Work at Home Mom Tips for Staying Sane
Work at home moms have it tough. Any mom will have days when she feels like she is losing it . . . kids having melt-downs every five seconds, chores left undone and a hungry husband with no food on the table, but when you add deadlines and unfinished products to the list . . . life gets a bit hairier. So, here are a few tips for managing to stay sane, while being a work at home mom.
- Plan, plan, plan. You can´t plan enough. Things will happen to disrupt your plans, but if you have a good, realistic idea of what and how you will get things done, life will be a lot easier.
- Work ahead. Don´t just relax on an easy day, get some extra work done, if you can. It´s important to finish up a couple extra batches of soap when the kids are behaving well or when your husband takes them out for lunch.
- Take time for yourself. Work at home moms tend to forget that they need recharging time, too. This is usually best done out of the house, where you won´t be tempted to work. Take a walk on the beach, get a massage, or just have tea with a friend you haven´t seen in a while.
- Talk to someone. If you are like me, you probably find yourself starved for a little adult conversation at times . . . and husbands aren´t always the best source of this. It´s a good idea to set aside a little time each day or week to chat with a friend or a sister who will give you your quota of real conversation.
- Train your kids. Start them early and train your kids to leave you alone when you are working and to help clean up after themselves. Now, remember that they are children, so chances are you won´t be 100% successful, but even if your child makes his bed each morning and puts his dirty clothes in a hamper, that´s just a couple things less that you will have to do.
- Use proper equipment. If you are working with an ancient version of Word that can´t read newer files, or trying to sew baby dresses on a clunky machine that constantly freezes up or messes the tension up on you . . . it is probably taking away from your productivity. Not just that, but the frustration you face when using equipment that just isn´t suited to the task is not helping to keep you sane!
What are your tips for staying sane as a work at home mom?
Those are all great tips, my main thing I urge moms to do is definately take time for yourselves. It definately helps make you more productive and I know most of us dont do it often enough!!
Another tip I would suggest is prioritize. Things that dont really matter like dirty dishes or some dirty clothes can wait, they’ll still be there tomorrow…
Have a lot of important things to do? Then make the list in order of importance and don’t stress if you cant get to them all. Alot of us tend to have so many things on the table at once just the thought gets overwhelming sometimes.
A qoute I (try) to live by is “Don’t sweat the small stuff,….and its ALL small” Not sure who wrote that but its a good one