One of the big temptations when you have a home business is to work every day of the week. You really want to get things moving, and the temptation is great when you desperately need the money as so many families do.

Working seven days a week may not make you as productive as you think, however. You need time to relax and time for your family and friends.

Ideally, it’s nice to take two days off a week, such as the standard weekend you get with some jobs. But it’s not too unreasonable to want to work that sixth day a week for extra income or because you love what you do. Particularly when you have kids in the house, having a work day where someone else can handle them is really nice.

Except when you really have to, I don’t recommend a seven day work week, especially not full days. There are times when it’s necessary – there’s a reason why many home business owners talk about the long hours they put in to get things going at first. But as soon as possible, return more balance to your lifestyle and have time for family and friends.

In the challenge of running a home business, it’s easy to overlook time for yourself and those you care about. You’re doing it for them, after all. But that’s really not enough.

At the same time, if you really want to get your business going, you should be committed to working at least five days a week on your business. Working just a day or two a week is not enough, not if you’re serious about it and don’t have another job limiting your availability. Putting in more time means you’ll see results of one sort or another from your business all the sooner.

Your days off from working on your home business shouldn’t be the only time you spend with family, especially if you are working six days a week. Eat meals together. Relax for a while with family in the evenings.

That’s about what I do personally. I work one weekend day a week when I can, because it’s the one time I can really dedicate a lot of hours to working. Otherwise, it’s the hours I can get during the day, plus whatever hours I can manage after the kids are in bed. One weekend day a week is family time. I’ll check for anything urgent, but that’s it.

Work out your schedule based on what you need to get accomplished with your business. You may sometimes need to work the full weekend or other time you’d rather have for family, but don’t make it a habit. A part of working from home is usually about being there for family. Don’t forget that part.

The holiday season is a hectic time for most of us. Not only are there all the usual things to deal with in terms of running a home business or otherwise working at home, there are all the extra delights the holidays bring. Extra shopping. More demands for family time, especially with extended family. Lots of events to consider attending. Traditions you need to make the time to follow.

Sometimes that really throws a wrench into your plans to follow a normal work schedule. There’s so much to be done, and you’re usually the one with the flexible schedule expected to handle it.

It gets even more difficult when you’re looking at the things you enjoy doing. You may feel more motivated to do the fun stuff and less motivated to work on the things that bring an income in, at least until you start thinking about the incoming bills.

This isn’t something that people who work outside the home always understand. They can work their usual hours and handle all the holiday stuff, no problem. Why can’t you?

It’s more challenging to deal with the holiday rush when you work at home because you often aren’t working standard business hours. You may work a part of the day, then again at night. You may work weekends. You usually work when it fits into your schedule, not when your employer wants you to. That flexibility means your work hours often take a hit when life gets busy.

How Do You Decide How Much to Work?

It’s helpful to decide how much work you need to do to keep up the income you need to have at this time of year. There’s no one answer to that. If you have a lot of passive income, you may be able to let things go for a while. If you earn based directly on the work you do, you will need to work as usual, especially if your family badly needs the money.

This takes sacrifice if a lot of family events are at times you’d usually be working. That’s the life you chose when you decided to work at home. You may be your own boss, but that often means being a harsh taskmaster. Find a way to get that work done.

Know When to Take Time Off

We all need time off, and the stressful holiday season is no exception.

If you’re feeling tired or burned out, it’s time for a break, even if you have a lot more to get done. You will be more productive after you’ve taken a break. Don’t stare at your computer monitor, getting nothing done just because you’ve told yourself you need to get a certain number of hours of work done today. Staring at the monitor doesn’t count as work, it only counts as wearing yourself out.

Consider Hiring Help

If you just can’t get it all done, this is a great time of year to hire help, whether it’s around the house or for your business.

Hire a housekeeper to get your home clean enough for company if you don’t have the time to do it.

Hire someone to do the writing for your site, some research, or whatever else you need help with. You’re better off with this option if you’ve done it before and either have a regular assistant or know how to find good help. Otherwise it can add to the stress. Teaching someone how to meet your expectations is not always easy.

Don’t Hold Yourself to Unnecessary Deadlines

If you’re running your own business, most of your deadlines are the ones you set. If you’re running behind, you’re the one who knows if the deadline is necessary or just something you set for yourself.

If it’s not necessary to keep to the deadline, don’t! Give yourself a break.

Remember to Enjoy the Season

No matter which holidays you’re celebrating this time of year, remember to enjoy them. Don’t drive yourself crazy thinking about work when you’re supposed to be having fun. The work will still be there when you come back to it.

Somehow I don’t anticipate spending much time online this week. It’s Christmastime and time to relax with the family.

Are you taking a break too?

I got a lot done yesterday, but there’s still more to be done. No doubt most important to my kids on that list is making Christmas cookies. They like to make chocolate chip cookies with frosting on them for Santa. They don’t much care for sugar cookies, which is why we end up frosting chocolate chip ones. Who am I to complain?

Yesterday was just plain hectic trying to get things done. I made a bargain with the kids right at the start: 15 minutes of decorating the tree (at last!) for 15 minutes of house cleaning. That worked really well with my daughter, not so well with my son. But what can you really expect from a 3 year old who isn’t in his most helpful mood?

But the tree got done. House still needs help but it’s getting there. They’ve been warned that we don’t want Santa to trip.

Then shoe shopping and other shopping with my daughter when my husband got home from work. It just hit me the other day that we still didn’t have appropriate shoes to go with her pretty holiday dress. She wore it for Thanksgiving anyhow, but pretty shoes would be a nice touch. This late in the game, the selection was pretty poor, though!

Plus just a touch of other shopping to do. I’m not a fan of Christmas shopping crowds, but I did what I had to!

Overall, this is a great time to take time for your family, and remember the important things. If you can do it, I highly recommend it. But even if you can’t take time off, find some way to make some special times for your family. It doesn’t have to cost money, just be together.