Busy Work at Home Mom

Some days I do not brush my hair until well after breakfast.  Makeup is reserved for only the most important of outings.  I haven’t worn a fancy dress or high heels in years.  I’m work at home mom.  Specially designed to proehl about on the floor, run around the park, and work late into the night, my fashion sense leaves much to be desired.

Some women, and then, enjoy shopping for fashionable clothing, shoes, and accessories.  They make a great to do about choosing the best makeup, getting facials, manicures and pedicures.  Of course, people have different personal styles.  I’m sure many work at home moms take advantage of these things as well.

When you are busy for 12 or 14 hours a day taking care of kids and working, you work not have the energy to make an effort with your appearance.  Here are my fashion tips for the work at home mom.

Get an easy to care for haircut.  Make sure it is long enough to tie back in a ponytail, or short enough not to dangle in plates of poster paint.  Invest in a fun selection of hair clips or scrunchies.

Do not be afraid to buy comfortable clothes.  There is no shame in having sweat pants in every color.  Tee shirts are your friends.  Think stretchy, think soft, and think easy to care for.  For the most part, your children do not care what you look like.  Just be sure to have a few quality outfits in your closet for when you go out.

That’s it.  Fashion for a work at home mom is not complicated.  You have enough on your plate without worrying about trends, high style, or maintenance.  Just be sure to keep that in reserve for special occasions.

Taking time to play

One of the most difficult things for a busy work at home mom to do is take time for fun.  As children get older and more people to take care of themselves for large chunks of time, the work at home mom can find herself pulling away from them to take care of more business matters.  Of course, it is important for her to focus on her business in order to make it grow and be profitable.  Caring for children such as cooking meals, cleaning them, and instructing them a proper behavior, are all important.  However, it is also important to take time to play with your children and to experience the joy of them growing up.

One of the major reasons why mothers decide to work at home is so they can enjoy their children and raise them the way they want to.  If you do not take time to play with your children, you will miss out on some of the best moments of childhood.

How do you make time to play in a very busy day?

Like everything else in the busy work at home moms day, playtime can be scheduled.  A good option is to take a certain amount of time after lunch or in the middle of the afternoon to do fun things only.  Not only will it help your children by giving them the attention they need and deserve, it will help you prevent burnout in your business life.

After taking a certain amount of time each day to play with your children, your children may start wanting more and more.  This is natural.  It is ideal to give your children as much time as they require to feel comfortable with the schedule you have chosen.  However, it is not always feasible when work is to be done.  Set and stick to a specific time during the day when you are playing with your children and doing nothing else.  They must understand that mommy’s time is divided and, while you must take time to work every day, you are always there for them when they need you.

It’s 9:36 AM and I’ve just finished my first cup of coffee.  As a work at home, home schooling, divorced parent, coffee is my friend.  Besides drinking my first cup of coffee, I have already started working today.  Parenting, I do continuously and without stopping.

Structuring time is not one of my strong points.  However, it is important to have some sort of schedule if you have so much to do.  While some people thrive with a firm itinerary of what they will be doing every minute of the day, I prefer something worth free form.  Using a combination of Google calendar and an independent goal-setting program, I keep track of what I need to do, what I have already done, and how far I am to my goal.  As a great lover of lists, this method works best for me.

No matter how you organize yourself, having set goals is important for any work at home person.  Some people are incredible self-starters, while others need a big much to get anything done at all.  If you are the latter type of person, you must pay careful attention to your to do lists and goals.  Operating a home based business, or working at home, is not for everyone.  If you do not have the appropriate ability to monitor your own time and get the job done, perhaps you should consider getting a traditional job.

As important as it is to monitor your time and focus on your goals, that is not to say that you cannot take breaks, take days off, or procrastinate occasionally.  The difference between working for yourself and having a real job is that you get no vacation pay or paid sick leave.  If you do not work, do you do not get paid.

It is 9:43 AM now, and I have not only finished writing this blog post, I have organized the first class of the day, put on a load of laundry, and poured my second cup of coffee.  It looks like a fabulous day.