This week on CWAHM: Juggling Home-Based Business and Family

Q: I have been having my home based business for three years now and I still am struggling how to juggle business and being a mom, wife and house keeper. How do you juggle these? I want to make this a success, but so far it’s only been frustration.

My children are 4 and 2 years old an they are more challenging than most (not as in spoiled, but as in needing more time than the average kid) Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

A: GREAT question. My kids are now 7 and 4, so I now have a little bit of help in my seven-year-old. But, I found something that I had written a few years ago. In it, I listed my kids ages as 4 and 1. I could tell when reading it that I had been very frazzled. I think I lived in a state of frazzled during those years when they were both so small.

My main advice would be to cut yourself some slack. Things will get easier and more manageable as your kids get older.

My practical advice is this:

1. Plan out menus each week. I literally spend about 2 minutes on this. I have a small magnetic dry-erase board that I keep on my refridgerator. Each Sunday, I write out the days of the week and what we’ll have for supper that day. (Lunches almost always consist of sandwhichs or something easy like that since it’s just me and the kids).

This makes grocery shopping a breeze because I know just what ingredients I need. It also alleviates the nagging thoughts of “what are we going to eat tonight?” If possible, have one or both of your kids help you decide what to put. You’ll be surprised at how much they like having a say in what goes on that board!

2. Set a day for everything. My days look something like this:

Mondays – Housework & Laundry (& Business tasks as time allows)

Tuesdays – Grocery Shopping and Business Tasks (this used to be during naptime, but is now during preschool time)

Wednesdays – Bible Study and lunch with hubby (& Business tasks as time allows)

Thursdays – Business Tasks as much as possible with playtime in between

Friday – Take it easy day (& Business tasks as time allows)

Saturdays – Luandry

Sunday – Church and a good, long nap.

It seems a little boring a paper, but I can’t tell you how much this little schedule has saved my sanity. I know when I get up in the morning what I have ahead of me and it is broken into manageable segments. You’ll find that scheduling things amongst these “main” schedule items will get easier and easier as you get used to the schedule.

Let me know if this helps!

Got Questions? We’ve added a new feature to our newsletter – the “Ask Jill” Column. The above Q & A is from the April 1st CWAHM Newsletter.Anyone can submit a work-at-home question by going to the Ask Jill link in our main menu on CWAHM. Or, simply click here. Each week, I’ll answer a question in our newsletter!