This is a topic that is near and dear to me. Yes I am a WAHM and I have small children. Three in fact. Damon who is 6 years old, Connor is 3 years old and Matilda is 7 months old. Crazy me even started my business and building it in earnest when I was 34 weeks pregnant with Matilda. Crazy huh?
Despite my craziness, I would not exchange my life or work for anything else. What other business allows me to work in my PJ’s if I feel like it or work into the wee hours of the morning because I have insomnia and figure I might as well be doing something? What other business allows me to breastfeed my daughter while answering emails and chatting on MSN with my client’s? NONE! I love my work and I love the flexibility of working from home. In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I love being a Virtual Assistant.
But as any WAHM will tell you, working at home has it’s hazards. From the articles I have read it can go either of two ways. Either you will become a workaholic and forget to stop for basic necessities like food and water or you become a procrastinator and don’t get anything done.
Now, I’m an over achiever, I tend to be a workaholic and find it hard to know what the time is to stop working. But I have a couple of tips to help other WAHM’s, but I won’t guarantee that it will suit your and your life, so take it or leave it.
- Set up a home planner/diary: Why do this? Well it helps to take the indecisiveness out of our day if we know what is happening with the kids, after school activities, meal planning and paying the bills. There are a number of sites out there that claim to help and have THE product to plan your household but the best I have seen is www.busymothers.com.au They even have a forum!
- Create a timetable/schedule: Yes! Do it now, print it off and stick it somewhere where the whole family can see it. I have mine in a spreadsheet format that blocks out time for my working hours, school and preschool, indoor soccer and other weekly events. I also have these events in my OUTLOOK calendar as a reoccuring event and have gone so far as to email my husband the appointment so he won’t miss out on attending too.
- Have set working hours and stick to them!: I have even set up a bedtime alarm so when I am working late at night, it will remind me to stop and turn off the computer. It also acts as a reminder to backup my laptop to the server.
- Ask for help: Remember, there is no such thing as supermum. Nope, she doesn’t exist. With all the pressure we put on ourselves to exceed at everything we do including parenting, remember to stop and ask for help when it gets overwhelming. For you this might mean going out and having a coffee with friends, for me, it was a case of hiring a cleaner to come in and do the jobs I didn’t have time for and to join Real Mums a parenting support forum with a difference.
- Prioritise: Remember, they won’t be little for ever so make sure you take time out every day to play and watch them grow. After all, your children are the reason you started working from home instead of going outside the home to work (for money) isn’t it?
