Organizing for Moms Who Work at Home

Working at home for some is achieving the dream.  However you may quickly discover this dream comes with some unforeseen complications.  You thought the overly chatty coworker in the cube next to you was a distraction?

He has got nothing on a three year old.  You will need to be organized in order to get done what you need to do for your family and run a successful career out of your home.

My top tip for “organizing for moms” is putting together an efficient and realistic schedule.

The importance of a schedule can’t be emphasized enough.  Both a work schedule for you and a daily flow schedule for your kids will help you have the most productive, happiest days.

Mom’s working at home may have an unrealistic vision of what can be accomplished in a day.  Then when you haven’t accomplished everything you set out to you feel overwhelmed and defeated.  A very specific schedule and goals can stop this from happening.

It can also help to prevent you from falling into all of the procrastination traps that mom’s working out of the house can easily find.  If you hold yourself to a schedule it will be harder to justify the thirty minutes you just spent browsing the internet shopping for a new fall purse.

First decide when you are going to work and how many hours you will need to do your job.  This will vary depending on your children and how many hours your job or business will require.  If you are at home alone with an infant or toddler that needs much of your attention nap time may be the obvious choice for work time.  Likewise if you take a child to preschool or have a nanny or other help during the day these would be good hours to designate as work hours.  In addition to knowing when you are going to work, know when you are not.

If your preschooler likes to tell you all about what they did that day schedule an hour break when they come home to spend with them looking at their new artwork and giving their stories your full attention.  If you schedule in the break you won’t have to be thinking about work you should be doing while your four year old tells you their day’s adventures.  Also know that if you are working around an infant or toddler’s schedule right before nap or a meal are not going to be good times to attempt to be productive.

When putting together your schedule be specific.  Moms working at home may schedule their day casually, such as I will work on project A in the afternoon.  Until suddenly the deadline for project A is looming closer and closer and you are nowhere near complete.

Try something like this instead, from 6-7am I will return emails in relation to project A, from 7-8am I will complete an outline, ect.  Make sure the goals you set for your time blocks are actually obtainable.  If you can never complete what you want to you’ll start feeling overwhelmed and like you are constantly playing catch up.

Keep your work area organized and clear of things not work related when at all possible.  If you find your kids things, or extra mail and house clutter, keep ending up at your work area try a drop basket.  Keep a small basket, or dedicate a drawer, to things that don’t belong at your desk.  Then at the end of the “work day” distribute these items to their actual home.

This way you won’t get distracted ten times a day when you go to put away a child’s toy.

Plan your kid’s schedule ahead of time.  Take twenty minutes in the evening after everyone has gone to bed to pull out activities, art projects, or cds that you will want to use tomorrow.  Having activities on deck will save you time the next day from having to think of something and prepare it on spot.  Plan and prepare snacks or any part of tomorrow’s meal that you can.  For example chop vegetables, defrost, or pre-measure ingredients.

Moms working out of their home who plan dedicated work time and dedicated family time really can get the dream they were hoping for!

Being an organized mom is a crucial part of being successful and happy and avoiding getting completely overwhelmed and behind in your work.

Remember, as your family grows and changes so will your work schedule.   What works for you today will likely not this time next year.

Working at home takes being flexible and knowing not every day will go as you had planned, but tomorrow you’ll have a chance to start new again!

Do you have some other “organizing for moms” tips?  If yes, please share them in the comments below.