Start the Day Well

I’m lucky. My school is walking distance, as in takes less time to walk there than to load the kids, drive there, find a parking space and unload the kids. Like most schools, the first few days are the worst for drop off, with cars parking almost up to my house. Of course we walk.

This is a great time to make sure that my day gets off to a good start. I’m up, out and about. Perfect time to take a longer walk, so I go around the school block, which is about 1.3 miles, almost entirely on a hill. Downhill is pretty easy, but that uphill is on the steep side. Not San Francisco steep, but respectable enough.

I’m alternating this with walking my toddler to the playground. It’s a longer walk total, but with the playground time I get a good break between sections. She loves the time there, as she’s well aware that there’s a playground at the school, and she’s not allowed to use it. Giving her time to play outside while the day isn’t too hot helps tire her a little too.

This is a great way to get the day going if you want to be sure to include exercise in your daily routine. It’s nice to get it done before the day gets hot or you get too involved in work and suddenly realize you forgot to exercise again.

If the weather isn’t right, you can simply play with any kids you still have at home. Give them some attention before you get busy with work.

Plan Your Day

One of the things I do early each day is a bit of marketing work. It may be link building or other very basic marketing activities. Nothing too intense at this point, because I have a toddler who demands attention at random intervals, so I want these times to be work which I can leave and come back to easily.

As my littlest one naps while her siblings are at school, that’s perfect serious work time. Time to work on video marketing, article writing, anything which requires focus and/or quiet.

After the kids get back from school, it’s back to less focused work for me, if I do much at all. There’s homework to be dealt with most days, plus talking about their day, things like that. Things aren’t always terribly productive later in the day for me, up until the kids are in bed, at which point I may choose to work again on things that require more focus, assuming I have the energy.

Your own schedule may well vary from mine. You could get up before the rest of your family because you’re more productive in the early mornings, a thought which makes me (a night owl) shudder. If it works for you, make the most of it.

If all your kids are in school, you probably have a good number of solid work hours, and you should really take advantage of them. Get away from distractions as best you can and get some work done.

I suggest you have at least enough of a schedule to ensure that you do all the things you need to get done every day. If you have a home business, be sure you include some marketing activities every day, for example. If you have a work at home job, see how much you can get done with the kids out of the way.

A to do list or a written out schedule may help. Think about what you need to get done each day and write it down. If you like schedules, estimate the time you’ll need for each and what time you will work on it. Do something so that you’re accountable to yourself at the very least.

Don’t Overdo Activities

Some kids love to be signed up for all sorts of activities, and back to school is a big time to hear about activities to sign up for, clubs to join and so forth. If you have to take your child to a lot of activities, you may be eating into your own work hours or your child’s homework or relaxation time, both important.

Same goes for you, of course. Don’t give yourself more work than you can handle. Work hard, yes. Overwork, no. We all need time to rest and clear our heads.

Related posts:

1. Time to Think on Back to School
2. Back to School – Free Fun Fridays
3. Getting Ready for Back to School

One of the most effective ways to find time to work is to recognize the time that you’re wasting during the day. We all do it, and some downtime is certainly necessary. Working at home successfully, however, requires a different balance.

TV Time

The time you spend watching television is perhaps one of the simplest to limit or give up. It’s not productive, and you may find that there are a number of shows you can give up with minimal regret in order to earn a living from home.

You may not need to cut back on all the time you watch television, but the more you do cut, the more time you can spend on more productive activities.

Online Time Wasters

The internet is another place where many of us waste a lot of time. Checking email, forums and social sites takes more time than it has to. They’re fun and you can tell yourself that you’re being productive when they relate to the work you’re doing.

The key here is to keep things under control. Don’t check your email or favorite sites for hours on end or over and over again throughout the day. Set times and time limits for these things. They’re tools, and used correctly they won’t suck up excessive amounts of your day, but benefit you the way they should.

Checking your stats can be another time waster. There are times when it’s perfectly appropriate to check your stats throughout the day, but much of the time you can keep a much lighter eye on things. Stats only need to be frequently checked if there’s something you’re looking for in them, such as how a paid campaign is working out.

I don’t mean ignore your stats, of course. You do need to know how things are working for you. Many times you are just fine looking things over once a week or so.

Online research can be a danger as well. It’s very easy to get sucked into reading more than you need on a particular topic, or get dragged into something unrelated but fascinating. Pay attention to how much time you’re spending on such things when you’re trying to have productive work hours.

Other People

Other people are often huge distractions when you work at home. Some you can’t help but pay attention to, such as children who need your attention at that instant. You just have to deal with those situations.

People who call you on the phone or drop by for a chat, or the spouse who hasn’t learned to respect your work hours may be another matter. You want to be social and pay attention to the important relationships in your life, but you need to have them respect your work hours from home as they would respect your work if you were elsewhere.

Clutter

Clutter is a time waster in that it slows you down when you can’t find things. Since my kids tend to put schoolwork on my desk, sometimes that includes my mouse and keyboard. That one is a small issue, but it certainly adds to some of the minor frustrations of working at home.

Getting Your Time Under Control

If you’re struggling to come up with productive time for working at home, you must come up with a plan to help you. You have some ideas of what’s causing the problem, now comes the time to fix it.

1. Set time limits.

For certain activities, set time limits. This is particularly important for things that get your attention for longer than they should, such as social websites. Set a timer if you need to and stop that activity once it goes off.

2. Have a schedule.

Many people find a written schedule of some sort to be extremely helpful. Know what you need to get accomplished each day and about how long you intend to spend on it.

A schedule can also help you figure out when the best times are for things such as running errands, doing housework and so forth. Try to schedule these things when you’re less likely to be productive in your work.

3. Plan with your family.

Talk to your family about your work needs. Find ways to fit their needs with your own.

The younger the children are, the less they’ll be able to help you with this, but you can still figure out when you can work while they’re young. Naptimes, after bedtime and any time the kids are in school or elsewhere are good times for you to work.

Related posts:

1. Can You Use the BBB to Find Work at Home Scams?
2. How Do You Find Work After Being a Stay at Home Mom?
3. How to Earn Money at Home When You Can’t Find a Work at Home Job

This is going to be a huge impact on my routine. It’s going to be interesting, and that’s why I’ve started the changes now, before things get started.

My goals in changing the routine now aren’t just about me. They’re about getting my daughter into a bit of a school routine before she has to be on it. We’re doing math and a bit of writing, mostly, at this point. Next week I’ll be having her learn how to use the online programs for her homeschool so that we’ll be completely set when attendance starts to matter.

Our day starts just as though she were still attending the local public school. I have to walk my son to kindergarten anyhow, which gets all of us moving bright and early. No point to dawdling the morning away.

I give her some math problems – addition, subtraction, multiplication. Caught her early on not paying attention to the signs on the problems, but now she pays better attention and shows her work, which is really improving her accuracy. Very useful for when she’s doing regular school work.

We’re figuring out how to deal with my youngest, who loves her big sister and wants to be a distraction. My oldest is quite capable of distracting herself from her school work, and really doesn’t need help from her siblings.

I’ve warned my daughter that she owns her homeschool time. If she doesn’t work, she’ll be stuck at her desk until it’s done. I’m still reminding her some that she needs to focus when she starts goofing off, but the goal is for her to manage her time without a lot of nagging from me. I know she can do it.

Besides, often enough I’ll be involved directly enough in the process that she’d better be paying attention.

I also figure on using Sunday evenings to plan out the week ahead. That’s a tip I got from some of the moms on the K12 site, and it makes a lot of sense. Have plans so that I know what I need to be ready for the week ahead.

A big thing is being stricter with myself on the times I have available for work. They need to be more productive. I do some work by my daughter’s side when my youngest is napping, and I’m getting better about grabbing the laptop when the kids are playing together and don’t need me. Can’t sneak off to my desktop… that’s just begging for trouble. Perfect bait for a still breastfeeding toddler to come up, want to nurse, pound on the keyboard and mess with whatever she can reach on the desktop.

She does the same often enough for the laptop, but it takes only a moment to close it and protect whatever I was doing.

I don’t expect to have this all solved before we officially get started; in fact, I don’t expect to have this all solved within the first few months. But I figure I can have things in some sort of order, and work from there.

Related posts:

1. How Do You Combine Working at Home With Homeschooling?
2. Do Homeschooling and Working at Home Mix?
3. Coping with the Extra Work Homeschooling Adds On

Oh, and like many people trying to work at home, my husband gave up on getting the candy away from our toddler.

You Have to Have a Plan

If you don’t want the baby to cry when you take a piece of candy away,  you have to have a plan. Maybe a toy to distract the child with or something else that will make the baby take notice. It doesn’t always work, but it’s the best shot you have.

You also need a plan when you’re working at home, whether it’s looking for a work at home job, working at one or running a home business. You need to have some idea as to what you’re doing, whether it’s the kind of work you’re looking for, how you’re going to make the time to work, or what your customers need.

Don’t Let the Tears Get to You

When it really matters that baby doesn’t have the candy, tears don’t matter. You take that candy away and deal with the tears.

You also can’t let the frustration of working at home stop you every time. If you need to make it work, keep trying until you find a way. There are a lot of ways to earn money from home, many kinds of work at home jobs and an amazing variety of home businesses you could run. If you keep at it, you’ll probably find the solution that’s going to work for you.

You can add more hours to your working day. You can add in another job. You can cut down on the number of sites you’re trying to run. You can increase the number of sites you’re trying to run. You can do more research and read more on relevant sites and forums. You can buy tools to speed up your work.

If working at home isn’t working out perfectly, make a change. A small change may be enough or you may need to make a big one. Just don’t sit there frustrated – make it work!

Know When to Give In

Sometimes the particular sort of work at home you’re doing isn’t going to work out, just as sometimes that baby is going to enjoy that candy no matter how fast you try to take it away. There are times when it’s best to just give in and find something else to do… and times to keep trying no matter what.

If working at home isn’t working out despite your best efforts, take a look at why it’s not working out. What are the obstacles you haven’t overcome yet? What will it take to overcome those obstacles? Is it going to be worth it?

The answer won’t always be yes. Sometimes you’re going to have to make a big change in what you’re doing. Sometimes you will have to give up and start working outside the home.

Giving up for a time doesn’t mean you have to give up forever. But when you need the income, you need the income and you do what it takes. Working from home is a luxury you can’t always have right away, no matter how hard you work to earn it, or how much it would benefit you and your family. Even if it’s the only practical way for you to earn money, it’s not going to be an easy path for most.

If you’re really determined to work at home, keep trying. Failure is one of the steps most of us have to take before we succeed.

Related posts:

1. How to Keep Working at Home as Your Baby Gets Older
2. Halloween Candy – Tricks or Treats?
3. Am I Taking Enough Time Off After Having a Baby?

A work at home job is a job you perform from your home office. You may be telecommuting from a job that you previously did from an office. You may work 100% from home or have to drive to an office occasionally or to client sites at times.

You may work as a contract employee or a regular employee.

A home business is a business you run from your home office. You pay all the expenses associated with your home business. Sometimes your home business involves working as an independent contractor for another business but you may also have a network marketing business, website design business, affiliate marketing business, etc.

When should you pay for a work at home job?

Never is awfully close to the truth, but it can depend on how you’re defining paying for a job. It is acceptable to pay for a service such as Home Job Stop that helps you to find out about new work at home jobs, but you have to be careful that you pick a legitimate service. There are similar companies out there that do not provide current information.

A very few legitimate employers, such as Arise, have expenses associated with getting a job with them. Some expect you to pay for your own background check.

Never, ever pay to prove that you’re serious or anything like that. If a work at home job is suggesting that you pay anything, check them out extremely carefully before sending in any money, even just a few dollars.

How do you spot work at home scams?

Work at home scams can be easy to spot, but the can also be quite devious. I go into many of the more typical work at home scams on this site sometimes.

Some basic rules of thumb:

Don’t pay for a job, see above.

If it seems too good to be true it probably is.

No one is going to pay you $3000-5000 per month for part time, easy work. You earn that kind of money part time, it’s probably a home business and you’re risking some of your own money. And if they promise you that kind of money even for a home business they may not be trustworthy.

Understand what you’re getting paid to do.

Do not give out your bank account information until you know for certain you have a trustworthy employer.

Do not agree to cash cashier’s checks or reship products.

When in doubt, ask someone else, whether it be a spouse or the people on a work at home forum.

Are the jobs full time or part time?

Many work at home jobs can be either part time or full time. However, it can be hard to get work for all of the hours you sign up for in some jobs. It can take more than one job to get all of the hours you would like to work.

Customer service jobs, for example, typically pay on talk time, not scheduled time. That’s a big difference if it’s a quiet day on the job.

Many pay on production rather than hours worked anyhow. Be more productive and you earn more in less time.

Do I have to work a set schedule?

This depends on the job. When I worked in medical transcription I had to set a schedule for myself. If I couldn’t work it I needed to let them know. But I could change it around quite easily.

What kind of work can be done from home?

Just about any job that can be done on a computer that does not require face to face interaction can be done online. Data entry (real data entry, not the scams), customer service, computer programming, general, legal or medical transcription, administrative work, writing, accounting and more are all possibilities.

Will they train me?

Depends on what you mean by train you. Will they take someone with no job experience and train them to a highly difficult job? No.

Will they teach you what you need to know for the particular job you’ve been accepted for when you already have the background and experience? Yes.

Will they provide the equipment I need to work from home?

This varies. In many cases you are expected to provide your own computer, phone and internet connection. Some employers will provide equipment to you or have it available for rent.

Do I really need daycare for the kids?

That depends on what you’re doing, the age of your kids, when you want to work and other factors. Consider my recent post on using daycare when you work at home.

Some jobs require absolutely silent backgrounds. Customer service jobs, for example. If your kids are too noisy you can lose you job. Think carefully on the childcare issue.

Related posts:

1. Questions to Ask Yourself About Working at Home
2. How Do You Get Started Working from Home?
3. Should You Start Working at Home While Working Outside the Home?

How do you cope?

1. Talk over your feelings.

Communication is important in any marriage. If you’re feeling as though you’re less important because the things you do raising your family at home doesn’t bring in money it can build resentment.

It can be a help to realize that you do make a financial contribution. You’re saving money on child care by being home with your kids. You’re probably shopping for bargains more. You’re probably cooking more meals at home and thereby saving on your family’s food bill.

It’s important that the partnership that is a good marriage recognizes both earning money and helping to keep the family’s spending under control are both important contributions. It can be hard to do that if your husband acts in any way as though you’re using “his” money, and if that’s the case his feelings need to be discussed also.

2. Decide if you want to earn money from home.

Some stay at home moms decide that they need a work at home job or home business so that they can bring in more money for their family. Sometimes it’s also necessary to the family’s overall budget.

Stay at home moms today are lucky in that they have so many ways to earn money from home, some of which are extremely flexible. It’s not just the traditional jobs such as running a daycare or joining a direct sales opportunity. There are customer service work at home jobs, online home businesses and much more.

There are a lot of risks to getting started working from home, and generally laws to be aware of. Make sure you learn about the common scams and don’t fall for hype when you’re picking an opportunity. Too good to be true usually is.

3. Be yourself and enjoy what you have.

Just because you’re suddenly such-and-so’s mom and you’re home all day doesn’t mean you lose your identity. Make time to be yourself.

Keep up your hobbies. You might even be able to get one or more of your kids interested in it. But don’t drop the hobby just because you don’t think you have the time or shouldn’t spend the money. Unless it’s really expensive or your budget is that tight you can probably find a way to enjoy your hobby while being with your kids.

Also read the kinds of books you enjoy. The Cat in the Hat is a great book, but reading any children’s book over and over will get to you eventually. Read something you enjoy. Let your kids see it. It’s a part of encouraging them to love reading too.

And remember that even when staying at home with the kids makes for a tight budget you’re lucky to have what you do. Many parents would love to do what you’re doing but just can’t afford to. It’s one of those jobs that even on a bad day, it’s pretty good when you think about it.

Finally, remember that being married, especially with children, does a lot to your finances no matter whether you work outside the home or stay at home. You most likely won’t have the freedom you once did no matter what you do. The needs of your family come first in most cases.

Related posts:

1. Financial Benefits of Being a Stay at Home Mom
2. Financial Hazards of Being a Stay at Home Mom
3. What Financial Traps Await the Unwary Stay at Home Mother?

Makes working at home really interesting. And not just because I’m sometimes blogging while half asleep.

Blogging while Selene’s trying to pound on my keyboard is interesting too. So is preparing meals while she’s trying to eat whatever random something she pulled from an obscure part of the floor. So is trying to home preschool my son while she tries to simultaneously eat his papers and crayons.

It’s a good thing the benefits of this job are good. You don’t get such sweet smiles or sloppy kisses from just any job. At least I sure hope not!

Working at home with a crawler/soon to be toddler is an adventure. It doesn’t matter if you’ve done it before or if it’s your first time. Babies at that age are a challenge to the work at home mom. To the work at home dad too, for that matter.

There’s the interrupted train of thought when she start crying.

The messed up sentences as she pulls up on my desk and pounds on whatever part of the keyboard she can reach.

Taking a break from work as she breastfeeds.

Running to doctor’s appointments, dealing with the classes for the older kids, doing all the work it takes to keep the house running. And sometimes even trying to get to bed at a decent hour, hah!

Yet somehow it all comes together. There may be weeks where it seems like not enough gets done, but other times things run more smoothly.

There’s the fear of working too much and the fear of working too little.

There’s trying to decide whether to work or take a much needed nap when she takes a nap during the day after being up half the night.

There’s all the self questioning that all parents go through.

There’s that favorite pan lid, being banged on by that favorite wooden spoon.

Being a work at home mom is an amazing opportunity to learn just how much you really can get done. There aren’t many other jobs that can teach you to make the most of a few spare minutes so quickly, whether it’s a few minutes to play with the kids or a few minutes to just type something, anything up. Some days the pressure is amazing while other days things are so laid back you can hardly believe it’s real.

Related posts:

1. The Mom of a Toddler Home Workout
2. Working at Home with a Toddler While Pregnant
3. Work at Home Mom Mistakes

Such as right now. It’s a real push for me to get even half the work done I used to each day. A big part of that is having a very active 9 month old. It’s just not possible to care properly for her and get everything done in a day that I used to.

Add in that my husband now regularly has weekends off, when in all his old jobs he had to work most weekends. Complete change of routine there!

How Do I Change My Schedule?

Changing my schedule isn’t easy. It means changing habits too. I’m used to thinking of things in a particular way, and even when it’s not working I’m likely to keep thinking that way.

Fortunately, I have the previous schedule listing my various work activities already. Things such as blogging, blog commenting, article writing and so forth. If you want to work up a schedule, you need to figure these things out too, as well as about how much time you want to commit to each.

My goal has always been to get a lot of my blog posts written ahead of time. Something comes up I can still change the schedule, but I like to have posts done in advance. This hasn’t been happening of late because I used to do a lot of my blog post writing on weekends. That doesn’t work at all now. Too often we’re all but obligated to visit family or have some visiting us. It’s all not conducive to productivity.

This means I’m often scrambling to get something written. That’s not the way I like to write. So it’s time to rethink things.

Think About Productive Hours

I’ve always been a night owl. Mornings are not my friend. But at this particular point, nights haven’t been working so hot either. Something about a baby who doesn’t always sleep well, especially those nights when she decides to be bright eyed and bushy tailed and needy for four hours in the middle of the night.

Makes working at night a little less practical when I have to also get up in the morning to take my oldest to school.

So I also have to consider my next most productive hours. In this case, it’s defined as when can I get the baby to take a nap. Please? And then hope that it wasn’t one of the really tough nights where I’m considering a nap too.

Writing It Out

My schedule is one of the few things I do write or type out for my work. I keep going between typing it on a spreadsheet set up as a weekly calendar and writing it on paper. They both can work when I’m paying attention.

Writing it out helps by giving me something to focus on. I know exactly what I mean to be doing that day.

If I’m really getting going on a spreadsheet version, I can also add in the little things that aren’t regular enough for my regular schedule, but need doing on a particular day. That’s one thing I like pretty well.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3…

Any schedule I write is nothing more than a best guess until I’ve tried it out, of course. There’s no way to be sure what will work until I try to work that schedule. Often enough I have to refine things as I realize one day has too much or too little going on.

The good part about scheduling is that it keeps me from neglecting various aspects of the work I need to be doing. It’s easy to just write and write and write and forget to do any marketing. Writing’s more fun for me. But it won’t get me anywhere, or at least not very quickly if I don’t market also.

What about you? Do you schedule your work or just wing it as best you can?

Related posts:

1. Are You Overcomplicating Your Home Business Schedule?
2. Schedule Yourself for Work at Home Productivity
3. Planning for the Summer and Working at Home

I have to admit, though, the ups and downs can be pretty rough. Especially the financial ups and downs. But it’s all part of the game.

Dealing with the Financial Ups and Downs

I must say, the financial ups of working at home, and particularly of running a home business have been pretty amazing for me. I don’t just mean not paying for daycare, which would be a pretty big expense with 3 kids.

I mean the months where I get really good commission checks. Bringing in a really healthy check (by my standards) feels great.

On the other hand, those months where it seems like I can’t earn a decent check no matter what I do really suck.

That’s something you’ll face in most home businesses and many work at home jobs. It’s a reality.

Demand for your business goes up. Demand goes down. Competition comes. Competition goes.

For work at home jobs, sometimes there’s tons of work to be had. Other times things are just quiet. That was true even when I was a medical transcriptionist, and that’s a pretty high demand field.

If you aren’t ready for the financial ups and downs (especially the downs), working at home in any capacity is going to be pretty hard on you and your family.

Dealing with the ups is pretty easy. Just don’t overspend in the good times. You need money ready for those times when things aren’t so good.

Dealing with the downs is harder, especially if you haven’t prepared well for them. It’s easier if you have enough money to get by for a few months despite a low income.

But even with that, it’s going to be rough emotionally.

Dealing with the Emotional Ups and Downs

How you feel about working at home in part echoes how your income goes, but not entirely. You can get frustrated even when your income is great, and you can feel great about the work you’re doing even when it’s not yet bringing in any real money.

This is where you need family support. When things just aren’t running smoothly, you don’t want to hear “I told you so” from anyone. You want and need support.

Family’s the best place to get it, but you can also get great support from online friends. Just don’t let it lead into so much goofing off online that you don’t get any work done.

You can share your problems in your favorite forums. You can tweet about them, share with your Facebook friends, whatever and wherever you like to do to vent your frustrations.

Just don’t forget to share your triumphs too.

Enjoy the Ride

Working at home can be a roller coaster in so many ways, but you can’t let it get to you too much. Enjoy the good, deal with the bad and don’t give up. Believe in your ability to make it work, and eventually you will.

Related posts:

1. How to Keep Working at Home as Your Baby Gets Older
2. Holiday Family Time Vs. Working at Home
3. Be Prepared to Work at Home

This is a mistake you can make even if you haven’t set very high goals for yourself, and what defines it is quite vague. It much depends on you and the needs of your family.

Sometimes a particular schedule is just right, but then circumstances change just a little bit, and the schedule is overworking you.

This is something I’ve dealt with quite a bit lately. Having a new baby, moving, getting settled, taking my son to speech therapy, figuring out if we can manage preschool classes for him, taking my daughter to and from school… it all adds up and really makes for a more challenging schedule for me to work.

And so I work fewer hours on my business than I’d like because my family has a lot of needs right now.

I’m much prone to overworking, and I know it. I’ll stay up late even when I know the baby hasn’t been sleeping well and I’ll just be dragging the next day. It’s not the best of habits, really.

It doesn’t feel like overwork; I enjoy what I’m doing. But when I’m that tired later on, I know.

So how do you balance your ambitions with working an appropriate amount?

It’s not always easy. You need to pay attention to your own needs as well as the needs of your family. You don’t ever want to forget why you’re a work at home parent.

Make sure you take some time every day with your family. Eat meals together whenever possible. Play as a family before putting the kids to bed. Take a break with your spouse.

Sometimes, yes, you’ll overwork yourself by working more after doing all the fun stuff. That’s how it goes at times. Just don’t let overwork be your entire way of life.

Related posts:

1. Do You Forget Family Time?
2. Holiday Family Time Vs. Working at Home
3. What's Hardest About Working at Home?