Work from home opportunities are becoming more and more available. While the idea of working from home may sound like having your cake and eating it too, a whole new set of obstacles is often created that we don’t consider prior to setting up our office in our Kitchens.
Learn how to balance work and family using the following tips from our expert!
Having It All
Work at home moms have multiple challenges taking care of: themselves, their home, the children, their relationships, and being productive in their non-family work. Shift your thinking about balance from keeping all things at an equal level to the idea of having just the right amount of ingredients to create a wonderful product…like a recipe! The real key is planning (use your schedule like a to do list.)
1 measure of alone time (even 15 min. is better than nothing)
1 measure of quality time with your spouse/partner (sans kids)
1/2-1 measure of family time (consider the childrens’ ages; tv viewing does NOT count)
1/2 measure of time to eliminate or delegate responsibilities others can do (you really don’t have to do everything, or do it yourself)
1/4 measure for sharing responsibilities
Now do the same thing regarding your non-family work. Identify time when you will be alone, have energy, and minimal distractions. What is the product? Is there a deadline, if so, work backwards and schedule mini-projects for completing it before the due date. Gather the resources that you will need to work on the project before you begin.
Having it all means creating wonderful and easy to use recipes with minimal steps!
Denise Levine, Owner, Outside In Organizer and Makeovers
In your experience what has enabled you to balance work and family?
