Working at home with Family Issues

One thing that many newly appointed work -at- homer’s do not take into consideration is what I like to call the “qualm quandry”. The qualm quandry is the never ending battle to stay working and keep on top of your game when your family is fighting against you, either purposely or not.

In the time that I have had this blog and the blog that preceded it, Managed Mayhem, I have had several catastrophes. I mean biggies. So I come from expereince. My m other died of lung cancer, my home flooded, I had someone I considered a close friend whom I had helped out repeatedly turn on me and try to ruin my career, I had marriage issues, teenage son issues and my father sied of lung cancer. I have had a breast lump issue that continues to haunt me and a tumor in my stomach. Is that enough? I have more if not.

The point is that during all this, I still needed to eat. My children still needed shoes and I had to keep the lights on.

What to do? Ah the “qualm quandry”. There is a way out of it. And its the only way.

Follow these tips to make through to the other side- ALIVE!

PRIVACY!

You must have privacy to work at home. Thats one of the biggest mistakes Ive ever made in my work at home career. I would work in the living room and in the kitchen. “After all-” Id say to myself, “I work at home to be around my kids and family. So why not be around them!”

But then someone would need a drink, someone would need a kiss, a fight would need refereed, hubby would need attention, a funny commercial would come on, the dishwasher would over flow, and then SHAZAM! the day would be gone and so would the work that I never got to do in the first place.

It is imperative to have privacy. Besides the reasons above, when tragedy strikes or qualms arise, there has to be a place where the entreprenuer can go to feel safe and at ease and able to think clearly for even just a few moments.

Seperation

Being able to seperate your home life from your work life is extremely hard when their all held within the same four walls. But again, it is imperative. When you go into work, you have to shut the door to your personal life just as you would if you were at an office, a restuarant or a department store job. Do your job. Concentrate on it and shut out the rest. This not only helps you to get your work done but eases your mind from the constant diatribe of of problems that race through when times are tough.

These are only a few of the things that have helped me in my quest to work from home. I hope that they help you as well.

The Biggest Lie WAHMs’ Tell

Almost all of the advertisements you will see for companies hiring work at home moms will have the words “spend more time with the kids” or “stay home with your kids” or some variation thereof in the text.

May I just say – What a crock.

Oh you are home all right and the kids are too. Thats about the extent of the truth of that statement. No work- or very little- actually gets accomplished.
Working at home is no alternative to childcare.

If you work a telephone customer service job you know what I mean. You cant service the customer with little Billy clamoring for a juice box and his goldfish crackers.

I write from home.

Even that seemingly “do it anywhere” type of job isnt so easy at home. Have you ever tried to write a 1200 word white paper with 2 children wanting you to referee a fight, 3 involved in a discussion about who gets to squeeze the oranges for juice and 1 crying because her agenda flew out of the bus window on the way home from school? (Yes, that really happened.)

Truth is, if you work at home you will still need childcare. The idea of working at home with children under foot is a misnomer.
Thats not to say it cannot be done.

I know. I do it. But it is no way the sunny, delightful experience some companies paint for you.

I know this because that very fact is why I began to work from home. I had 4 children at the time and day care costs were more than I could make at any job with only an associate of science in business and journalism.
So how do you get work done and save on child care expenses? The answer is simply stated but annoyingly hard to accomplish.
I quickly learned that to work I needed to get creative. Get up earlier, stay up later and house work…fugettaboutit.
Ask for help from friends and relatives. Let the kids play out doors more often and set up “stations” for play ONLY when mommy is working. This helps A LOT!

The real point here is that if you want to do it you can. You will find a way to get it done if it is really in your heart to do it. You might be sleepy and have to buy new clothes sine you havent had time to do laundry since the 4th of July.
But it gets easier. Hang in there.