WAHMs - What Does Your Day Look Like?

[slvsquared]

Hi! If you work from home, I'd be interested in hearing about what your day looks like.

What time do you get up? What time do your kidlets get up?
Do you have childcare?
Do you work with your kids present, or wait until you have care of some kind for them?
How many hours do you work per day/week?
How do you juggle kids, housework, and working at home

I work from home, and am moving up to steadier hours. I'm trying to achieve some sort of balance, and struggling like crazy to work my schedule around that of my husband and kids.

Feedback is appreciated

[Literate]

Well, I made an Excel spreadsheet at the beginning of the year. Does that tell you anything about our schedule? I am also already planning what next school year will look like. Plus, the summer will be tough.

I work 24 hours a week. 4 days of about 6 hours. 2 of those days I drop off dd1 at full-day kindie, and dd2 goes to two different schools with a lunch at a friend's house in the middle. The other two days my mom takes dd1 to school and watches dd2 until dd2 leaves for her afternoon school. I pick them up every day.

It's crazy. One more crazy year until they are both in full day school. But I love working from home, and I am glad I make a good buck. We get up around 7 and have time to snuggle and read books at breakfast. I generally don't work after they get home from school.

[VSIMom]

I work from home with three children, ages 5, 4 and 2. I gave up trying to work (other than a few emails or phone calls) while they were around a long time ago! They're on me like glue and doing serious work while they are around is impossible. It's nice to be loved so much, but that means that I do all my work in the evenings after they've gone to bed, or on the weekends when my husband takes them somewhere for a couple of hours. The only exception is if I'm filming, then my husband takes his vacation. Post production is done by others, so nothing required on my part except to oversee.

I do housework/errands during the day with them so I can have the evenings/weekends free. It's nice to have the time with them!

[slvsquared]

That's what I've been leaning towards, as well - housework and homeschool during the day, then working evenings and weekends. I'm just....so....tired

I use daycare for client meetings, phone calls, etc., but am thinking about pricing someone to come here a few days per week. Just trying to figure out the best time frame for that.

[madskye]

I work about 30 hours each week. I can't work at night--I tried that this fall and it was miserable for me.

I have one almost 4 year old. She goes to daycare 4 days each week, from 9-4. They have before and aftercare available if I need it. I tried to have her in regular preschool from 12:30-3 3 days a week in the fall, and then juggle home time with me and babysitting, but it was really awful. This is a good routine for us, and gives her plenty of time to learn and play, but still plenty of time with me. It feels good to me.

My day looks like this

6am--I get up, have coffee. If I am busy or motivated I log in and start working. I have clients in Europe so they are already up and at it. I am busy/motivated probably 3 days each week, and then there are probably 2 days where I don't get online until 9.

8am--DD wakes up, we have breakfast, hang out, get ready for school.

9am--I drop DD off at school--it is 3 minutes from our house. I come back and do email/work on whatever needs to be done.

10am--I have conference calls with people the 4 days that I have childcare. I try to set up my calls at either 10 or 2.

11am--off the phone, do some work.

12pm--I either eat lunch at my desk if I am busy or if I am being good to myself, I go out with a friend or go for a run/exercise.

2pm--I usually have another call scheduled, or I call someone to get answers or keep a project moving. I use a lot of email, but it's good to talk to people too.

3pm --I realize my day is almost over and I will need to pick up DD at 4 so I start really working hard.

4pm--pick up DD. In a perfect world, I'm done working but I usually keep checking my email periodically until 6 or so. I do try not to answer the phone after I pick her up. As everyone mentioned--there is nothing more frustrating than trying to have a business conversation with a little person in the background. And I feel like I give work enough time that I can call them back first thing in the morning at that point.

I usually do housework at night, but sometimes I'll throw in a load of laundry, unload the diswasher, give the living room a quick vac during the day. Not all at once, just enough to keep things under control.

[Terpsfan]

I telecommute fulltime. I have a 15 month old. We wake up around 6-6:30am. I drive 10 mins to drop DD off at daycare around 7am. She eats breakfast there (in addition to snacks and lunch). I drive home and start work around 7:30am. I stop work around 3:45 and drive back to daycare to pick her up around 4pm. We play, walk the dog, have dinner, etc until around 6pm. We start bathtime and she's asleep usually around 6:30 (maybe earlier depending on when her nap last was). When she is asleep I usually get back online to check emails, finish up projects or see if anything blew up since 3:30. My time here ranges from a quick 30 mins to a couple more hours depending on the situation.

I love working from home because I don't have to spend any time "getting dressed" for work (I work in jeans, tshirts, sweats, etc..hair in ponytail, no makeup). I don't care what I look like to the daycare teachers! I also am able to throw some laundry in or start a crockpot dinner or something during a conference call. Love multitasking!

We have a cleaning service every 2 weeks so I don't really do any heavy cleaning. Maybe some light picking up, folding laundry, emptying the dishwasher at night. I am usually in bed around 9 because DD still gets up a couple of times a night.

[Rowansmama]

Argh, I'm trying to work something out as we speak, so this is a great topic! I've been working at home since DD was 5 months old and haven't had child care yet. It's worked out surprisingly well, with the exception of a few minor meltdowns (I can't take it anymore! I'm quitting today!)

We get up around 8:00 and eat, play, I do housework, have snacks, etc, until 11:30, when DD has lunch. She has a nap from 12 - 2, during which time I write, write, write. When she wakes up, we often go out to do errands, playgroups, walks until DH comes home at 4:30. We have supper, then DH entertains her while I do some more work until 6:30 when it's bathtime, bedtime is between 7 and 8. Then I hunker down and do a couple more hours of work.

Obviously this schedule would be horrible for some people, but so far I'm hanging in there. I look at it this way: there are lots of people who work evenings and don't get to do it from the comfort of their own home, so that helps me not be too miserable. And I tell myself its' worthwhile to get to spend so much time with my daughter while she's little.

I am seriously thinking about getting up at 6 and getting a couple of hours in before DD wakes up. She's 16 months now and while she still naps, I can imagine once the nap goes I'll either need to get up or get childcare. Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

Hope that helps a bit...

[slvsquared]

Yeah, the nap is gone for the older one. I'm trying to work out some weird combination of early mornings and evenings and still fit in as much as I can. Right now I'm crazy behind on several projects, because there just hasn't been time to fit them in.

[limabean]

When I only had one kid, this was my schedule, which looks so wonderfully efficient in hindsight:

6-8: Work
8-1: Hang with DS (breakfast, playing, lunch, etc.)
1-4: Work during DS's nap
4-6: Hang with DS, do dinner prep, have dinner after DH got home
6-8: Work while DH hung out with DS and got him ready for bed
8-10: Hang with DH, then go to bed

With that schedule, I was able to get in 7 hours of work on weekdays, so I only had to make up a little on weekends. And I had one-on-one time with both DS and DH without feeling like I was neglecting work -- it was great!

But now that I have 2 kids and my DS doesn't nap anymore, that tidy little schedule is out the window. I'm just getting by, and doing tons of work on nights and weekends, and feeling like I have very little time that isn't consumed by childcare or work. It stinks.

[slvsquared]

That DOES look wonderfully effective If only my oldest napped....

I'm thinking something like:

6-7 Drag my butt out of bed
7-9 Write
9-12 Hang out with the kidlets: housework, homeschool, etc.
12-1 Quiet time/nap time - answer emails and check in with daytime clients
1-3 Hang out with the kidlets : see above
3:30-4:30 Dinner
5-9 Write

Catch is that DH works days AND evenings on Wed and Thurs. He's been taking the two year old to work with him, but that'll be stopping soon. I'm thinking I may try to make up that ten hours or so on the weekends.

Also, a lovely lovely friend of mine has offered to watch my girls for 16 hours a week for me, as needed, for FREE : She'd going to let me bring my kids to her house to play with hers, and I can hang out in the basement and use the wi-fi.

[Graceoc]

I have two kids in school full time and two little ones. The little ones go to Mothers Morning Out/Preschool 5 days a week from 9-1.

Our Day

Wake 7am
DH gets the big kids ready, packs their lunches and takes them to school
8am - 9am - I get the little kids ready, pack lunch and take them to school.

When the kids are all in school I have designated shooting days (I am a photgrapher) Thur and Fri. Non-shooting days are spent editing, packaging, taking care of books, marketing, ect. In addition I usually try to do household tasks during that time as well, shopping, cleaning, ect. Needless to say it is not enough time.

I end up working (usually editing) in the evenings for a few hours as well. I also work on the weekends.

[sewchris2642]

I wah ft as a dressmaker. I work Wed - Sat. My day starts at 6:30-7am. Dh takes Dylan to school at 7:30. I clean up the kitchen, maybe start a load of laundry. My work day schedule is 9am to2pm with a break for lunch. I break at 2pm to run errands, do housework, pick up my son from after school care (he went to dc from 9am to 5pm) at 5pm, dinner, etc. Around 7pm I go back to sewing until 10-11pm for a total of 8-9 hours a day.

On Mon and Tues I work at a bridal shop doing alterations. I wah just in the evenings on those 2 days. I work/sew 6 days a week, reserving Sundays for family, averaging 40-50 hours a week.

Right now though, I get interupted by grandchildren. With Joy and family living with us with their 3 (almost 4, almost 2, and 2 months) and watching Erica's 4 month old while she is at work, I have a lot more distractions at home.

[AlwaysByMySide]

I work part-time from home. (I own a retail business.) I also work part-time outside the home, Monday - Wednesday.

What time do you get up? What time do your kidlets get up?
On my WOH days, we get up at 7:30, in time for everyone to eat breakfast, get dressed, me to make lunches, and get out the door.

On all other days, we wake up whenever we feel like waking up. (I am NOT a morning person. Neither is my daughter. My son is.)


Do you have childcare?
Mother's Day Out at a local church on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then the sitter on Tuesdays, but these are used when I'm working OUTSIDE the home. (Even when I was just working at home, they were in Mother's Day Out - the best invention ever!)

Do you work with your kids present, or wait until you have care of some kind for them?
I do 90% of my WAH work when they are sleeping (or at the least, when my son is asleep. Sometimes DD comes and hangs out with me in my sewing room.) I can tie threads and little things like that while I'm hanging out with them. When we move, I'm going to set it up so that my sewing area and their playroom are in the same room.

How many hours do you work per day/week?
Depends on the week. I would say, on average, about 20-30 hours. About 2-4 hours per night, and then randomly throughout the day.

How do you juggle kids, housework, and working at home?
My kids DO lose a little attention, which is annoying, and is why I try to accomplish as much as I can while they are asleep. I clean houses as my WOH job, so it just makes sense to come home and attack my own house. I do one room a day, for the most part, but I am horrible about dishes. They get done when I have to get them done.

[slvsquared]

I'm going to try my new schedule this week. I also have a friend who's volunteered to help me by watching the girls for several hours per week, and that will start this week, as well. I'm interviewing in home providers, so that maybe I can get 10-15 hours of childcare per week to supplement my early mornings and late nights.

Wish me luck!

[DeChRi]

I telecommute FT for a 45+ hr/week corporate job. We have had child care in our home thus far, though are considering a change. Right now, I get up at 6am-ish, nurse DD2 (16 months) for 30 min or so. DH gets up, starts breakfast, showers while I get the morning nursing done. DD1 gets herself up (she is 9), showers and gets herself ready. Around 7am I do a quick Blackberry check to make sure nothing with my overseas account blew up overnight. We all sit down to breakfast around 7:45am. 8:15am the nanny arrives, DH takes DD1 to school and I hunker down to work. Depending on my day I try and come out to play for a bit at lunch, and if she is having a rough day, I pop out and nurse DD2. Some days I try and run down the road to get DD1 from school, but basically I just work till 5pm, DH home at 5:30/6-ish, then I finish my work after kids are in bed. Two mornings/week my inlaws come watch DD2 and many times DH gets a couple hours to come home and play (he is in real estate). It is getting increasingly difficult to balance with DD2 at home. SHe knows I am there, business is busy and I have many calls during the day that I have to be on, etc. We are considering a daycare from about 8:45-2:45 daily, then I work till then, pick her up (that is my "lunch") bring her home and setle her in, then have inlaws or hubby or nanny for those last couple hours.

It is really tough and there are many days I wonder how to balance it all to make it "right".

[siobhang]

dh and I WAH full time.

We have childcare 8am - 6pm M-F - combination of preschool and an au pair, though we are moving to a nanny and preschool soon.

our rule is no childcare = no work. It was too hard otherwise. if we have a day without childcare (sick au pair, school closed), we swing shift it between the two of us.

[slvsquared]

Originally Posted by DeChRi

It is really tough and there are many days I wonder how to balance it all to make it "right".

This is the part that I struggle with, too. I feel like it's never "right", but then again, I might not know what "right" looked like if it bit me in the butt

The girls started staying with a friend last week for around ten hours, and it was way easier than I was afraid it would be : I thought the baby would fuss for me if I wasn't there to nurse, but she's taking solids and just ate some cheerios and fruit, then nursed when I picked them up. I was only away for like four hours, but it seemed to work out well.

ETA: I'm beginning to like the no childcare= no work rule, I just have to do some juggling to get there, I think.

[siobhang]

Originally Posted by slvsquared

ETA: I'm beginning to like the no childcare= no work rule, I just have to do some juggling to get there, I think.

I find this helps us both:

1. maximize the time we hvae with the kids, so we aren't distracted by all the work stuff; and
2. focuses our productivity - after all, work expands to fill the time allocated, right? and when we WAH, work is always there, just waiting to be done. So we needed to have a way to "leave the office", otherwise, we are always working.

[slvsquared]

That makes very good sense. I do find that my work expands the more I let it. Just giving up the Blackberry has been a huge help - methinks I should try for set hours, as well.

[sewchris2642]

Originally Posted by slvsquared

The girls started staying with a friend last week for around ten hours, and it was way easier than I was afraid it would be : I thought the baby would fuss for me if I wasn't there to nurse, but she's taking solids and just ate some cheerios and fruit, then nursed when I picked them up. I was only away for like four hours, but it seemed to work out well.

ETA: I'm beginning to like the no childcare= no work rule, I just have to do some juggling to get there, I think.

Working at home with the kids also there, is hard on the kids, imo. While you are home, you really aren't "there" for them. I tried it when Dylan was 3. Even when I could get him to play in the backyard (I sewed in the kitchen and could see him), he still wanted me looking at him instead of sewing. And he had no one to play with. We were both happier when he went back to dc. Now that he's 11, it's easier. Although, he still has a tendency to stand next to the sewing machine and talk to me. I still have to remind him that I need to focus on the sewing machine at times.