I came across a new site the other day for WAHMs appropriately called All WAHM. It’s got some pretty good tips and advice. The latest posting was about Balancing Work and Family.
It got me thinking that these are not only good tips for those who work from home, but also for those who work outside the home. I know that working full time, spending time with my lil monkey, being a wife, and taking care of the household (plus a gazillion other everyday tasks), takes a heavy toll on me. I feel like there is just not enough time to get everything done. And on days when I am extra productive, I feel overly-stressed, tired, and grumpy. I’m glad I was productive, but my head feels fuzzy and clouded. I then need to re-organize my thoughts and breathe, but of course, the next day is just as busy if not more.
The endless cycle begins all over again.
How do you manage to balance your family, work, and everyday life?
image via petertheta‘s flickr page
technorati: work from home, wahm, sahm, organization, stress, balance, family, work, life, no time
Good day Mami Dearest,
Balancing work, family, school, and personal endeavors’ has always been a struggle for me. It all started when I was in the Military many years ago and decided to start taking college courses. I realized I couldn’t hang out everyday after work, party and still get my school work done. As a result, I wrote down what was most important to me, prioritized them and used those things to schedule my days, weeks, etc. Granted I still had to work around the “Call of duty” but for the most part this worked for me.
After having my first child, getting married, divorced, getting out of the Military, getting married again, having more children, furthering my education, and working a full time job all my hair fell out! Just kidding, I would have lost my hair anyway (Bald Men are still sexy right?) :-).
I still stuck to writing down what was important to me and scheduling my routine around that. I took courses online which allowed me to be at home with my family. Everything I planned involved my family first and if I wanted to hang out with the boys I made sure I already had at least one family outing that week.
I regularly communicate my dreams and aspirations with my wife and ask about hers. Now that I’m finished with my B.S. in eCommerce I’ve started researching online businesses and sharing my findings with others http://grodt-workathome.blogspot.com/. My wife really isn’t into this (online, computers, technology) but I still keep her abreast and she is slowly but surely coming to realize the internet isn’t going away.
My wife is a Registered Nurse and works two days a week which allows her to be at home with our 1 year old son and take our 5 year old daughter to and from school (so she is two days a week away from being a housewife).
I am so excited about online businesses like Internet/affiliate Marketing, PPC, PPL, PPS, etc. Right now I’m concentrating on SEO. I still work a 9-5 M-F. When I first got interested in the online business community I didn’t know how to manage my online time, 9-5 and family.
Since I’m a Computer and Network Systems Technician I’d be able to do some research at work and what I didn’t finish I’d try to finish at home. One day I came home, kissed my wife, asked about her day, ate dinner, played with the kids and jumped online till 1am. The next day I was burnt out. I realized not only did I have to write down a priority list for my family I had to do one for my online endeavors too.
Now I write down what I need to get accomplished online. From that information I write down the recourses I need to accomplish the tasks. From that I write down the days I want/need to accomplish each task. From that I write down approximately how long each task will take.
Does this always work? NO! Does it work most of the time and give me a reference of what I need to do or have done. YES! Some may refer to it as project management for your life.
Take care Mami, I look forward to your Blog posts.
K.M.
Hiya, I came over from MyBlogLog. Time? I wish I had plenty of that too. Theres just never enough time!!!!
King: Thanks for sharing your story & tips.
Mums: Welcome!