A few people asked me how do I manage my time as a work at home mom. Some of them even told me they don’t know how I do it all. I am hoping to give you a glimpse into my work at home mom schedule, and maybe help another work at home mom out there who struggles with time management.
For those of you who are just now stumbling onto this blog let’s start from the beginning.
Work At Home Mom – What Do I Do?
I am a web designer/translator/blogger. Officially, my small business covers web design and translations to and from English, Italian, Croatian, and German. My own adage to it is the blogger part. I really love writing and it has been my second love since the earliest days.
As a web designer, my main focus is creating web sites that are based on WordPress because I love its versatility, and it makes it easier for my clients to add their own content and images without dealing with code.
My typical work at home mom schedule
It took me a while to find my schedule, since I work from home. This of course means that I am still in charge of taking care of the household. I still have to cook for the rest of the family, as well as maintain the house to keep it looking presentable should someone decide to drop by un-announced.
My usual schedule looks something like this:
05:00 Getting up, grabbing a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and my morning coffee
05:20 – 06:00 Answer any overnight comments on my blog, and making sure the scheduled post was actually published (sometimes WordPress is fidgety and misses a post – and believe it or not there is a plugin for that too!)
06:00 – 06:15 Getting the rest of the house up and setting out breakfast for them (this usually means checking up on Frank and our son to make sure they heard their respective alarms). Since I prepare everything the night before, this means I only have to get the milk out for them.
06:15- 07:00 First check of my inbox. Answering any emails that need immediate attention and deleting/postponing the other ones.
07:15- 13:30 This is my work time. During those hours, I either work on a project, whether it’s designing a site for a client, or translating whatever needs translating. If I don’t have any projects lined up, I am either making phone calls, or checking the freelancing sites for new leads.
Our daughter is usually with me, and she either plays with her toys, or spends an hour or so watching the “mommy approved videos” on Youtube. Recently she started taking her books and on top of reading them, she is actually trying to copy the letters from the book -which was a shocker when she first showed me that.
13:30 is when our son comes home from school, and I usually take half an hour break to hear about his day, make snack for all of us, and to take care of any paperwork that needs to be taken care of (rarely happens). After that, he starts doing his homework.
14:00 – 14:30 – beds get made, and dishes from morning breakfast get washed, if there is any laundry that needs to be done, (and there is always laundry!) I start a load of laundry, and finally prepare everything I know I will need for dinner that day.
14:30- 15:30 This is where I get social. During that hour, I usually have Bloglovin’ and Hootsuite up and comment on the blogs. I really do love Bloglovin’ because it makes keeping up with blogs I read so much easier.
I have them categorized into:
Dailies- these are the blogs I read every time they post and I always comment on them without exception. Some of them post daily, some of them post three times a week. But those are my favorites and if I have limited time for commenting, those are the ones that will always get attention.
Expats- other expat blogs, some of them being expats in Croatia. I like to read them and get their perspective on Croatia.
IBA- all the blogs from International Bloggers Association.
SITS- blogs I found through SITS feature day
Weeklies – blogs I do enjoy and comment on them at least twice a week.
New – new blogs I come across, either through comments, or social media.
Bloggy Resources – blogs like Problogger, Copyblogger, Amy Lynn Andrews – in other words, blogs about blogging worth reading!
Organizing/Productivity – since I do enjoy being organized and productive I have a few of my favorites in this category. I don’t usually comment on them but I do share their content.
Work – work related blogs like Smashing Magazine, A List Apart, 1st web designer, Tuts+ network…
Geeky-for my inner geek. Sites like MakeUseOf, LifeHacker, Gizmodo, How To Geek…
While I am reading the blogs, I tend to always like them on Bloglovin’ and then share them via Hootsuite. Sometimes I share immediately, sometimes I schedule the shares. Usually my scheduled updates tab is always full so it looks like I am always online. (I’m not! Now you know I do sleep too!)
15:30 is when I usually start dinner. My mother comes home around 16:30 and I tend to keep meals simple and without a lot of fuss during the week. I have a list of our favorites and those are the ones that usually are on the menu. I pre-plan our menu at the beginning of the month so I don’t have to run around in panic wondering what am I going to cook. This usually involves a casserole dish, or a thick brothy soup made in double batch so it can be used twice a week.
16:30 – 17:00 is when I do dishes after dinner, make my afternoon cup of coffee and our son sweeps and mops the floor. Both kids help me with the dishes, our daughter rinses and our son dries.
17:00 – 18:00 time for a second cup of coffee, and to check our son’s homework. Frank usually gets home around 18:00, so kids and I tend to walk to the bus stop to meet him.
After he gets home, this is usually family time. Time for Frank and I to have some fun with the kids, either playing a game or watching a movie, or reading.
21:30 is when the kids start getting ready for bed, and I do a final email check of the day, as well check off my to do list, and get a glance at tomorrow.
22:00 is when we usually are all in bed.
Notice I haven’t mentioned writing blog posts anywhere? I usually write them two weeks in advance and schedule them. One set of posts gets written during the first weekend of the month, and another set of posts gets written mid month. Those are my “overtime” hours but I find it easier like that.
My to do list is also usually planned a week in advance, typically on Sundays for the following week. I use Any.do as my to do list and I have folders for Work/Blog/Personal stuff and one for Frank and each of the kids.
The major house clean up is done every Saturday, which involves vacuuming, dusting, floor sweep and mop. My mother has taken upon herself to clean the bathroom, Frank is in charge for the yard work, and I get to vacuum, dust, and sweep and mop. Windows get washed every other week, so there isn’t a lot of upkeep to do during the week.
Our grocery shopping gets done twice a month, either on Saturdays, or late Friday evenings.
My schedule is influenced by our situation. Since we are living with my mother, dinner gets started earlier than what we usually did while we were in USA.
I had huge struggles in the first few months, when I started my own business. Time management was an issue for me, but once I sat down and wrote down all the things I need to do on a daily/weekly basis and then entered them into a calendar things have gotten a lot easier.
If I can offer just one piece of advice it would be to take a day, (preferably Saturday or Sunday since life seems to be less hectic during the weekend), sit down and write your daily tasks. Things you know you absolutely need to do every day. Do the same for the week. Then add a third column and write down things you’d like to do but don’t necessarily have the time to do.
For me this included:
DAILY
answer emails
work on projects/find new leads
quick house clean up
dinner
dishes
time with kids
WEEKLY
house clean up
schedule posts
Frank and me time
WANT TO DO
answer comments
comment on other blogs
read a book – (this one I like to do for half an hour before the lights go off and my mother goes to bed herself, since we sleep in the living room where the TV is and she watches her shows).
I saw that getting up at 6 and trying to do all of that by 2 PM wasn’t working so it was time to actually bite the bullet and get up an hour earlier. I was also trying to do a lot of different meals, some which required longer than an hour and half. Once I realized I was actually wasting time trying to make demanding meals during the week, and wondering what I am going to cook, I started planning our meals and tried to stick to easy yet filling meals during the week, and do fancier stuff over the weekend when I have more time.
I also keep templates of emails to send out to for new projects so I am saving time there as well. It’s a lot easier to bid on a project when you have a general template than to come up with new email every time. Yes, I also have a basic script written down for any cold-calling I might have to do.
Those are my time saving techniques and the way I get it done.
What are your favorite time saving tricks?
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