For moms who work at home

[connorlevismom]

How do you get your work done? I am not talking about moms who do the party type work from home - the ones who actually used to work in an office and now the office is at home.

I am thinking about doing this but think it will be hard to get stuff done for work and take care of kids too.

So how do you make it work?

Kristine

 

[SarahKate]

I have one DD who is 7, so she is in school now. I have my own business and most of what I do is done at home unless I am teaching out of town or meeting with a client.

It's not always easy, but it is doable.

You have to set CLEAR boundaries with your kid(s) from the start. Mine is old enough to tell time and I can tell her for the next 1.5 hours mommy HAS to work. She's pretty good about leaving me alone. I'll hang w/ her for a while, then I'll work for another block of time.

I think for moms w/ more than one kids that are old enough to be independent
for periods of time, they can play together. You would think that having just one child would make working at home easier, but in some ways it can be more of a challenge because when she's home with me I'm the one who's her playmate unless she's at a camp or w/ friends.

I never work a full 8-hour day from home, which is a good thing! I've set up my business as such that I don't need a full 8-hour day to survive financially. Once I get to a certain point, I'll subcontract so that way I can still have the time I need but still do well.

A fellow business owner I know will have sitters come over at regular intervals so she can get her priority things done.

I also will wait until DD goes to bed (usually by 8:30) and get projects completed.

That's a lot of random stuff, but hopefully helps you! It is definitely not all roses working from home, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I was home this summer and the weeks I spend w/ DD were great - we got to do all sorts of fun stuff. Her grandpa paid for several weeks of summer camp, as it's such a valuable experience and didn't want to deprive her of that.

You also have to be highly motivated, something which is sometimes a challenge for me. Right now, there are things I SHOULD be doing but I'm on the Dis!!!! But I'm also "not on the clock" so no one is looking over my shoulder, I am the one who has to hold myself accountable!!!

 

[ericalynn1979]

I have a seventeen-month-old.

She goes to daycare. That's the only way I can get things done.

But I have a corporate 9 to 5 type of job as an engineer, so it's extremely difficult to focus with anyone around.

We had a nanny up until a few months ago, since I wanted to see her do a lot of her "firsts", even though it was expensive it was worth it, since she was our first.


ETA - she got to the point where she would knock on my door and then when she started opening doorknobs (I don't have a lock on my office door) I drew the line and sent her to "school".

 

[jodifla]

My husband worked from home for three years. The only way he could do it was to have another adult in the house -- my dad.

Even with that, there were times my DH had to use the "nanny" excuse when DS came barging in or my dad needed help. He'd say, "oh, I'm sorry. the nanny called in sick today."

 

[lunalibre]

It greatly depends on your office environment and the kind of work you do. I've worked out of my house for nearly 13 years. I started out working 20 hours/week (paid for 20, worked ~25) to 30 hours/week (paid for 30, usually work no more than 40). I'm a software engineer, and as long as people could get hold of me by phone or email, I attended meetings (via phone), and folks knew when I was available, that's all that was needed. I currently work with people in 5 different time zones, which gives me a lot of flexibility. I rarely sit down to work more than 2-3 hours straight. I get my hours in starting at 5pm and ending sometimes as late as 11pm (yes, I have a meeting Monday eveings that goes from 10-11pm!).

When I had my first child, I did use day care part time. It is VERY difficult in my area to find part-time childcare, and it was expensive, but it was very much worth it in order to spend more time with my baby and get used to balancing work/child care. By the time kid #2 arrived, I was able to make do with sending both kids to Mother's Day Out programs. Honestly, if I had realized that some churches ran those Monday/Wednesday as well as Tuesday/Thursday, I probably would have used that with kid #1!

To be honest, you may not know what is going to work for you until the baby is born. My oldest was, and still is, a classic "high needs" child (for you Dr. Sears folks). There is NO WAY I could have worked and watched him at the same time. My youngest has a totally different personality, and she's the reason I decided to try using MDO programs instead of daycare.

WRT equipment, I have a dedicated desk, a cordless phone with a headset with a MUTE button (a MUST), and an office-quality desk chair (not a Target special). If you're going to work out of your house, make it a true office setup.

FWIW, working at a desk in my loft/office at home prepared me for the noise of working in a cube environment in the office.

Feel free to PM me with any more questions.

 

[Jennia]

In some ways, it was easier when DD napped more often since I could work when she was asleep. I do usually have someone else here, though, since I'll sometimes get surprised with a project that needs to be done ASAP and requires me working 12+ hours a day to meet the deadline. During my normal workday, she spends time with Daddy, takes her daily nap, eats lunch with Mommy, then spends another two hours with Daddy. I also work once she's gone to sleep for the night.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Excuse me, but I have a "party type business" that I do from home and let me tell you something - its work. Its not a party, its a full time plus job. Weeks and months of planning go into every party I do. I have an office, I have clients, I have WORK. Depending on how many parties I have coming up, I can be WORKING 8-16 hours a day. Sheesh!!!

 

[QVCshopper]

I work 25 hours/week from home writing for a website. I have DD4 and DS3. I do all of my work at night after they go to bed; which means I'm usually up til 1 a.m.; sometimes later. My husband watches them while I work. During the day, I'm a SAHM. It's hard, but I am mostly used to the hours. Was easier when they napped and I worked less.

 

[AJA]

I personally couldn't get any work done when DD was younger, unless it was nap time, it was much too stressful for me. DD has set days at a babysitter and those are my work days. If your work can be very part time you might be ok doing most of your work at nap times and late at night, but have a plan set up ahead of time just in case -there is nothing more stressful for a family than a mom with a deadline and no way to get the work done, trust me I know!

 

[PaddingtonBear]

Excuse me, but I have a "party type business" that I do from home and let me tell you something - its work. Its not a party, its a full time plus job. Weeks and months of planning go into every party I do. I have an office, I have clients, I have WORK. Depending on how many parties I have coming up, I can be WORKING 8-16 hours a day. Sheesh!!!

Holy reading too much into things, Batman! The OP didn't say you don't work. She said she was looking for the techniques that would make a traditional office job workable at home. FWIW, I've done party type business before and I've worked in a traditional office enviornment and the two are nothing a like. An office type job often requires that you cannot work your own hours or be flexible, you have to be available during office hours and have to have silence for conf calls, etc. I think the distinction is perfectly valid, and you are offended for no reason. Sheesh right back at ya.

 

[connorlevismom]

Excuse me, but I have a "party type business" that I do from home and let me tell you something - its work. Its not a party, its a full time plus job. Weeks and months of planning go into every party I do. I have an office, I have clients, I have WORK. Depending on how many parties I have coming up, I can be WORKING 8-16 hours a day. Sheesh!!!

I never said that you did not work. I know those jobs are work, I used to do that as well as work full-time. I had to quit because it just took to much time.

What I am asking about though is an office job (I am an accountant for a company) which is much different than a party type job. You get to make your own hours and a lot of them are in the evening doing parties. I work at an office where I would need to be available Mon-Fri 8-5, that is a lot different so that is why I asked about people who work in an office and not party type. That is all. I think your getting worked up over nothing. I totally did not mean to offend you at all, sorry.

As for the rest of you, that you so much for your advice and experience. I am not sure that it is something that I would be able to do but it is an option if I want it. The only reason I would want to do it though is so that I don't have to pay for daycare and it seems that most of you need to use it anyway or you cannot get anything done.

You have all given me much food for thought!

Kristine

 

[vallamen]

I work for 100% telecommute consulting firm with a fantastic owner for more than 7 years. Luckily for me, he is flexible with the hours, but does have expectations as far as being available to answer emails and respond to phone calls in a timely manner during "normal" business hours. I have two kids (4.5yo and 2.5yo) so both were born after I took the job. I won't lie....its not easy! When #1 was born it wasn't too overwhelming as he was a pleasant baby who was a consistent napper and loved being on a schedule. But when #1 was a toddler and #2 was newborn - life got more stressful LOL!!!! My hubby was able to alter his schedule as well to work later hours one or two days a week. I would keep his nap times blocked out for phone calls and then do my need "to be done in the quiet" at night time. I also had someone watch the boys (after I had 2 of them!) either in my house or they currently go to a neighbor's house for two mornings a week. So here is my current schedule -

Mon and Fri - 7-8 work /8-12 I have little guy in am big guy in preschool - responding to emails and daily tasks / nap 1230-3 -phone calls and report / 3-8 family time /8-11 work
Tues and Thurs - 7-8 work/8-12 boys at neigbors LOTS of WORK!!!!!/ nap1230-3 -phone calls and report / 3-8 family time/10 -11 emails or daily tasks work
Wed - 7-8 work/8-12 boys with hubby LOTS of WORK!!!!!/ nap1230-3 -phone calls and report / 3-8 family time/10 -11 emails or daily tasks work
Sun night - after the boys are in bed, I do a couple of hours to get myself organized for the week.

A couple of things that I have learned - I've had to just get used to the fact that I will never have the cleanest house on the block!!!! When the kids are gone or asleep and it is my work time - it is my work time - not laundry or dishes! Learn to set boundaries with friends or other moms - it can be very tempting to skip work and have play dates 2-3 days a week! You will quickly learn how much more efficient you can be at home than an office - its amazing how much time is wasted chatting in an office. I could probably do the work I used to do in 8 hours at the office in about 4.5 - 5 solid hour at home. Working at night can be very productive - no phone calls or interuptions!!!!

Good Luck. I love my job and that is because I get to be there for every part of my kids life. I am very fortunate to have the best of both worlds, but it does come with some sacrifices (mainly very limited "me" time and some overwhelming days when I have deadlines) - in the end it is worth it for me and my family and the pluses definately outweigh the minuses for us!

 

[LadyShea]

I cannot work and also watch DS. When I go to work, I have to turn off all the house and mom stuff...no laundry or cleaning etc. However, a large part of my job is live phone calls, and I have to be able to have non-distracted quiet for talking with clients.

We worked our schedules around so that someone besides me is with DS during my phone hours. The neighbors have watched him on Mondays since he was a few months old (honorary grandparents ) my mom and DH's mom watch him 2 days a week each for 4 hours, and DH is with him in the afternoons as he works 5-am and is off at 2.

If my job was 100% emails and reports without the need for being available by phone from 9-5, I think I would do things differently. I am a night owl, so would probably do my work mostly at night if that were the case.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

How do you get your work done? I am not talking about moms who do the party type work from home - the ones who actually used to work in an office and now the office is at home.

I am thinking about doing this but think it will be hard to get stuff done for work and take care of kids too.

So how do you make it work?

You've gotten some good advice here! It definitely is hard. But it can be done. It's certainly easier as the kids get older, though. When the kids were itty bitty, I started getting up earlier and earlier to get my work time in before they got up. Worked during naps. Brought along some stuff I could work at occasionally while they were in the sandbox. I did it without any childcare, but that was because of our circumstances. It would have helped a lot.

As the kids got older, I could work alongside their schoolwork.

I think it's great that my guys have always seen me working -- and have seen the results of that hard work. It's given them a great attitude about working (I love my job!), and they've helped me on different projects, too. Great for everyone.

...that said, it's less about what's worked for everyone else and more about finding your own patterns and tricks that work for you. Can't hurt to give it a try!

Good luck.

 

[ms_missy66]

All I can add is that I'm counting the days until my younger daughter goes to kindergarten next year. LOL I have been telecommuting 100% since my little one was 5 months old. I do set boundaries and the girls are pretty good about not interrupting when I'm on the phone in meetings. The rest of my time, however, sometimes feels quite frustrating.

I work quite a bit at night when everyone is sleeping. Just a word of wisdom, though...that can wear on you. I sometimes feel like I'm working for someone (whether it be my family or employer) from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. Plus, I tend to sleep pretty crappy when I work straight until I try to go to bed.

Another thing to consider if your company's policies. I telecommuted for five years prior to having children while I worked for a government agency. Their rules stated that I had to have proof that any children in our house would have a caregiver while I worked. I had to show documentation! So make sure you review the policies for the company you'll be working for. I also had to work 8:00 - 5:00, which would have been really tough with children.

With it all said and done, I love telecommuting and I love my job. I'm in a position with a good amount of flexibility, so I can do things like volunteer in my older daughter's classroom and take/pick-up my little one from preschool. I do miss the in-office interactions and in my perfect world, I'd go work from there once or twice a month. I've learned you have to be pretty structured to get it all done, please take care fo yourself. Just because you can log in at any time, doesn't mean you should. It's easy to get sucked into working more than you would while in the office simply because your office is always there.

Good luck!

 

[cmaee]

I've worked at home now for 7 years and it can really tough. When it was just my oldest son, it wasn't too bad. As a newborn he took lots of naps, etc., but as soon as he started getting mobile it became difficult...add 2 more kids onto the top of things and it can get quite hectic around here. Thankfully, I do not have to talk to customers at all. My boss will call, but he knows he is going to hear chaos in the background and can ignore it. For me, I have set up a strict schedule that I try to keep to. I do have the luxory of making my own schedule to a point.

Before my kids were in school, I would get 2 hours of work in before they would wake up. Usually 6-8 in the morning. I would then go back to work from 9-12 for another 3 hours (up to 5 total for the day). While I was working, they would play/watch tv/do puzzles/color/etc. I would take a break for a few hours and then lay them down for their naps at 2. At 2, I would work until they woke up..usually about an hour (now I'm up to 6 working hours for the day). I would stop working until after the kids went to bed at 8:00 and then I would work until 10:00. While I did the last 2 hours of my workday, my DH would help finish up any housework that I did not get to that day...put dishes in the sink, pick up clothes, etc. Now that 2 of my kids are in school, my work day has changed. I can no longer get the 2 hours in the morning as I am getting the kids ready for school...they catch the bus at 7:15 am. My kids are all up now at about 6:30. I will start work at 6:00 and answer any emails that need done or plan out what I need to get done for the day. That gives me a half hour of working for the day. At 8:30, I will start working and work until 12:00. That gives me a total of 4 hours at this point. After my DD takes her nap at 2, I will get another hour in. I then will get back to work about 7:30 while my DH gets the kids in the baths/bedtime rountine. I will work until 10:30 to finish up my 8 hours of work. It can be exhausting, but I have found that if you can find a schedule that works for you and your kids, then you can do it. I am so thankful that I haven't had to put my kids in daycare. I can't imagine how we would have finanically made it if I had to have done that. I am also thankful, that I won't have to scramble to find daycare if my kids were sick and couldn't go to school. I also have let deep cleaning of the house go until the weekend. I just don't have time. I will throw a load of laundry in during the morning and if I get that folded and put away during the day, that is a huge success. If you DH is on board and can help around the house, then that is a huge help.

 

[CLR4321]

Me and my boyfriend both work for a large satellite dish corporation from home. He is a new hire supervisor and I am a quality analyst. We are an entirely work from home call center, however we do have several "brick and mortar" centers as well. And yes, we did meet through work. My son just started kindergarten. Up until last week, I had him in daycare and worked from 8:30-5:30. He just started kindergarten So now I work from 7:30-4 M-F. He actually gets home at 3:30, but I can turn on a cartoon for him to occupy him for 30 mins and have him play with Legos or color. I drop him off at the bus at 7:10am, so I get just enough time to make a cup of tea and log into my work applications. My boyfriend has his own office (turned a bedroom into an office for him) and I work in our extra space in our dining room. Other than this 30 mins of him being at home, I never would have had him home with me while I worked. I never would have gotten my work done! Also, previously before my promotion about a year ago I was working 1 on 1 with customers on the phone. People would have wondered what kids were doing in the background of a call center! If your kids are at least school aged, and they are self sufficient, you should be fine with them at home as long as they understand you are working and that you need it to be quiet when they are home. If they are not at least school aged, definitely use day care or have another adult at home to take care of them. During school breaks and summer, we will be using our day care provider who took care of him until he started kindergarten, or may use the daycare at the school (it's an after school program, but they have it all day when school is out).
Good luck!

 

[goofy4wdw2]

This is a great thread with lots of great ideas. I've worked from home for about five years...since before I was pregnant with #1 and it's still a work in progress. I work full time, usually 40-50 hours per week. I try to check emails and get organized for the day before the kids wake up, then we all (DH too) get ready for the day. Both kids are in daycare or with grandma or my aunt, although I will keep DD (she's 4) home occasionally since she is a little more independent now that she's older...plan my phone calls as best as I can when she watches a movie or has quiet reading time in her room. Otherwise get her set up with crafts and we have some fun together throughout the day. I could never get a full day's work done with DS (he's 21 months) or when DD was younger. Anyway, then I work all day while the kids are out of the house...I must be available regular daytime hours (at least by pager) but is flexible if I need to be out of the house for short periods of time (event at preschool, kids' doctor's appts). It's also great that when a child is sick, I can still work some and not have to call out all day...I can be with my kids and get work done while they nap. I often work after the kids go to bed. It is tiring, but it works for us.

 

[Sarah7401]

What a great thread!!

Those of you that work from home... what do you do? I'm looking for viable options and would love suggestions.

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I've telecommuted as a project mgr for 10 years now. I have had babysitters/nanny watch my children while I'm working. I would never be able to do the conference calls or get anything done as well as keep the kids safe and entertained at the same time. I've worked out a schedule with my DH that only requires a babysitter for 6 hours 4 days a week. The kids know what it means when Mommy is in her office on a phone call etc.. and I try not to be too disruptive during their day either...If I am taking a break its for a pretty good stretch of time to focus on them..not just fliting in and out distracted by work stuff..

There are definitely pros to the situation, I don't have to worry too much if the kids are sick/snow days or if babysitter is sick. I have the flexibility to drop and pick up from school as well as activities at the school. I do tend to check in on work late night and weekends more than I would if I worked in a office and on slow days I can spend a lot of time with them. You do have to be careful of the isolation aspect of it...Its not even like a SAHM because they are able to get out during the day with their kids and socialize.

As the kids get older and are in school full time I think this will be an even better setup.. putting them on and off the bus...home when they are..

Childcare for very young children in this country is just a juggling act/compromise whatever way you choose to handle it.