Of course everyone has their own priorities. You just have to look at the controversy surrounding what Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin did. I’m not using that as a criteria for whether or not I think she’s qualified, but she certainly opened up a big debate on what mothers should be doing so late in a pregnancy. I wouldn’t have. She did. It turned out all right for her.

And that’s enough politics for now. I just found the discussion on motherhood that opened up interesting.

As with so many things in life, it comes down to your own tolerance levels. Those of us who chose to stay at home to raise our children have different priorities than the ones who choose to work outside the home. And different from those who work outside the home out of sheer necessity.

What I don’t do and I don’t recommend doing, is letting pregnancy take complete control of your life… unless you’re on bedrest or something. There are times to push your limits and times to take it easy.

As for me, I’m trying hard to get a lot of things done. I have serious goals to consider, such as building my income to be prepared in case this miserable economy does in my husband’s nice, new job. It might.

But I’ve been taking advantage and sleeping in as much as my son will allow. Changing how much and at what time of day I read other blogs so that I can get work of my own done. And trying to get my husband to understand that walking a lot build up hip pain much faster than it builds up endurance, which he thinks I should be trying. I don’t think he understands that it’s not a muscle issue.

I know these next few months will bring more changes to how I work, and after baby girl comes around, it will change more yet. Little rascal will no doubt make life interesting in yet another new way.

They always do.

Wow. What a fun and exhausting weekend!

Getting through the day was tough on it’s own on Saturday. A really bad hotel bed at the Sahara the first night really worked horrors on my back and hips. By the time we got in on Friday night, all they had was rooms with two full size beds.

Thank goodness the second night they moved us to a room with one king size bed. The mattress was much, much better!

I had lots of fun, met some people I knew from online, such as Lynn Terry and Wendy Piersall, as well as some new people. Pretty fun.

The sessions were generally very interesting. I went to a fair number, as it was a great reason to just sit down, which I really needed. Sometimes sitting, waiting for a session to start was a great time to start a conversation with someone new.

I’ll be posting more about what I learned, mostly on my Aspects of Home Business blog. I have to go through my notes, figure out how to break things up, things like that.

Oh, and rest up. Amazing how a nap broken into the 15 minute increments my son was willing to allow this morning really does nothing. But he was just clingy from missing me.

By now I don’t think it’s news to anyone that our economy here in the United States is in a mess. A big mess. A miserable, what the **** were they thinking kind of mess.

In other words, yes, the bailouts displease me. The collapse of so many major financial institutions due to excessively risky business decisions displeases me even more.

With my husband freshly into work again, I have great sympathy for the many who are suddenly unemployed due to this. Any time a family loses an income it’s rough.

It’s worse if it’s their only income.

My family was very lucky, since I work at home and was able to earn enough to keep us afloat. Not by much; southern California is very expensive to live in even at the best of times. It helped that my inlaws paid for the COBRA coverage so that we could keep the health insurance. Especially when I became pregnant.

A lot of at-home parents don’t have that kind of backup. What should you be doing?

1. Assess your family’s financial situation.

Are you just scraping by? How many months’ income do you have saved up as an emergency fund?

Before a problem develops is the best time to prepare for one. Consider how you can save up money to cope with the loss of a job.

2. Assess your family’s income sources.

Your spouse’s job probably comes first to mind in this case. Is it stable?

Your assessment will probably be a combination of facts and gut feelings. You probably have some idea as to how things are going in your area. You probably hear about whether or not coworkers are getting antsy about job stability.

What about alternate careers? Could either of you find another job quickly if the current one vanished?

Remember that if layoffs or closures happen the competition for other jobs in the area will explode. Even if you don’t think it will be necessary it may be a good idea to brush up those resumes.

You will of course also need to look at any investments you have. Considering how the stock market is going, it’s a good time to figure out if you’re riding it out or moving your investments around. My father-in-law is working on this one right now. He rode the dot-com bubble burst out and wishes he hadn’t. But will it be different this time? It’s hard to say.

3. Consider alternate income sources.

You may want to consider ways to earn money from home if you aren’t already. Better to do it when you can take the time to do your research and avoid work at home scams than to do it when quick money feels like the only solution.

If you decide that working at home is a solution for you, it’s far better to look at the possibilities with some calm, cool reflection rather than in a panic. Not only do scams abound, but many home businesses take time to build up. And you can’t forget the whole learning curve, which can add up fast in time or money.

4. Plan cutbacks.

If things get bad enough, the time may come to cut your budget to the bone. It can come down to extremely painful considerations.

When my husband was out of work, for example, we had to consider moving in with my inlaws. The thought was intensely painful for me and only somewhat less so for my husband. We are rather used to our independence, after all. But if it came down to it, there was that possibility.

Hopefully you won’t have to consider anything that extreme. But you may have to find ways to cut back monthly bills still further, even if you’re already frugal.

5. Stock up.

Stocking up on things that won’t go bad can be a help with getting through tight economic times. You probably won’t be able to stock up on enough to make THE difference, but it can be a help. But since stocking up on groceries and other supplies doesn’t do a thing about other bills, this is of limited help.

6. Don’t panic.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide has this one exactly right. Don’t Panic!

Whether we’re facing a major recession or a small one, you can get through it. It may take some effort, some sacrifices and some creativity, but you can do it.

Plan now. Talk with friends and family. Figure out what you can do now that may help you if things get rough for your family.

A lot of people and businesses are being hit hard already. We’re going to have to deal with the consequences of many years of giving financial institutions too little regulation, and with the decision to essentially socialize some of these companies rather than let them collapse completely. None of it will be simple. It will take time. It’s going to be hard on a lot of families.

Some planning now may help to ease the strain on your own family, or at least allow you to react more quickly as problems arise.

Many people who want to work from home are just about desperate for a way to do so. This is a big part of why so many scams thrive. People look for quick and easy and forget about keeping it realistic. They throw their money at anything that promises to be easy and cheap.

But surely there are some real ways to earn money from home that don’t cost a fortune to get started. Right?

Of course there are. You just can’t count on earning anything very quickly.

1. Work at home jobs.

These had better be free to start. Well, you might need a bit of your own equipment, such as a good noise canceling headset if you want to do customer service, but the employer shouldn’t be charging you.

Finding the legitimate work at home jobs is possible, but challenging.

Take data entry, for example. Many people look for data entry jobs to do from home, but most of what you will find will be people claiming that pay per click affiliate marketing and other opportunities are data entry, when in fact they are not. These people may be flat out scamming you or they may be “merely” pretending that a home business opportunity is a job.

Real jobs aren’t going to sell you an ebook telling you all about how to get started. You apply just as you would for any other job. The competition will probably be stiff, and it’s common to search for a number of months before you land a good, regular job. But if you have the qualifications and you’re persistent, working at home in a job is entirely possible.

2. Blogging.

This one’s hot right now, and yes you can start for either free or cheap. I’m talking under $20 for the first month cheap. Somewhere in the vicinity of $10 for the first year of a domain name, and $10 or thereabouts for each month of hosting. Wordpress, a popular blogging platform is free and easy to install.

If you’re going cheap, the startup time may well drive you up the wall. There’s a lot of competition out there. Getting your name out is tough. But if you comment a lot on relevant blogs with quality, relevant comments, you can start building your traffic for free.

Same for posting on forums. Or using Twitter. Or other kinds of social networking. Doing nothing but talking about your business makes people lose interest in anything you have to say very quickly.

You just can’t expect instant results. They’re incredibly unlikely.

My suggestion for this is to keep plugging away and to read the successful blogs in your niche. You do not want to copy them as such, but see what they’re doing that people like. Keep your own spin on things and don’t be just another blogger in your niche.

Also look at how money can be earned. Google’s AdSense program is incredibly easy to use, but you can earn more if you get good with affiliate programs. It’s more stuff to learn and you can shorten the learning curve if you are willing to pay for a good resource on making a living from blogging.

Blogs such as Sparkplugging can also be wonderful resources.

3. Freelancing.

Have a skill that you can do from home already? There’s a reason why freelancing is so popular. It’s a way to keep up your skills in your industry while being self employed.

There are a variety of sites to help you find jobs. Guru and eLance are two of the big names. You can also post on Craigslist to offer your services.

As a freelancer these days, you almost definitely need your own website. This is a chance for you to show off your skills and to get some attention. You can blog if you like, but a plain website may serve better if you don’t want to take the time to update regularly. A blog can be very distracting from your paid work, or it can bring more paid work in. It depends on what works for you.

There are many more ways you can earn a living from home and not spend a ton of money. Just be prepared to work at it and understand that if you choose a home business things will very probably go faster if you can invest more in it. But there are ways to go more slowly and spend less money if that’s how your budget is going. That’s a reality for many.

But if you can reinvest in your business you will probably grow it much faster. Once you have your cheap start, consider investing in educational products that will help you to grow your business as well as in advertising. You can make the expenses pay off quite nicely if you know what you’re doing and are willing to take a chance.

Yes, indeed, today is the day! I go in this afternoon to get my ultrasound to find out what exactly it is I’m lugging around here. Been teasing my daughter that it will be a pony.

The part I dislike most is the fairly standard request that I drink 40 ounces of water in the 1-2 hours before the ultrasound. And then not pee until after the ultrasound is done.

Every woman who has gone through this knows how miserable it is. Not only is that a huge amount of water to have in your bladder, there is a baby who is all too happy to tap dance on it. The kicks may not be as strong as they will be later on, but if you’ve had that much water to drink, it doesn’t matter much.

The appointment is set for after my daughter gets out of school. With the usual grand sense of timing that medical offices have, their first appointment offering was 5 minutes before the time my daughter gets out of school. Once I said ‘Nothing before 3 p.m.’ the problem was solved.

My daughter is very excited. She’s been fascinated by medical issues ever since my son had his craniosynostosis surgery. Since I intend this to be the last baby (especially if they insist on another *$&#$ C-section!), I want her to get to see this part.

So here I go, hoping to not explode today. Well, maybe not that bad, but if you’ve done it you know the feeling.