The best tips for work at home moms are those that will help them amplify the pros of working at home, while allowing them to diminish the cons. Such tips include finding an appropriate job, creating a suitable workspace, and learning what’s required of her in terms of taxes and other financial considerations. Of course, it’s just as important to develop a work and family routine with time efficiency, as well as free time, in mind.
It’s important for work at home moms to find at-home jobs they’re both interested in and qualified for. Otherwise, they could find themselves unsatisfied or unable to perform the jobs’ duties. Avoiding scams is another important goal for those who want to work from home. Fortunately, there are several ways a potential work from home mom can find legit job advertisements in her areas of interest and experience. Among those sources are online forums and message boards, the websites and blogs of other work at home moms, and moms she already knows who work from home.
Like all people who work at home, work at home moms need a suitable workspace complete with the tools necessary to complete the jobs. This workspace will depend on a variety of factors, including space availability and where her presence is required in the home. For example, converting an extra bedroom into a home office complete with a desk, computer, printer, telephone, fax machine, and any other gadgets is ideal. If she has young children at home, however, it could be more practical to set up a small home office in the living room corner or utilize the mobility of a laptop. Depending on the family routine, she might find her home office is the community park one day and her backyard the next.
To enjoy flexible work at home careers, all work at home moms must develop daily routines. These routines will depend heavily on the job, the number and ages of her children, and a spouse with whom she can share parenting duties. Other factors that will play a role in the work at home mom’s daily routine include the spouse’s schedule, any extracurricular activities the children are involved in, and any outside commitments she has herself. It might take a few weeks or even months to develop and perfect this routine. Once she does, the work at home mom will enjoy a balanced and less stressful work schedule.
Developing a regular work schedule, or at least one that works with her family’s schedule, will help the work at home mom manage her time. Still, there are other types of time efficiency tips. For example, opting to bank online, pay bills online, and utilize any pick-up and delivery mail services available can help her avoid time-consuming trips. Preparing meals on the weekends and freezing them to eat throughout the week can help her save time making dinner each night. Also, combining all errands during one trip, or designating one morning or afternoon a week to complete errands, can clear her to-do list and help her focus on work for the rest of the week.
Unless she works for a company that withholds taxes from each paycheck, one of the cons of working at home a mom might experience is tax preparation. She might find that filing taxes as a self-employed person, a freelancer, or a contractor is much different than filing as a traditional nine-to-five company employee. She might also find that as a self-employed person, she has additional self-employment taxes to pay, as is the case in the United States. Depending on where the work at home mom lives, she could have various options for tax preparation, such as filing quarterly to avoid paying one lump sum during tax season. No matter how they plan to save for, file, and pay these taxes, it’s important all work at home moms learn the requirements before starting any at-home jobs.
Finally, if their children aren’t yet in school, work at home moms shouldn’t hesitate to utilize the services of a babysitter, daycare center, or willing grandmother happy to take care of her grandchildren from time to time. Taking some time away from her children can help the work at home mom dedicate more of her focus to her job. She might even find there are days when this is absolutely necessary. Of course, amid all this work, she must also find a healthy life balance. Babysitters can help her take time to herself or time for her and her spouse, just as remembering to take a day or two off from work can help her get out of the house as well as enjoy uninterrupted time with her family.