Walking the WAHM tightrope – balancing work and family

Sometimes, being a work at home mom can feel like walking on a tight-rope! Balancing your work-time and you family-time can almost feel overwhelming, but it can be done. As a WAHM you are ahead of the game. The following are some tips to help keep you balanced – and sane!

You have the ability to set your own hours, so take advantage of that right now. If you can handle some tasks at “odd hours”, you will have more family time during the day. Are you a morning person? If so, try to get up an hour before your family to take advantage of some “quiet time” to focus on your business; night owls can take care of emails and other administrative tasks after they have put their children to bed.

If you pick your children up from school, use the time you spend waiting for them to get out of class to return customer phone calls.  A wireless headset for your cell phone will allow you to keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road if you make calls while driving.

During the week, when schedules are busiest, plan speedy dinners. Let your kids help out in the kitchen while you cook – you’ll be spending time together and teaching them skills they will need. There are plenty of cookbooks out there dedicated to “kid friendly recipes” if you need some inspiration on what to make.

Blend family time and work time by getting your children involved in your business. Smaller children can affix the stamps or mailing labels; older children can help hang flyers; and teenagers can take on some administrative tasks such as data entry.

Set aside some time each day to spend with your children with no distractions. You don’t have to go anywhere special; the time can be spent reading a book or playing a game. The point is just to let your children know that they come first, and the business comes second. Remember – you became a work at home mom so you could spend time with your family. Don’t forget to take some time out to enjoy them!

Simple ways for WAHMs to balance work and relationships

No one has ever said that marriage is easy. Balancing your business, kids and marriage can be especially difficult. When you are feeling stressed, it is easy to put your relationship on the back burner. Here are some ways to keep it front and center.

Just as you schedule time for your children and time to work, schedule time for your spouse. Set aside a weekly “date night”. Your dates don’t have to be expensive – it can simply be going out to lunch at the local diner, going for a stroll together around the neighborhood or playing cards after the kids go to bed. The point is just to set aside some distraction-free time for you and your spouse to talk and connect.

If you think you are too busy for a date night, ask your spouse to help you with some of the household chores. Just because you work from home, doesn’t mean you should be responsible for all the cooking, cleaning and laundry. You are working, and it doesn’t matter if you work across town or in a make-shift office in the corner of the dining room.

By sharing the chores, you are freeing up time to spend together. You can make it a family affair by getting the kids involved. For instance, designate every Saturday from 10 am till noon as “cleaning time”. Divide the chores among the family, turn on the stereo and have a “cleaning party”. You’ll be having fun together and getting the chores done.

It may not sound fun initially, but why not run your weekly errands together? You have to go to the grocery store anyway, so why not go as a couple? Having someone to talk to while you wait in line at the check-out stand could be a nice change!

You can also find time to spend together by asking your spouse to help you with your business. Your spouse will learn more about what you do and see you in a different light. Who knows? Your spouse may enjoy helping you and with their help, you will be able to achieve your goals twice as fast. 

Balancing Work and Home Life

One of the hardest skills to master when you are working from home is to find a good balance between work and home life. Since you are working in the same place where you play with the kids, cook dinner and do your housework, it’s hard to separate the two. That’s when you end up doing laundry when you should be finishing a report, or spend your evening working because you walked over to check your email.

One of the best things you can do to balance work and home life is to define your workspace. Set up a little home office of sorts, even if it’s just a bedroom corner. Having a defined space will make it much easier for both you and the rest of your family to determine when you’re working and when you’re “just Mom”. If you can set up in a room that allows you to shut a door, even better. It will keep distractions to a minimum and makes it easy for even the youngest child to know that Mommy is working and shouldn’t be disturbed.

Setting a schedule of when you work and when you are available for the rest of the family is another great tool. Sit down with your significant other and come up with a few blocks of time each day or week that you can work uninterrupted. Sure you may need to check email or take care of some simple tasks outside of those blocks of time, but having a few hours each week when you can expect to work uninterrupted (while hubby takes the kids to the park or plays with them) will allow you to get the majority of your work done. At the same time, set aside some time to be spent with just the family. Don’t forget to give yourself one or two days a week off from working at home – yes, that means no email or instant messaging. Once you have a schedule in place, do your best to stick to it.

Set some rules for the rest of the family. Make sure they know this is serious work you are doing and that you expect their support. For example, if the rule is don’t bother mom while she’s working unless it’s an emergency, don’t let them interrupt you to find out what’s for dinner. If you stand your ground on your work rules, they will quickly become habits for you and the rest of the family, making it easier and faster for you to get your work done.

Don’t forget to reexamine every once in a while if you are still achieving a good balance between work and home and adjust accordingly