Today’s post is from Michelle Cantu on a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I love being able to work from home, and her tips for making it work are spot on! Read all about it below:
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I have spent the last six years juggling a family, homeschooling and attempting to work from home. Going from 50+ hours a week to being home 24/7 seemed easy. Throw in three babies, managing a home and building a career; almost impossible. Maintaining a household and raising children in itself is a full time job, but I was determined to add in a career and do it all from home. My family and I have managed to get six years behind us and each day brings new ideas to be a more successful work from home parent.
1. Support
One major factor in successful work from home parenting is having support and a plan with your spouse. Make sure you are both on the same page and the other understands that you are spending at least part of your day working and raising children. If you have the support of managing household duties and open communication your days will go a lot smoother. It was easy for my husband to get home and see a pile of dishes in the sink and a load of laundry piling up. What he didn’t see was the twice mopped dining room from an epic breakfast disaster, the two loads that were already done (we are a family of five), the endless “I’m thirsty”, “I have to poop”, “Can you fix this toy”, “The dog won’t play with me”, “I’m bored”, “I have to go potty” interruptions from actually working and playing teacher.
2. Sacrifice
I am the first to tell you how precious sleep is, but I will also say that if you want to be successful you have to commit to yourself to getting work done. Balancing family and work means that sometimes you have to get up before everyone else and stay up past everyone else. Making sacrifices to best accommodate your family and career is vital in being a successful work from home parent.
3. Space
Set up a functional and comfortable office space that is kid friendly. I have mine set up so that my son can play close by. Puzzles, legos, books and play tent are part of my office and his favorite spot to play.
4. Night Prep
End your day preparing for the next. Although my day usually consists of wearing yoga pants, a tee shirt and a bun, or pajamas. Ahem… don’t judge, it’s my number one perk of working from home. My nightly ritual consists of making a to-do list, meal prep for the next day, getting a load washed, straightening up the house and laying out my fancy outfit.
5. Child-Care
Even though you work from home you will need uninterrupted time to actually work. Consider part-time daycare, mom’s day out programs, or a trustworthy teenager to come spend a few hours a week with your children while you work comfortably. Have a few trusty sitter options for daytime working outside the home and especially for deadlines.
6. Separate work time
I’m guilty of working in-between family time and it’s completely normal that we squeeze in both. My one pet peeve is overworking and not making family time a priority. Take timeouts from work and completely disconnect. When my kids and husband are home I make it a point to have everyone together without phones, laptops or iPads. My goal is that we are all together a minimum of two hours each day for quality time.
7. Set Goals for work and parenting
Part of my to-do list includes my goals for the next day. Set an order of work priorities and parenting goals. Part of the reason I am home with my children is to enrich them as preschoolers. Simple enrichment activities and crafts are part of our daily activities and my favorite part of the day.
8. Distractions
It’s a lot easier to get distracted at home and even trickier when children are involved. Reality is you won’t have a nine to five and you need to limit the amount of distractions like television and surfing the web during the day. I find listening to music is helpful and completely cutting off social media at all costs during “work time”, especially if a sitter is on the clock.
Michelle Cantu is the owner of A Thrifty Diva Surviving Mommy Hood. A full time freelance writer, mom to three boys and wife.
