Business and Family...Cont.

As promised, we will elaborate on our tips of creating a productive work environment from home.

1) Getting Organized

Organizing Your Office--if everything has a place and it is put back after being used, it is easy to find what you need when you need it. If you struggle with this, check out my girl Jennifer Ford Berry at http://www.jenniferfordberry.blogspot.com/. Jennifer is a professional organizer and her blog has great ideas on getting and staying organized.

Organizing Your Kitchen--this may seem a little odd to talk about but if you are preparing a meal, why not make two of them and throw one in the freezer for a night when you don't have time to put anything together? I often will make a big enough batch of mashed potatoes so that I do not need to peel potatoes the next evening and cook them. Save as much time in the kitchen as you can. I actually know people who use one weekend a month to prepare all of their meals for the month. Now, I'm not able to go that far but I will try to lighten my load as much during the week as I can.

2) Create a Scedule

Office Hours--Decide realistically how many hours can you work from home and then set specific office hours so that you and your family know when the time has come that either mom or dad will be working.

Schedule & Routine for Kids--If your children understand and know when you will be working, they will get into a routine. If they are in a routine, you'll find they listen more closely and things tend to run more smoothly (at least in our case).

3) Be Flexible

The greatest gifts we can give our families is flexibility. After all, isn't that why we wanted to work from home so we could have some flexibility to do all the other tasks that need to be accomplished? No matter how good your schedule is, there will be those days when being flexible will be your lifeline. When scheduling events leave extra time in between so you can spend 10 minutes with your child or have time to prepare for the next phone call, etc.

4) Delegate

Good managers know they need to delegate tasks to the appropriate people. Everyone in the family can help out. There's nothing wrong with having children clean up after themselves or help put dishes away, etc.

5) Swap Babysitting Duties

If you have friends or family nearby, see if you can set up some swapping of care for your children. I'm not sure about you, but it seems I can get so much done in a shorter period of time if the kids aren't around. Sometimes a person just needs the quiet to regroup and be productive again.

6) Have Fun

Don't forget to have fun. Work and our full-time jobs as moms leaves us little time for fun. Go to a nice park, play on the swingset, wave some bubbles in the air and don't forget we wanted to work from home to be with our children.

Live Big and Love Much