Work-at-home moms who juggle a job and a family have to know how to handle both work and family life. Achieving a "work/life" balance can be challenging. Some common tips can help anyone working from home to get a better balance when combining a professional life with life inside the home, and 6 of these tips are:
1. Keep Regular Hours
For some work-at-home moms, getting to set their own hours is a major
perk. However, that same freedom can turn into a burden if it is
confusing to family members or helps to blur the boundaries between work
and home life. Maintain "start and stop" times for work to keep
everything on an even keel.
2. Have an Isolated Office
Even if a WAHM's office is at home, it can still be a separate part
of her life. Having a "closed door policy" can help a work-at-home mom
tremendously by keeping intrusions out of her professional time and work
production schedule.
3. Build a Partnership
For some work-at-home moms and other self-employed individuals, the
key is to partner up with another person in the same field to form a
collaborative business venture. One of the positive side effects of a
partnership is that it automatically builds responsibility,
accountability and definition into the work life of a self-employed
person. It's also a good example of the old adage that "two heads are
better than one."
4. Train Your Kids (and Your Husband!)
No matter what kind of family situation a work-at-home mom is dealing
with, when it comes to setting boundaries between work and home life,
absolutely everybody needs to get the memo. It can be hard to be firm
without being seen as aggressive, and like everything else in families,
it can require compromise, but in the end, more work toward educating
the family on the finer points of a work/life balance should ultimately
pay off big.
5. Leave Work at Work
This truism is just as true for self-employed work-at-home
individuals as it is for those who draw a paycheck toiling in far-off
places. When it comes to your personal family life, it's simply better
not to let work encroach on your time and attention. Nobody wants to
have their loved ones around, when a ringing cell or other business call
constantly interrupts quality time. Keep this in mind and profit from
reasonable work/life separation that will help keep everybody happy.
6.
Keep Files and Finances Separate
If there is another little item that can definitely sink a work/life balance, it's having work files and materials strewn all over the house, or having automatic business deductions coming out of a family bank account. Keeping work and life materials physically separated will help make your home a more organized place. Keeping the finances separate will keep your enterprises from devastating a family budget, and it also helps when it comes time to tally up business gain or loss tax deductions.