January 2009

You spent all night with a fussy baby and woke up to your 3 year old wetting the bed. There are deadlines to be met with work, a pile of laundry that keeps growing and you just don't know if you are going to make it through the day. Normally, you would call your best friend but since she is at work and you at home, there doesn't seem to be an ear to vent to when you need it most. Stop and take a minute to catch your breath and know that there are a tone of mom's out there just like you that you can chat with 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Today, utilize nap time to check out some of these great mommy sites and start making some new friends that are on the same page.

 

CafeMom is a great place for moms to meet and chat about everything. There are moms on there from all walks of life looking for the same thing that you are; a friend and community that understands the trials and tribulations. You can find groups that are specialized into different topics.

All work and no play can make for a very unhappy person. Think back to when you worked out of the home and how then you knew that you needed time for yourself, even if it was at the end of the day to unwind. Everyday that you went to work, you built up vacation time to get away. Granted, working from home you don't always have the luxury of a paid week of vacation time, but you still need to take some "me time" into consideration for the sake of sanity.

 

No matter who your employer is or how many deadlines you have to meet, you can only do so much before you begin to get that "cabin fever" feeling especially when your office is your living room or spare bedroom in you house. There are many different ways that you can find time throughout your day to take a minute for yourself. It doesn't even matter what you are doing as long as it requires that you are doing something for yourself that does not involve work, the house, the kids or the spouse.

Google has become so much more than just a great search engine. Constantly coming up with creations to help everyone make their everyday life a little easier, they have programs that can help you have everything you need in one spot. No matter what your at home job may be, Google has programs out there that can help you and are easy to learn how to use. 

 

A program that I use all the time and for more than working at home is Google Docs. All my files are kept online so they aren't taking up a bunch of space on my computer and I can access them from any computer any where and whenever I want. If I have documents on the computer that were created from Microsoft Office including Excel sheets and PowerPoint, I can upload them to Google Docs or email them to my personal Google Docs email address where it will automatically save it as a Google Doc using the Subject line as the document title without me having to do a thing.

Today you have to call it quits early because like most parents, you have kids that need to get to baseball practice, drama club, dance practice and whatever of the numerous activities that swamp your schedule. You may bring a book with you to get you through practices while your mind drifts to how much work you could be getting done and then left feeling like you just don't have the time. Well guess what, thanks to technology, you do. Over the last few years, technology has been producing tools for people who are on the go all the time, but still need to bring the necessities of work with them. From cell phones to PDAs, there is a solution out there waiting for you to pick up and utilize.

 

My personal favorite to use is my cell phone. I currently own the T-Mobile Shadow.

Working outside of the house you had a set schedule put in place by your employer. Schedules should be incorporated into work at home as well. Since you are working from home and are  your own boss, now you get the pleasure of making a schedule for yourself that will work for you. Having your day planned out will help your productivity and to reach goals throughout the day and long term.

 

Sit down and write out a timeline of your day. Include when you get up, when the kids get up, when they need to be at school, when you get started on work, and any other daily task that has a specific time to begin or end. Grab yourself a new daily planner or journal to jot everything down. Starting with daily tasks that already have a specific timeline will help you manage the rest of your "free time" instead of wondering what you should be doing or trying to decide if the dishes need to be done first or if the laundry needs to be switched out.