by Shannon Weidemann in Family
Nothing strikes fear in the heart of this work at home mom as the dreaded sick day. Scheduled days off on the school calendar and even a snow day are nothing compared to the sick day. You can plan ahead for the day off and generally a snow day is forecast a few days ahead. You have warning to be prepared with backup child care plans or a special craft project or two.
The sick day begins in the wee hours of morning that leaves you with little sleep and a very demanding patient that you suddenly must take care of. What is a work at home mom to do? Luckily this is probably one of the reasons that you work from home in the first place. The to do list of work though, still needs to be taken care of.
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One of the great things about being both a WAHM and homeschooling, is that when you decide to spend time with family, you can! We hadn’t seen my mom in over a year, so when she decided to fly out to Vegas early for a convention we were both attending, we were able to join her! She also decided to stay with us for 2 weeks. We certainly didn’t want to have to stay home for 2 weeks! We were able to take the time to travel the state and go to various parks, at our convenience, without worrying about missed work or school! There was a great little hotel we stayed at in Sedona that had free wi-fi, so we were able to work on what we needed to when we got back to the room each night. Alec spent a lot of time learning about different parts of the state as well as many different kinds of animals as we went to an African Safari Park. Now we’re back off to Vegas so that Alec can spend time with his dad and I can spend time with friends.
We wouldn’t have had any of these opportunities if I didn’t work from home along with homeschooling. I would have needed to attempt to take some time off, as well as trying to get permission for Alec to miss school. It just wouldn’t have happened! Now we’ve all great thousands of amazing pictures, not to mention the memories and of course the things that we all learned along the way!
Just because I sit on my bum almost all day long, and have been known to not leave my house for days, does not mean that I do nothing all day long. Contrary to popular belief (aka my local friends and family), I do actually clock in over 40 hours per week actually “working”, aka earning money to support my family.
I am not only a work-at-home mom, but a single work-at-home mom. Single mom of four in fact. I got divorced over ten years ago, the same year that I decided to quit my day job and become my own boss. Both were the best things I ever did, both for my mental and my financial wellness.
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One of the most important books I’ve ever read is called The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts
, by Gary D. Chapman. This book has helped improve the quality of every relationship I’ve ever had, from my husband and kids to co-workers and friends. It’s a simple read and an even more simple concept, but so incredibly true and important that it’s worth the time to understand.
The book outlines that people (in general) have 5 “Love Languages” and that each person in the world, no matter their relationship to you, is responsive most predominantly to one or two. By understanding the other person’s love language, you’re able to appreciate them more completely the way THEY want to be appreciated, respected and loved, ultimately turning them into a happier, healthier and happier individual and improving your relationship with them.
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I’ve been working from home since 1998. At this point my home and office are one in the same, however it’s easy to forget that my entire home isn’t my office. I work primarily at a desk right in the kitchen so I can see the kids throughout the day, hear what’s going on, and be available. I usually end up working all hours of the day, so defining “work” from “home” can be difficult. With young kids at home, its easy to get in the routine of working in between home duties, it’s more of a responsibility than a a simple routine.
Balancing the work space and schedule so the rest of the family doesn’t feel like they live in your office can be tricky. Initially, a separate designated office space in the home would seem to solve the potential of turning your entire home into the office. However, with kids at home, hiding away in an office doesn’t always work. The biggest obstacle is scheduling work to not interfere with home activities and daily duties. [ click to continue… ]
With the new year here, it is time to take a look at our finances and get rid of old bad habits we may have. We are off to a new and fresh start, and this year we will save money. Hoping for the best is not the way to grow your money. Instead, taking small little baby steps can free us from regret, worry, and losses.
How often do you hear yourself stating that you do not have enough money? (I do think that is a statement we all have uttered at one point or another). A way to get more money so you have enough is to adjust your approach. One way to gain more money each month is to use the 50-30-20 budget. The way this budget works is that you spend just 50% of your pay (after taxes) on essentials. These are things like your mortgage payment, utilities, food, car payments, etc. 30% of your income is your wants. This would be vacations, eating out, gifts, etc. Lastly, 20% of your income goes towards an emergency fund. (You have one of those right?) You can also use this money to pay your debt down past the minimum payments. I found a great calculator to help you figure out how much money you should allocate to each thing. [ click to continue… ]
This week is a perfect example of why my daughter and I work from home and why she homeschools. Although it might be more appropriate for Liz to write this article, I wanted to share as a Grandparent and Mom why I have always encouraged my children to make their own way in the world and make it work for them. Because my business exists online, I can work from anywhere, any time of day. Because Liz has followed in my footsteps, she also works from home mostly online, but has recently added work in physical locations, but always on her own schedule. My sons left high school at 10th grade and were tutored at home, so although I didn’t technically home school, they didn’t stay in a traditional school setting.
My philosophy about learning is that it doesn’t have to occur in a classroom. I can hear all my teacher friends gasping. Homeschooling isn’t right for everyone. Society makes it easier to work your schedule around a school schedule. I think children should be taught that every day there are learning experiences all around you. You don’t only learn from 8-3 each day for 10 months out of the year. Everything you do should be and can be a learning experience. Reading a book before going to bed. Reading to your little sister. Watching educational television. Having discussions with people of other generations and listening to their history.
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It’s already been proven that using social media can grow an audience, a following, a community and even grow sales. Pinterest is fast becoming a top location for inspiration for a variety of topics including home decor ideas, gifts, fashion, crafting, food and much more. If you can take high quality photos of interesting things about your products or services, Pinterest could help you gain an audience.
What is Pinterest?
If you haven’t heard about it yet, Pinterest is a social networking community focusing on images as the means of sharing. Users create categories in which they then share, or “pin” images of all kinds of things from food to travel and all the activities in between. Followers can then “like” images, comment, or even re-pin to their own categories. Because it’s image based, it’s very easy to see viral content as it is being re-pinned and traveling through the community. [ click to continue… ]
I know it sounds like the opposite of why we work from home, but WAHMs really need to get out of the house! We spend our days balancing between bus stops, conference calls, blogging, packing lunches, and doing laundry. But one of the best things that we can do for our WAHM business is actually to get out of the house.
I just returned home from the Affiliate Summit conference (along with many of the other ItsaWAHMThing.com writers). I have to admit that before I left, I was not very excited about going. I get into my routine at home with my work and my kids. The thought of leaving for days was daunting. Yet I knew that I needed to do it and that once I got there I would be glad that I did. It takes a lot of extra time to prepare to go on a trip when you are a WAHM. In addition to making preparations at home for how your household will run without you, you have to prepare your business with pre-written blog posts, people to watch your forum, etc. Would it really be worth all of that?
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Most of us have seen some sort of movie depicting “Mean Girls” in adolescent schools. I don’t know about you but where I came from we didn’t have mean girls, so when I see these movies I am baffled by what some people experience or by the film industries over exaggeration. Now as a mother I am terrified by the idea that my girls may be bullied at school. However, overcoming adversity is a strategic mind game in which I think everyone should learn to play. [ click to continue… ]
