Only just found this section on the forum - what a great idea :thumbup1: So how many of us work at home parents are there here, and what do you all do? I'm just setting out on my 'work at home' journey and not entirely sure I'll be able to combine working with looking after my gorgeous but ever-so demanding boy. He'll be starting nursery soon, just for 1 or 2 days a week, to try and give me a fighting chance, but otherwise, what do you do and how do you manage it??? Any advice for a green behind the ears newbie who's not entirely sure what she's letting herself in for? :lol: Louise
The hardest thing to do as a stay at home newcomer is focus and plan as you would in the corporate environment. So finding an accountability partner can help, or a mastermind group... in which you share your goals, and have to account for whether you achieved them!! The next thing is the isolation can mean you spend too much time on forums like this not that anyone on THIS forum could EVER be accused of such.... ( just check out the post count of certain moderators who shall be nameless!!! haaatchooofuzzy.....bad sneeze Ive got there... multiply by 2 minutes, and see how much of your life a forum can take if you let it)
oooooh Admagicman:sneaky2: I have you know for the record I work as a TA during the day and Mod on A1 in my spare time. Of course I do all the paperwork boring side of Fuzzydon too:tongue_smilie::001_smile:
Just my sense of humour fuzz:001_smile::001_smile::001_smile::001_smile: and you do a great job too! also contains a serious point for new home starters, that it IS easy to spend too much time on forums if you let it... I have an excuse!!! I am producing my latest set of video how to DVDS, and the video renderuing takes hours....so that is my excuse for doing sweet fa for a while!
I work from home too and its very difficult you have to have a good plan for the day, discipline as its so easy to become distracted. I have 2 boys, 5 years and 1 years. I design and make childrenswear and so all the pattern cutting, fabric cutting and sewing.....
ahhh ..was gonna ask admagic what the avatar was all about. Fetching hat you've got there, anyway :biggrin: And Fuzzy.. well, you are indeed very fuzzy! :lol: Victoria: I know what you mean about getting distracted. I seem to have a hundred 'to do' lists on the go, as it's all I can do to start a job only to end up running off mid-sentence to stop my 11-month old mashing banana into the carpet :001_rolleyes: You've got a gorgeous website there. Have bookmarked it for a proper look tonight when my little speed demon is in bed. Anyone else around at the moment? What do you all do? Louise
Hi Louise, i work part time but all my spare time has gone into developing a new product idea for primary school children. Stage we are at now is that i have the first one at home with 30 more samples being produced. then they are going into a classroom to let a bunch of 8 year olds test it....... Then the hard job starts of selling the idea to people... Without the help and advice of the people on here i certainly wouldnt/couldnt have got to where i am now.......:hug: website and details are going to be posted on here very shortly.....:biggrin: my only advice to trying to set something up with little ones round you, is work through the night, for me its was the only way:001_rolleyes:!! fee x
Hi Fee Wow - sounds like a really exciting time for you. Well done on getting so far and good luck with the testing. Will keep my fingers crossed it all goes well, and will watch out for news of your site. I've already found that working in the night is the only way - I've always been a night owl, so this would actually suit me fine... providing my baby ditches his 'sleep is for wimps' T-shirt and stops thinking it's party time at 3/4/5 am, just as I'm creeping up to bed... :crying:
Thats when I tend to work as well, i do have my super mum to help during the week. what I find difficult is settling down to one task as there are a million different hats to wear throughout the day. A routine will come in time :thumbup1:
Serious problems there my lad. I have never needed excuses for doing sweet F all. Its always come Naturaly.:confused1: Alvin
well in my family my mom and dad both work in offices...and my elder sister too works...im also finished with my studies and about to join my job...and younger brother is studying...
Hi Lousie, I too am a stay at home working Mummy with 2 children. I spend my day making and posting all things gorgeous for bath and body. The down side.......busy busy busy , juggling constantly!...the up side....so much more mummy and kiddies time and I always smell nice! :lol:
Hi Louise, missed your post first time round- hope things are going well with the work at home stuff! I run my business from home, I sell (mainly wholesale) cards/gifts I've 'invented' with numbered dials to keep track of baby's feed and everyone's medicine times. I've been going about 2 and a half years now. Self discipline can be tricky (I started this 5 minute break ooh, 20 mins ago now :001_smile but what helped me was turning a room into an office. It means I don't have paperwork all over the house, and I can keep stock in one place. I have to say, it also helped that my daughter started school last September :biggrin: as I can work more regular 9-3 sort of hours.
I have worked at home since having our first daughter, 7 years ago. In the past I have done the accounts for our own consultancy business. That is now closed and I have been looking for something else. I have just started writing websites to include affiliate links and Google Adsense. The advantage of this is that I can work at home at any time (unless my 3 year old wants the computer). It is difficult to juggle between children, housework shopping and work. If this doesn't earn enough I may need to look for other ideas.
i try to set myself specific times to hide myself away in the office and disipline myself to get on with the task in hand. i can recomend a good book that gives you guidence on how not to waste time. its called 'eat that frog' so why am i chatting on this forum and not actually making some phone calls? hmmmmm good question.!
ooh, very sorry - I don't know how I missed all these new posts :blushing: Hello everyone :biggrin: Chiggs - I'd have LOVED your wheel a year ago when I easily could have forgotten my own head, never mind when I last fed him. What a fab idea! It's really great to see so many other parents having their cake and eating it (quite literally in my case - anyone else have a 'cake o'clock' break several times a day? :lol I'll admit to really struggling this month. I'm hardly getting anything done. Son is 13 months now and on the move (not walking yet, but crawls as fast as a speeding bullet), so I feel like I'm chasing my tail trying to catch up on work the second he goes down for a nap. Ah well, only 2 more months until he starts nursery for a couple of days a week so I've resigned myself to getting naff all done until then. We've just turned a bedroom into my office so I'm all set to go - I'll just have to enjoy having him to myself a while longer. He's growing up so quickly. How's everyone else doing this month? :001_smile:
Thanks! You have my sympathies trying to work with a 'crawler'! We've had a houseful of children this weekend, and it was the little ones who were the problem- into everything!:biggrin: My daughter, who is 5 is, of course, on school hols at the moment, so I'm either enlisting her help (you're never too young to start in business :lol or trying to catch up on work in the evenings.
doing terribly at the moment, with my 2 kids off school ( 5 and 12) so much distraction and guilt, i should be doing stuff with them, but instead i'm playing at doing work but am getting sidetracked and not stuck into anything. my job involves making lots of phone calls, but i'm shying away from them because i know that a little voice will come and say 'what ya doin mum' ( not professional) need to give myself a good talking to.