Does your home always look like a hurricane hit it? If you´re busy with your business, chances are the kids strew their toys around, dishes pile up in the sink, laundry fills and overflows the hampers . . . it´s pretty much inevitable unless you hire someone to deal with the mess that daily living brings. And then someone knocks on the door. Panic ensues and things are hurled into closets, dishes are shoved under the sink and kids are instructed to sweep those candy wrappers under the couch, out of sight.
It can be pretty stressful when someone appears unexpectedly and you haven´t had time to tidy the place up! But there are a few things you can do to make your home appear nice and organized, even when you are really slaving away on your laptop and haven´t had time to cook a decent meal in days.
- Wax the floor. Yeah, it takes some time, but guess what? It means stuff slides easier, which makes those pesky dust bunnies head right out the door when you swat them with a broom. AND, it also always looks like you JUST finished cleaning.
- Fill the sink with soapy water. If you don´t have a dishwasher, fill your sink with soapy water and dump all those dishes right into the water. Don´t worry if it´s cold. Anyone showing up unexpectedly will assume you were in the middle of doing dishes and when you do get around to doing them, they´ll be nice and ready to just wipe clean and rinse. An added bonus, any mother-in-laws who pop in will probably feel obligated to “finish” the dishes for you!
- Hang your towels. Dish towels, bathroom towels, etc. can all change the appearance of a room immensely by simply hanging them up and straightening them. Very quick to do and it can make your house look great.
- Ban toys. Not completely, but if you make sure that the kids don´t play with toys in the kitchen or living room, you´ll be saving yourself a lot of last minute sweeps. Added bonus . . . no more Hot Wheels wedging themselves painfully between your toes. Keep toys restricted to the bedrooms or playroom and keep your house WAY neater.
- Put small things in closed cupboards. Instead of storing CDs and DVDs on bookshelves, put them inside something with doors. This has two purposes. First of all, a smooth door looks way neater than a ton of CDs. Secondly, out of sight, out of mind . . . kids won´t be constantly pulling dozens of movies out and leaving them strewn about!
- Bonus Tip: Keep flat surfaces clean. Just make a point of not putting stuff down on a flat surface like the table or counter. You´ll find that the whole place looks neater if these spots are clutter free.
We would all love to have a clean house, but sometimes it just isn´t possible to clean up to your desired standards and still meet those deadlines and actually let your kids know that you aren´t one with the computer. So, out of the equation, it´s pretty obvious that housework has to be the area that gets slacked on.
These tips can help you maintain the appearance of being a decent housekeeper without really spending any time on housework. At least until you get a break in the work and can spend some time doing a thorough cleanup. So, what are your tips for making your house look clean?
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Of course you do. Just about every work at home mom could use a better home office. The problem is getting it when you just don´t have the space for it. Also, a big issue for moms of smaller children is being able to keep an eye on them while you work, which negates the possibility of a completely separate home office.
If you are making a living off your home business, it definitely merits a worthy spot in your home. Take the time to pick the best spot you can for your home office. Here are a few things that you should definitely think about when designing your home office.
- Light. Working in a dark corner can really be depressing and it can actually drop your productivity level.
- Air. Open a window and you´ll instantly feel more awake as you sit down to work.
- Equipment. Make sure that you don´t skimp on your equipment. It will end up costing you more time and money trying to deal with a cheap printer that spatters your printouts than buying a proper one.
- Make it permanent. Working from the kitchen table isn´t the best solution. It´s a good idea to have a space, however small, where you can leave things while you make dinner and it´s easier to go back to. Having to haul all your work out every time you want to work is time consuming and it´s easy to decide that something else is more important.
If you need some inspiration for home offices, I highly recommend going to Flickr and searching for “home office”. You´ll get shots of what other people use as their offices and it´s quite inspiring. Plus, you´ll pick up plenty of new ideas for organization.
Forcing balance . . . it doesn´t sound like a very balanced balance, does it? Unfortunately, working from home often means that it´s hard to stop after working hours. Your desk is right there . . . work is waiting to be done . . . it just makes sense to do that instead of watching TV or doing dishes once the kids are in bed, right?
All work and no play can actually be very bad for you. We all need down time and many work at home moms just don´t get any. Being a mom is hard enough. You tend to lose bits of yourself as you transition into the role of caregiver and parent. Maybe you used to paint before your children came along. Or perhaps you´d love to take up crochet, but just don´t have the time. Every mom struggles with maintaining her own identity and when you add working at home on top of that, it just becomes harder to remember the relaxed you!
Forcing yourself to have time to do things that you used to enjoy is important. It will help you be a better mom AND a better businesswoman. You´ll be happier and won´t resent the time given over to other pursuits if you know that you´ll have a chance to do something you want to do, too.
So, how do you force yourself to be balanced? It depends on what you´re missing, really. For myself, I turn off the computer at 7:30 and go watch television or a movie with my husband . . . while I craft or embroider or even sand a chair for painting. The temptation to write just one more article is still there, but since the computer is off, it´s a little more difficult. You can also ask your husband or kids to remind you to step away from work, or even make a point of just leaving the house so you won´t be able to do anything. I personally like to watch television or movies because it helps keep my mind off of what I could be doing.
How do you force yourself to be balanced?
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We all have never ending projects. The baby quilt you started when you were pregnant . . . ten years ago. The half-finished basket from the basket weaving course 6 months ago. That rough website that you´ve been picking away at for a year now. There are all manner of projects like this in our lives and when they involve business projects . . . well, that just slows everything down!
It can be really difficult to finish up those business tasks that take forever and never seem to be completely done. Maybe you need another tool or you have to learn a technique before you can finish . . . there´s always something. Unfortunately, a pile of unfinished tasks can really cause problems:
- You get stressed out because you have so much to do.
- Other areas of your business suffer because you never finish that one vital project.
- Your plans always go awry because your unfinished tasks are in the way.
- You lose money by not working at your top efficiency.
As work at home moms, we´re already under a lot of stress and anything that can help reduce that is good. So, it´s time for some spring cleaning and time to get rid of those unfinished business projects.
Step By Step: Finishing Never Ending Projects
- Make a list. Figure out all those niggling things that you never quite get around to doing and write them down. If there is any project that you´ve started, but haven´t finished, put it on the list.
- Prioritize. Which task is stressing you out most? Which ones will help your business earn more money? Decide which tasks are most important to you and list them with the most urgent on top.
- Plan the first task. That first one is all you are going to look at for now. Ignore the rest. Take a fresh sheet of paper or a new Word Document and start writing out the steps you need to take to finish the task. Include things like “buy fabric” or getting anything else that you need.
- Make a shopping list and do it. If you need to buy materials to finish this project, make a list and then go get the stuff . . . no more procrastinating.
- Set aside time. Your project might not be something you can actually do in a day. If that´s the case, schedule an hour or two of unbroken time to work on it each day until you are finished.
- Rinse and repeat. Now go back to Step 3 and follow all the steps again for the next never ending project.
Trust me, you´ll feel way better and your business will be more productive once you get those never ending projects out of the way. Not to mention, you´ll be on top of the world in terms of feeling productive!
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A few years ago, very few people even knew what a virtual assistant was . . . let alone use one. That has all changed.
These days, anyone can have a virtual assistant, thanks to international outsourcing. There are VAs available in the US, as well as around the world. While some swear by using an Indian or Chinese virtual assistant, others claim that American and Canadian VAs are of far better quality, though they charge more.
Truthfully, I think it depends on the business. If you have the money to pay $40+ an hour, then a more local virtual assistant is probably best. You don´t have to worry about cultural or language barriers and your time zones are going to be pretty similar. Your American VA can answer phones or pick up your mail, something that a foreign virtual assistant will have difficulties with.
However, if you are a fairly small business, then a virtual assistant from abroad might be just the thing. They are cheaper, work when you sleep (usually) and if you get a good one, they are supposed to be quite resourceful. Now, I´m going on what I´ve read since I´ve never hired a virtual assistant . . . but that´s all about to change.
The Decision
Lately, I´ve been swamped. I have work coming in, commitments online and off, my kids to look after and a myriad of household chores piling up. It´s overwhelming. And it can´t go on like this.
So, I took a hard look at my life and decided that I need to start reassigning some of the more menial tasks, the ones that I never get around to doing or that take me entirely too long to get through. However, I don´t earn huge amounts per hour, (though I´d love to change that), so I needed to find someone that wouldn´t charge too much.
Since I live in Guatemala, outsourcing physical tasks like housework is pretty cheap. I can get a girl in to clean for 4 hours a day for around $50 a month. We already outsource the laundry to a lady up the street who is far better at scrubbing grass stains out of a toddler´s jeans than I am and charges $5 for a massive tub of laundry once a week.
But it´s time to take this a step further.
Last night, I made up a list of business and personal tasks that could be done by a VA. There are quite a few, which really surprised me! So the hunt began.
Search for a Virtual Assistant
I had a few prerequisites. I needed the following:
- Someone cheap (I can´t afford to pay much at this point)
- Ability to pay with PayPal
- Someone who spoke English fluently, since I need them to write letters and such.
Well, American virtual assistants were ruled out immediately because of the higher price, though I´m sure they would be a great choice if I could afford them. I found several virtual assistant groups via the Tim Ferris blog, but they either didn´t offer prices or required use of a credit card, which I still don´t have.
The next step was to search for Indian virtual assistants and I finally came across the VA4U site, which is basically just a listing of VAs around the world. I actually found one here in Guatemala, but her ad was in Spanish, and though she might be useful in the future, I need English at the moment.
In the end, I contacted about a dozen different people in various countries to get their prices and see if we could work together. Within 4 hours, I´ve received two replies. The plan is to try a couple of virtual assistants out and then make a decision on whether to stick with one. This is an experiment at this stage, to see if I really would be more productive by outsourcing some of the more tedious work involved in running my various endevours.
You´ll be kept posted!
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