For moms who work at home

[crisi]

I work from home on occasion. I have one day a week that is my formal telecommute day - my kids are in daycare, or school, or there is another adult in the house. Those are the terms my company is willing to let you have a telecommute day - they won't let you do it if you are supposed to be working from home full time and are the only caregiver at home for small kids.

The other occasion is the "kids are sick, kids go to the doctor, daycare fell through" days. Those days I also telecommute and watch kids at home. I honestly don't get nearly as much done (although now that they are older it isn't so bad)....but I get something done and the other option is to take the day off and get nothing done. I'm salaried and have unlimited sick time I can use for my kids - so my company thinks something is better than nothing in those situations.

ETA: I'm also a project manager. Our company wouldn't hire someone to "work from home" - but we have several employees who have negotiated either a work from home day or an entirely telecommute situation after they have a proven track record of results.

 

[tinkarooni]

I work from home on occasion. I have one day a week that is my formal telecommute day - my kids are in daycare, or school, or there is another adult in the house. Those are the terms my company is willing to let you have a telecommute day - they won't let you do it if you are supposed to be working from home full time and are the only caregiver at home for small kids.

The other occasion is the "kids are sick, kids go to the doctor, daycare fell through" days. Those days I also telecommute and watch kids at home. I honestly don't get nearly as much done (although now that they are older it isn't so bad)....but I get something done and the other option is to take the day off and get nothing done. I'm salaried and have unlimited sick time I can use for my kids - so my company thinks something is better than nothing in those situations.

ETA: I'm also a project manager. Our company wouldn't hire someone to "work from home" - but we have several employees who have negotiated either a work from home day or an entirely telecommute situation after they have a proven track record of results.

That's interesting that your company "requires" daycare. My company has no idea how I do it and they don't seem to care as long as I do it.

I have worked at home for 13 years. I worked through one pregnancy and than until that child was 1 and than I quit for 3 years and had another. Two at home at once probably would have been too much for me, but having an infant was no biggie. I am a claims adjuster for an insurance company and spend an enormous amount of time on the phone with clients. The baby napped so much that I had no problem. I did what others do and get up early and than work during nap times. I have never used any daycare. I did get through the hard times though (two kids under 2) by not working. I went back when youngest started pre-school and that gave me enough time to get it all done along with getting up early and sometimes working late.

Good Luck.

 

[Juliet25]

I WAH one day a week and it's the most stressful part of my week. If I could afford day care that day, I'd put DD in it. Already, half of my paycheck goes to day care, so I can't afford any more than that. But I digress...

My hours are flexible, so I sort of work around DD. I can get some work done in the morning while DD (17 months) watches Sesame Street. She's usually good at entertaining herself, so I am able to work on the computer while she plays with her dolls, does puzzles, etc. However, she can only be left alone for so long. When she needs "mommy time" I usually can nurse her and get a few more things done, but at a certain point I have to just give up and wait until she naps until I can start again. I have to pick up her big sister from school in the afternoon, so absolutely nothing gets done then. I wait until DH comes home and eats and then continue working while he watches them. Of course, he's less than thrilled about needing to watch them while I work. After all, he's had a hard day at the office.

Actually, we've had quite a few major fights on Wednesdays. I'm grateful for the opportunity to WAH and save on day care that day, but it's not exactly a stress-free arrangement. I could not do it full time unless both kids were in school.

 

[parkers218]

I'm just curious if there is anyone on here who is in nursing? I want to work from home but have no clue what I could do from home as a nurse that doesn't require weeks of training. Right now I work week-end nights and I have since my oldest was 1 but I am seriously over commuting at night and not having any week-end time with my family. I am grateful that this has allowed us to avoid daycare but I am just plain tired. Any suggestions? I am currently in school trying to get my masters in nursing informatics hoping that this will open up some opportunities for me

 

[crisi]

That's interesting that your company "requires" daycare. My company has no idea how I do it and they don't seem to care as long as I do it.

I think we got burned early on by a number of people who really just intended to collect a paycheck to be a stay at home mom until they got fired. Terminating someone takes time, and you can get an extra sixty days of 'maternity leave' out of a performance plan. Plus they need to stick you on the performance plan to start with - that's probably six months worth of paycheck. You have to check your email, attend a few meetings, and wait for someone to notice that you don't get anything done - in our organization that might take years!

It only takes a few bad eggs that want to get paid for being a SAHM to change the policy.

 

[npmommie]

I'm just curious if there is anyone on here who is in nursing? I want to work from home but have no clue what I could do from home as a nurse that doesn't require weeks of training. Right now I work week-end nights and I have since my oldest was 1 but I am seriously over commuting at night and not having any week-end time with my family. I am grateful that this has allowed us to avoid daycare but I am just plain tired. Any suggestions? I am currently in school trying to get my masters in nursing informatics hoping that this will open up some opportunities for me

are you an RN? i know some nurses work from home doing telephone triage. some hospitals have their own nurse call lines and there are companies, ( I think one is McKesson) that hire nurses all over the country to work from home answering calls.
I actually looked into doing this, but it wouldn't work for me due to hubby's schedule and I didn't have a dedicated room with a computer to lock the kids out of! both of our computers are in the family room/ playroom........LOL
I do know the pay is a lot lower though , so thats something to consider, and you will still need care for the kids while you do the job. the information I got said you sign up for blocks of time 8 hour shifts, and it has to be completely quiet, no background noise of any kind.

what about doing home care? i know the vna around here hires nurses for weekends only,day time, and pays them 32 hours.

or if your kids are in school, how about a school nurse, you would have the same schedule as the kids.

or maybe go per diem at your current job, so you aren't committed to every weekend?

 

[connorlevismom]

I just wanted to thank you guys so much for all your advice. It has helped me more than you know. I sat down this weekend and really thought about this and took every single one of your opinions and thought about them. I came to the conclusion that working from home is not going to be for me. It is either going to be I work full-time out of the home, or I quit my job and stay at home.

I was under the delusion that it was a great way to not pay for daycare and still be able to keep up the house all while earning a paycheck. It seems I was living in a fantasy world.

Kristine

 

[npmommie]

OP, did I read back that you are an accountant?

if you quit your job to stay home maybe you could do some accounting work on the side from home? especially at tax time maybe?

 

[connorlevismom]

OP, did I read back that you are an accountant?

if you quit your job to stay home maybe you could do some accounting work on the side from home? especially at tax time maybe?

Yep - I am. But not that kind of accountant. I am the head of Accounts Payable and Payroll in my company.

Kristine

 

[DISNEYFOS]

I just wanted to thank you guys so much for all your advice. It has helped me more than you know. I sat down this weekend and really thought about this and took every single one of your opinions and thought about them. I came to the conclusion that working from home is not going to be for me. It is either going to be I work full-time out of the home, or I quit my job and stay at home.

I was under the delusion that it was a great way to not pay for daycare and still be able to keep up the house all while earning a paycheck. It seems I was living in a fantasy world.

Kristine

Of course it depends on the job that you have whether its doable..but I definitely have found its not a way to avoid childcare costs I've actually had to pay to what amounts to more than Ivy leaque College tuition costs with Nannies for very young kids.. BUT They are home here where I am..I can see them whenever I'm able.. and their are no commuting hours to tack on.

As for keeping up the house..you can also usually get to throw on a load of laundry during the day and you may be able to start dinner on a slow day

However busy you are in the office..you will be even more so at home because you are going to try to fit in playing with kids, laundry, dinner. Its not for everyone.

 

[Bren's Mom]

I came to the conclusion that working from home is not going to be for me. It is either going to be I work full-time out of the home, or I quit my job and stay at home.

I was under the delusion that it was a great way to not pay for daycare and still be able to keep up the house all while earning a paycheck. It seems I was living in a fantasy world.

I think you're very smart! I read a study once in a parenting magazine. They were discussing the whole SAHM v WOHM thing. Their results showed that children whose parents worked full-time outside the home did just as well as children whose parent(s) stayed at home. The kids who didn't fare as well? Those with parent(s) who worked full-time IN the home (without nannies, child care, etc.) Clearly, you can't be good at everything all the time. Something has to give. In some cases of WAHMs, the work suffers...as someone mentioned above. One might think they can collect a paycheck and do nothing (or not much). In some case of WAHMs, the kids suffer because the work IS being done.

It seems that the posters here have 'got it'. You can work in the home, and it can have great benefits, be more convenient, less expensive...lots of great things. But you have to have help. You can't do both and do both WELL without it.

FWIW, I've always worked full-time outside the home. However, if I could move my office into my home and work from there I'd do it in a heart beat. I'd keep paying for child care (preschool now) but I would be afforded the ability to run to the school if a sweatshirt was forgotten, or to pick him up if he got sick and transport him home and then call a family member to come over and help out, etc. And when he's in school I could be there for the bus, be there to do a 'missed bus' pickup, etc. I could spend less on clothing. I would spend less on commuting, wear and tear on my van. I'd be closer to ds for emergencies. There ARE definite advantages and I think you have a great opportunity that you just might want to consider...working in the home.

Whatever you decide, I hope it works out well for you. And remember that if the choice you make isn't working for you...you can always make another one!

 

[parkers218]

are you an RN? i know some nurses work from home doing telephone triage. some hospitals have their own nurse call lines and there are companies, ( I think one is McKesson) that hire nurses all over the country to work from home answering calls.
I actually looked into doing this, but it wouldn't work for me due to hubby's schedule and I didn't have a dedicated room with a computer to lock the kids out of! both of our computers are in the family room/ playroom........LOL
I do know the pay is a lot lower though , so thats something to consider, and you will still need care for the kids while you do the job. the information I got said you sign up for blocks of time 8 hour shifts, and it has to be completely quiet, no background noise of any kind.

what about doing home care? i know the vna around here hires nurses for weekends only,day time, and pays them 32 hours.

or if your kids are in school, how about a school nurse, you would have the same schedule as the kids.

or maybe go per diem at your current job, so you aren't committed to every weekend?

Hi I actually looked into these and the only problem is the training. My kids are 9-5-2 and don't attend daycare. To do the at home triage almost all these places want you to train 8-4 or 9-5 during the week for 2-3 months before you can start working from home. Our parents are deceased so it is just us and there is no one I would feel comfortable asking to watch my kids for that length of time. It is the same with the home nursing. It would be perfect but the training is for weeks during the day. My 5 year old just started KG so once my youngest goes to pre-school (maybe next year) I am thinking of trying the school nurse route. For now I am trying the per diem route but I still have to work week-end nights cause the hubby doesn't get home in time for me to get to work by 7p and I don't get off early enough for him to get to work by 8a.

 

[sunnyday123]

I just want to see what you all are doing from home, I would love love love to work from home.

 

[crisi]

It seems that the posters here have 'got it'. You can work in the home, and it can have great benefits, be more convenient, less expensive...lots of great things. But you have to have help. You can't do both and do both WELL without it.

Some people do manage to do both well. They often have a lot more energy than I do, they almost always have pretty flexible jobs, they usually have pretty low demand kids (mine tried to set the house on fire when I was in a meeting. "Excuse me, I have to drop, my son is setting the house on fire" is not something I ever expected to say to my co-workers), and often work part time.

But you truly can't "have it all" - you either need to take a job conducive to working at home AND watching kids (home daycare is a great one! Being a trauma surgeon isn't going to work.), have help so that you can work a job at home (either have the kids outside the house, or have another adult in the house), or work outside the home. And in any of these cases, be prepared to juggle - it isn't just work from home moms that are doing email after the kids are in bed - and in order to get the schedule you want, you might find yourself working odd hours whatever path you pick.

 

[SarahKate]

There have been some really fabulous replies here, and coming from both sides of the table too.

For the poster(s) that asked what we do, I started my own business last year. I am a Virtual Assistant, and provide remote admin support to small business owners. It started out kinda slow but over the summer I have ended up with about 7 clients, almost half of which I provide support to on a pretty regular basis. I am my own boss, set my own schedule, etc. No client can tell me that I have to have child care, and the subject never comes up - it's up to me to "juggle" things and be able to do my job effectively. I love what I do, but it can be challenging whenever my DD is home with me.

But the flexibility is so amazing. If DD is sick, I don't have to scramble to find office coverage. During the summer she went to camps but when she was with me, I did "small chunks" of work and did many things in the evening after she went to bed. A little tiring, but then worth it to have all that time during the day that she and I could do FUN stuff. That is the SOLE reason I went out on this big adventure, to have more time for ME and to have the quality time with her. I know she would be fine even if I worked a f/t job outside the home - I made it work then.....but this summer was the best ever. I was just telling DH the other day that she may take my being there for her more for granted NOW but she will never forget it later in life. My mom was a workaholic and I not able to take much time off to hang w/ me.

It is really important to have backup plans available for sitters, day care, nannies, etc. It all costs money, but I just have to work it out whenever necessary.

For the original poster, it sounds like you have made the right decision for now. But don't swear it off forever. Maybe at some point your situation will change and you can revisit down the road. I'm glad that you have gotten really realistic and that it's not a "dream world". For me myself, I wouldn't change it for the world - challenges aside!!!

 

[npmommie]

Hi I actually looked into these and the only problem is the training. My kids are 9-5-2 and don't attend daycare. To do the at home triage almost all these places want you to train 8-4 or 9-5 during the week for 2-3 months before you can start working from home. Our parents are deceased so it is just us and there is no one I would feel comfortable asking to watch my kids for that length of time. It is the same with the home nursing. It would be perfect but the training is for weeks during the day. My 5 year old just started KG so once my youngest goes to pre-school (maybe next year) I am thinking of trying the school nurse route. For now I am trying the per diem route but I still have to work week-end nights cause the hubby doesn't get home in time for me to get to work by 7p and I don't get off early enough for him to get to work by 8a.

I totally understand, we don't have family close by to help us out, so we have always just had me work around hubbys schedule, one of the great things about nursing I guess!
right now I just started a part time NP job covering nursing home patients, 8-10 hours a week, however I want to do the hours, flexible, no set schedule, which works great for me right now.
I used to do per diem at the hospital too.

 

[Schmoodle]

Most of the time I am a telecommmuter. I am an engineer with a defense contractor. I have to go in for some meetings, others I can telecon. I have to keep regular office hours, and I also have to travel. I've done it this way for years, and it works well for us, but it has its challenges. My youngest kids are in middle school now, so they are old enough to understand that I am working and can't be disturbed. But when they were younger, I had to have someone around to keep an eye on them. It would never have worked if I had treated it as a way to avoid childcare. I set a regular schedule for myself and stick to it, and make sure kids (and DH) understand the boundaries. It keeps me from having a 2+ hours commute each day, and allows me to throw in a load of laundry at lunchtime, or run to school to pick up a sick kid. Funny thing is, when I used to go into the office, I thought I'd gain so much extra time if I worked at home - all those wasted hours in the car, but I don't really seem to have gained time - I think I used to be more efficient because I had to be.

 

[Amanda V]

I'm just curious if there is anyone on here who is in nursing? I want to work from home but have no clue what I could do from home as a nurse that doesn't require weeks of training. Right now I work week-end nights and I have since my oldest was 1 but I am seriously over commuting at night and not having any week-end time with my family. I am grateful that this has allowed us to avoid daycare but I am just plain tired. Any suggestions? I am currently in school trying to get my masters in nursing informatics hoping that this will open up some opportunities for me

I am an RN and worked from home doing utilization review for worker's compensation cases. Basically reviewing charts and determining medical necessity of procedures/diagnostics/therapies. I was not a good candidate for working from home, I much prefer to be on my feet and moving around. The pay was less per hour and I worked more hours than I do in the hospital (BUT, the money wasn't bad for working from home). I did need to be on the phone for a few hours each day (maybe 2 hrs total-a lot of it on hold, LOL). The rest was done all over the computer and I did have clerical staff back at the office who would email/rightfax my assignments/medical documents etc. We also had these virtual filing cabinets that I was able to access through remotely logging into the company's server. I had full benefits and they paid for my high speed internet access, cell phone, any mileage if I did go into the office (which was rare), and any office supplies or anything I deemed "work related" (ie: wireless router, ergonomic desk and chair).

You can make it work, but I found it VERY difficult to work when the kids were home, so I used a lot of childcare. I quickly went back to hospital work, where I leave my work at work. It just wasn't for me. But if you're interested, there are ways to work at home as a nurse.

 

[parkers218]

I am an RN and worked from home doing utilization review for worker's compensation cases. Basically reviewing charts and determining medical necessity of procedures/diagnostics/therapies. I was not a good candidate for working from home, I much prefer to be on my feet and moving around. The pay was less per hour and I worked more hours than I do in the hospital (BUT, the money wasn't bad for working from home). I did need to be on the phone for a few hours each day (maybe 2 hrs total-a lot of it on hold, LOL). The rest was done all over the computer and I did have clerical staff back at the office who would email/rightfax my assignments/medical documents etc. We also had these virtual filing cabinets that I was able to access through remotely logging into the company's server. I had full benefits and they paid for my high speed internet access, cell phone, any mileage if I did go into the office (which was rare), and any office supplies or anything I deemed "work related" (ie: wireless router, ergonomic desk and chair).

You can make it work, but I found it VERY difficult to work when the kids were home, so I used a lot of childcare. I quickly went back to hospital work, where I leave my work at work. It just wasn't for me. But if you're interested, there are ways to work at home as a nurse.

That would be great (I think). I have seen some of these positions also but they all want experience. I think working ICU has me burnt out too I want to at least give it a shot. I don't even mind if it was odd hours since I work nights anyway...but at least it would be at home. Plus if I wanted to be on the move and have interaction with others I figure I can still work per diem..I don't know..maybe I am being unrealistic...I just feel more focused toward my kids needs right now...

 

[JUJU814]

I work from home now and it is very challenging to do with young children.

I own my own business digitizng machine embroidery designs and have total flexibility as to when I "work" but I need to be producing regularly to keep up my income.

I cannot at all "do it all". I find it very overwhelming. I now have household help..a nanny/housekeeper at least three full days a week. She helps with the kids, does laundry, cleans, and even cooks dinner. She will grocery shop for me..whatever I need her to do. I would not be able to run my business well, do everything with the kids, drive them to all their activities, and keep up the house, without help. She is amazing..we've had her for five years and she will even stay with the children if hubby and I go away.

All I can say, in my case, is thank God I don't have to have certain set hours, although I do need to be on email frequently for customer service.

I work a lot in the evenings, but that's not good all the time as I'll often choose to work rather than do something relaxing.

I am not a very organized person. I think that's often typical for the creative type personality..but it sure does make things more challenging.