NOTE: With this article, Towel & Basin continues its celebration of Women’s History Month by serving and supporting, encouraging and empowering women who are making history today.
Successful work-at-home moms are skilled at scheduling.
In a previous article, we looked at reasons why scheduling is important and ways to do it.
Wondering how a successful WAHM might schedule and organize her day?
Although each mom’s experience is unique, we can share a profile to give you an idea of how you can be productive even with kids around, meals to cook, errands to run and, as the sales copy says, “much, much more.”
Here is Elise’s story
Elise runs a website design business from home, sometimes welcoming clients there but usually working through email and the telephone. She has a husband who works full-time and 2 children – 7-year-old Ethan and 3-year-old Sasha.
Here’s how Elise structures her day, as she seeks to get time for herself, for the household, and for the kids, all while she works a full day with her business.
Elise gets up early in the morning, showers, checks emails and other work she can do quickly before getting the kids up. Before they go to school, she makes them breakfast and lunches, makes the beds and starts the laundry. Later in the morning, Elise will take a break from work and start dinner in the slow cooker.
With the kids are at school, Elise works several hours without interruption before taking a quick break for lunch, which she packed the night before for herself. She also goes for a quick jog before heading to pick up Sasha at preschool.
In the afternoon, Elise reads to Sasha and plays a quick game with her before giving her “quiet time” which is when Sasha – who gave up naps long ago – plays quietly while Elise works.
Right before telling Sasha her quiet time is over, Elise makes a quick work-related phone call. When Sasha’s is quiet time is over, she and Elise head over to the school to pick up Ethan. Before heading home the three take time out to enjoy the park that’s adjacent to the school.
In the afternoon, the kids want to play outside, so Elise takes a laptop outside and works remotely while the kids play and she keeps an eye on them.
When Elise’s husband comes home, she takes a quick break and makes salad and slices some bread to go with dinner. While he plays with the children before dinner, she finishes up her workday and makes a list of things to tackle first thing the next morning.
Here are a few observations from Elise’s day.
1. Elise plans the next day on the night before. She makes a quick list of what she needs to tackle first so when she gets up in the morning, she is ready to hit the ground running. She doesn’t need to waste time figuring it out. This includes planning and pre-packing meals.
2. Elise makes time in the day for herself, answering quick personal emails and taking a jog. But she is focused on work, and she doesn’t waste time watching a soap opera on TV, scrolling social media platforms or texting friends.
3. Elise manages to make time for her kids as much as possible. No matter how busy she is, she tries to remind herself why she is at home in the first place and that’s to be available to her family and children.
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Elise’s daily experience won’t be yours, obviously, but much can be learned from her daily scheduling and planning practices
Resources
Scheduling: A Key to Success for WAHMs
Image by CreationOffice from Pixabay