Balancing Family with Your
Work at Home Business can be hard. If you are a work at home
parent, then you already know that juggling work and family can
be a challenge at best. The lines between working and taking
care of your house, children, pets, and spouse become blurred
and you start feeling tired, unappreciated and frustrated.
Because of this commonly occurring phenomenon, I suggest
following the tips presented in this article to help you to
effectively
balance your work and home.
First, always be sure
that you follow a routine, or schedule. I can't emphasize this
part of the balancing process enough! Have a daily routine that
you follow the same way every day, from the times you wake up
and go to bed each night to when you start work, take a lunch
break, and your plans for each day. It helps immensely if you
have a planner or organizer to write down your goals for each
day and an estimate of when you should start each activity. By
keeping a planner for each day, you can keep yourself on track
and organized as well as being more productive.
This also
helps your family to realize that, just as if you had a job
outside the home, there are times when you are "at work" and
unavailable to them. You should pick a definitive time each day
for you to "go to work" then "come home" at night. These can be
hours of your choosing, after all, that is one of the perks of
working at home! But make sure your family knows that between
those times, you are unavailable to help out because you are
working. You may need to reiterate that fact several times
before spouses and children catch onto it, but it will be worth
it in the end. If you are in a situation where you are the only
person taking care of you children while working, then make sure
that during your appointed "work hours" that you make work the
focus and not your house, or playtime, or errand-running.
Schedule all non-necessary tasks so that they fall outside of
your work hours.
Next, be
sure that you aren't tempted to work during "home time" or to
deal with household tasks while working. Everyone - even
work at home parents - need time off of work and time to
relax and unwind at the end of the day. If you find yourself
doing work tasks after your appointed time to "leave work" for
the day, then you need to become aware of this and put away the
work until the next day.
Also, make
sure you give yourself days off! Many work at home parents tend
to overlook doing this because as a
work at home parent, you tend to have to work twice as hard
to make an income than if you were working outside the home. So
make sure you take one or two days off work per week to give
your mind and body time to relax, as well as to be able to focus
on household chores, tasks and work that needs to be
accomplished as well.
Finally,
the most important part of being able
to balance your home and work life is to treat your work as
a "real" job. Frequently, work at home moms and dads will work
very hard, and be extremely diligent about their work, while
treating it like just another activity for the day. This is
YOUR business, and it is what you do to make a living, don't act
as if it is anything less. Just as if you had a 9 to 5 job,
make sure you schedule time to take a half hour or hour long
lunch break where you eat and relax and don't work. Be sure to
answer only work calls during this time, and not answer your
personal phone until work time is over. Treat it as you would
treat any job outside of the home and you will be amazed at not
only how much work you can accomplish, but how much easier your
life becomes!
Respect
the fact that this is your life and your chosen job in life, and
you will be able to more effectively balance your home and your
work at home business. Let your family know your schedule,
and the times when you are or are not available. A huge bonus
with
working at home is the flexibility of your schedule, but you
still require a schedule in order to bring balance into your
life and home. If you follow the above suggestions, you can
bring your life and work back into order.
Marcia
Chumbley is a
work at home mom and grandmother in Minnesota. She
is the owner of a
Christian Work From Home Moms and Grandparents
web site at
http://www.faithfulgrannies.com. Bringing generations
of
Christian Work From Home Moms, Grandmothers, Parents, Boomers
and Families together while providing resources, inspiration and
affordable advertising while balancing the work at home
experience.
Article source:
http://www.faithfulgrannies.com
|
Work At Home Divas Online
 |
