Many of us moms have been faced with the heart-wrenching decision to either stay in or return to the workforce. I’ve been there more than once. However, have you thought that what you do at work every day can help your home run smoother? Yes, there are things that you do at work that can help you at home. Whenever in doubt and wondering what that could be, ask yourself these three questions:
• What are my daily tasks at work?
• Are those daily tasks things that can be done at home?
• How will those daily tasks benefit my family?
Here are some examples of things that you may do at work that can help you at home:
• The job itself—is this a job that I can continue to do at home as a home based business? Not only can this help you professionally, but can also keep the level of stability where you need it to be for the home.
• Having a steady routine—you can turn your daily work routine into your daily home routine and substitute home needs for work needs. For example, I used to work at a daycare. I used my daycare schedule at home, thus allowing me to be more effective in planning at home.
• Planning and scheduling—was this something that you were tasked with at work? You can use this skill to create things such as responsibility charts or even to keep doctor’s appointments and extracurricular activities in order. You can also use it to set up your homeschool schedule if you are away from home and have help.
• Payroll and accounting—if you are used to making sure that funds delegated for certain purposes are used solely for those purposes, this can help you to create and maintain a household budget. For example, if you have to split funds into certain categories, you may be able to do that same thing at home by establishing an envelope system. With the envelope system, you can designate funds just for that specific category, such as food, and only spend from there. If you give your kids an allowance, the envelope system can help there as well. Simply label three envelopes as spend, save, and give then help them figure out how much needs to go in each envelope.
• Computers—these days, we have multiple devices in our homes. Are you using them to their full capacity? For example, we have one computer that we use as a homeschool server. From this computer, I can not only monitor the kids’ schoolwork, I can also see what they are doing online and set their computers to turn on and off at certain times, thus controlling their screen time. You can also use your computers to help with anything else we have listed above!
• Meal/Menu planning/Food purchases—let’s say you work in a restaurant, hospital or school cafeteria, or even a daycare. Do you have a say in what goes on the menu? Do you create the menu rotation? You can most definitely do this at home! Look at the menu you have for work and see if you can use it at home in any way. Substitute dishes your family may not like for family favorites and establish your own rotation. Once you’ve done that, you can create your grocery list, do your shopping, and have one less thing on your plate!
• Procurement (shopping around)—everyone wants to get what they need for the best possible price, especially at home! You can use those same negotiation skills to get what you need, be it food, services, or even repairs!
• Preparing reports/Record keeping/Evaluating—this is good for those who live in a homeschool portfolio state. You know what people are looking for in a report. You know what they want to know. You can use that same mentality for those portfolios! Once you have your guidelines, think about that evaluator being a potential client and use those skills to make that portfolio really showcase you and your family’s homeschool year.
• Entertaining/Entertainment—Are you your company’s go to person on what’s going on in the city, where to eat, or where to go? You can use that to your family’s advantage as well. Use your talents to find those homeschool days at local area attractions, kids eat free or half price days at restaurants, etc. Purchase those attraction memberships and join those restaurant and venue mailing lists!
• Teaching/Training—Use the teaching or training style you have picked up over the years to help determine how to run your homeschool. Knowing how your style will mesh with your child’s learning style will make for a pretty decent year! Also, look into doing online classes or seminars. There are websites that will allow you to posts teaching and training videos that you can be paid for!
• Web design/Website maintenance—create that family website or blog. Help your kids to create one for themselves. This is also another way you can implement many of the other things we have already talked about.
When you find your answers, make a plan to start implementing things slowly and get your family involved in it too! If something doesn't work, don’t feel like you’re married to the first plan that you set! Change, alter, adapt, improvise, and improve! Again, include your family in on making the transition. Together, you can bring work home!
How to Bring Work Home
