Run Your Home Like A Business: Work At Home Mom Duties

In a time when a single income usually isn’t enough to support an entire family, there are more and more mom’s who are both a stay at home mom and a work at home mom.

With the average stay at home mom working about 90+ hours per week around the house it really leaves the question of how to fit your work at home mom duties in with your stay at home mom duties.

My answer to this baffling question is to run your home like a business and perform both your work at home mom duties and your stay at home mom duties seamlessly. It’s not always easy…but I can tell you first hand that it can be done.

First of all, I want to point out that I am not a delusional person who is trying to convince others that she is a perfect person. If for some reason by reading my suggestions you are feeling like you are not as good of a stay at home mom or a work at home mom as me…CUT IT OUT!

I’m not giving advice to you because I run my life perfectly. No, no, no. I’m giving advice to help you try and avoid some of the problems that I have run into when trying to fit my work at home mom duties in with my stay at home mom duties.

As a stay at home mom you probably already have a schedule that you adhere to in order to make sure that all of your household duties are performed on a regular basis.

As a work at home mom you probably also have a schedule that you adhere to in order to make sure that all of your work duties are performed on a regular basis.

Two different schedules? Well, my suggestion is that you meld these two schedules together and perform your work at home mom duties and your stay at home mom duties seamlessly.

Simple? Not really. The entire challenge of this schedule melding rests upon the little people in your home. It’s pretty difficult to create a concrete schedule that you stick to when children are involved.

Time Management

The most important piece of running your home like a business is time management. If you don’t have time management skills…learn some time management skills.

There are plenty of sites out there that offer free, easy to follow lessons on how to increase your time management skills. What? You don’t have time to sit in front of the computer and read all of these articles? Print them out and read them right before bed, read them while your in a doctor’s office waiting room, read them on the toilet. The point is, you can get a few minutes here and there to read these educational articles.

Think of some of the duties that each of your roles as a work at home mom and a stay at home mom has in common. Things that you need to do on a regular basis. Then group all of these similar duties together whether they are for your stay at home mom role or you work at home mom role.

• Errands - No matter if you need to go to the grocery store or the office supply store, you should be grouping all of your errands together and doing them once or twice per week. Take your kid to the doctor, drop off the dry cleaning, stop off and have your business cards printed out. Take advantage of the fact that you are out of the house, plan accordingly and efficiently to get everything done in the same trip.
• Phone Calls - Whether you need to call and schedule appointments for people in your home or you need to call a client to discuss an email, you should be scheduling a time in your day when you get all of your phone calls made. Obviously you are going to want a time when the little people in your home are quiet. Plan out your phone calls the day before if possible by making a list. After making the list, prioritize the list to ensure that your most important phone calls are made first…just in case the little people in your home don’t cooperate.
• Computer Time - Whether you are replying to emails, writing a blog post, or figuring out your grocery shopping list by using an online circular, you should be making a list of everything that you need to get done that involves your computer. Once again, make this list a day ahead of time if possible and try and prioritize as best as you can in case of any unexpected interruptions. Keep in mind that your entire list does not have to be completed in one sitting. Break up your computer time list to make it more doable.

The Importance of Structure

Whether you are performing stay at home mom duties or work at home mom duties, a structured day is going to be your biggest asset.

By structure, I don’t mean that you live and die by a schedule. Things come up and if you are not flexible and don’t know how to roll with the punches you are just going to stress yourself out.

What I mean by structure is to have a weekly plan in place that gives a basic idea of what needs to get done and when. By creating structured weekly plan in your home you will be better able to deal with those little unexpected things that life serves up.

Here is an example of a structured week:

• Monday - Deep clean bathrooms, take John Boy to daycare, 1 load of laundry, change everyone’s sheets, brainstorm for this weeks article ideas, perform research and write 1 article, create weekly shopping list
• Tuesday - Deep clean kitchen, 1 load of laundry, food shopping day, do whatever other errands scheduled while out, bank run if necessary, weekly client phone call, perform research and write 1 article
• Wednesday - Deep clean bedrooms and living room, perform bookkeeping duties (business account and home account), take John Boy to daycare, 1 load of laundry, research and write 1 article

You see, if you set in place a structured weekly plan of the basics that recur each week then you will more easily be able to pepper in the extra responsibilities that are guaranteed to pop up.

After time, your work at home mom duties and your stay at home mom duties will seamlessly come together and you will find yourself running your home like the business it is.

***important***Even though I am promoting the importance of structure and scheduling in your daily responsibilities…DO NOT over schedule yourself. You only get one go at this life, enjoy it while you have it.