Working from home come with a lot of advantages but it also requires a lot of discipline before one can have a productive day. Distractions are the major disadvantages of working from home especially when you have young children in the house.
As a mom of two kids who work from home, I always plan my week ahead of time. I was lucky enough to have found a good school for my kids. My youngest just started preschool which means more free time for me to focus on work alone.
A few months ago when my daughter was still nursing, I would wake up at 6 pm to prepare breakfast and get my son ready for school early so that his Dad can drop him off on his way to work. Once he leave for school, I would tidy up my house and put the toys where they should be and then I will start working at 9 am. It was a little easy for me because I could comfortably nurse my daughter while working. Whenever she’s fussy and the diaper isn’t soiled, I will just nurse her and she will be calm. By the time my son will return from school, I would have had at least five productive hours.
My Daily Routine
I take my kids to school every morning. On Mondays, once I drop them off at school I will head straight to the car wash and then come back home to do a few house chores before resuming work at 9 am.
I usually stop working at 2:30 pm and quickly prepare something for them to eat before picking them up at 3 pm. Once they get back from school, I bathe them immediately. I also work for an hour from 4 pm to 5 pm before preparing dinner.
My routine is basically the same from Monday to Friday the only thing I don’t do every day is going to the car wash. I only visit the car wash twice a week. Also, I always load the washing machine with their clothes on Friday evening so that I can iron them on Saturday. My time on weekends are spent with my family but if I have a deadline to meet, I will squeeze in 2 hours of work after lunch on Saturday.
Final Thoughts
Working from home might not be suitable for everyone but it is worth a try. The most important thing is to plan your day ahead of time and to get rid of every distraction. Don’t forget to utilize some productive software for instance, I use asana for task management and toggl track time.
I hope you have a productive day!
