8 Ways to Stay Productive as a Work-at-Home-Mom {Guest Post}

1. Work On the Go

Always be ready to do some work when you're out and about.  Take your laptop and charger, notebook and pencil, whatever you need to get some work done if you find yourself with some free time while you're out.  I like to take my laptop to the park or chick-fil-a and work while the kids play.  Anything I can use my iPhone for, I do.  Answer emails, type notes, write blog posts (like this one).  I answer emails while waiting in lines, make phone calls while driving in the car, and write blog posts while patting the baby to sleep.  All about multi-tasking!  Something that is also helpful for me is taking pictures of info I need.  I have a bunch of files at home that I can't easily bring with me, but if I think I might need info from one of my files I just snap a picture of it with my phone.

2. Childcare

Get yourself some childcare, mama.

Gym

Sign up for a gym membership that includes childcare.  Get your workout in and spend some time working before or after your workout.  This is much easier when you have older kids that only nap once a day.  I'm finding this impossible with Everly because she naps so often, but as soon as she's down to one or two naps a day, I'm going to start doing this again!  It kills two birds with one stone!

Drop-off Daycare

Find a drop off daycare in your area.  You can sign your kids up ahead of time and then you're free to drop them off whenever you need to and pay for the time they are there.  Genius!

Kid Swap

Find a friend who is also a work-at-home mama and help each other out.  Swap babysitting so that each of you has some kid free time to get work done.

Use Your Husband

When your husband gets home from work let him take care of everything so you can work.  One night a week or so I hand off everything to Gary right when he gets home so that I can work uninterrupted for the rest of the night.  This buys me a few hours at the end of the day where I don't have to worry about anything else or anyone else (except for nursing Everly, can't hand that off to dad lol).

3. Time Blocking

Try to set aside large chunks of time for specific things.  I like to set aside a whole day of naptimes for working on something specific, like adoptions.  I don't do anything else during naptimes except work on the task I've set aside to accomplish.  Working in 1-2 hour chunks isn't the easiest or most efficient way to get things done, but when you're working from home that's usually the maximum amount of time you have to yourself so you gotta do what you gotta do!

4. Prioritize

When you're a work-at-home mama, prioritizing is KEY!  You have such little amounts of time to work with that you really need to prioritize well.  I always ask myself, "If I only get one thing done today, what should it be?" and then I work on that thing first until it's done.  That way if it's the only thing I get done that day, I'll be happy!  I usually pick the thing with the earliest deadline or the thing that is stressing me out the most.

5. Plan Accordingly

What I mean by this is think about what you want to get done and how long each task will take, and then match that task with a naptime or two that will last the same amount of time.  So if you have a bigger project that might take a couple hours and the baby's first nap of the day is the longest, work on that project during the first nap and save smaller projects for the shorter naps.

6. Deadlines

Give yourself deadlines.  My job naturally has deadlines (court hearing dates) so that helps!  But I try to have everything prepared for each event (hearing, meeting, adoption, etc.) 3-7 days in advance.  That gives me time to fix any mistakes or take care of any last minute issues that may arise.  Early deadlines help so much because even if you miss it due to sickness, toddler tantrums, or life, you can still meet your deadline.

7. To Do List

Have a running list of things you need to get done that is dedicated to work tasks.  That way when it's time to get work done you can easily pick something to accomplish from the list without being distracted by all the other things on your to do list.  Also, to do lists are a organizational staple.  They help you stay on top of things so nothing falls through the cracks!

8. Calendar Everything

Write everything down on your calendar.  And I mean everything.  Someone is swinging by to drop something off?  Calendar.  Friends coming over?  Calendar.  Husband has a work dinner?  Calendar.  Every single tiny event should be on your calendar so you don't miss a thing.  I don't know what I'd do without my calendar.  Having everything written down on my calendar helps me pick the best days and times to plan on getting work done.  I usually pick a day that I have nothing at all going on so there's as few distractions as possible.

I hope these tips help you stay productive as a work-at-home mama!  Have any of your own tips to stay productive?  I'd love to hear them so drop them in the comments!

Natasha is a work-at-home lawyer and mama to 4 kids acquired through adoption and IVF - Laurel (7), Bennett (5), Christopher (2), and Everly (3 months).  She blogs at Let's Be Brave.

Babywise Enables Me to Stay Home

I have been an avid reader of Chronicles of a Babywise Mom for about 10 months now. I read Babywise when I was pregnant with my beautiful baby girl, Eliana, and it made a lot of sense to me and seemed to fit with my already-scheduled personality. I decided to follow it. However, I ended up having quite a few difficulties implementing it, until I searched online and found Valerie's incredibly helpful website. Here I found so many more specifics that helped me whenever I ran into a problem.

My now-14-month-old is now a great sleeper who sleeps 12 hours a night and takes two long naps at the same time each day. This actually enables me to work from home as a tutor, which in turn enables me to continue to be a stay-at-home mom. I believe that if it weren't for Babywise, I would not be able to work from home at all.

During the morning, Eliana does independent playtime in her room. She has a big mirror on the wall which I believe helps her feel she has a "friend" there with her. I also play music for her during that time. She is very happy in there for 45 minutes a day. Meanwhile, I clean up the house for the students who are coming over.

Then Eliana and I have time for more playtime together, reading stories, and bath time. When she goes down for her naps, students come to our home for English or Spanish help. They can be here at a regular time because I know when she will be sleeping.

During her awake times, we go shopping or to friends' houses or to the kids' play area at the mall - something that will be fun for her to do.

In the evening, she has just a bit of time to play with Daddy, and then she goes to sleep by 7 p.m. after which I have time for my husband or time to prepare lessons for the next day.

I am so thankful that I can count on her schedule. People are always commenting to me how happy and well-behaved my baby is. Others love babysitting her, too, as they can put her to sleep easily and she falls asleep on her own.

I pass on information about Babywise whenever I can because I believe it can really help others.

Thank you for letting me share and I hope others will also consider trying it out, even if you don't naturally consider yourself a scheduled person - it is so nice to be able to count on what your baby is going to do next!

by Mary B.

Index: Working Parents

• 8 Ways to Stay Productive as a Work-at-Home-Mom {Guest Post}
• Babywise Tips for Working Parents
• Working Mom Activities
• Working Outside the Home

Don't Be Discouraged By A Rough Start

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I always knew I wanted to use Babywise, and when I found out that everyone whose parenting results I admired was also using Babywise, I was doubly convinced!

The first thing I learned is that it's harder than it looks! At least for me it was. I started out sticking very closely to getting full feedings every 3 hours and had pretty good success with that. By the end of the first week, my baby girl had her days and night straight (thankfully!) and would go back to sleep after eating in the night with little trouble. But daytimes were a different story. It seemed nearly impossible to get her to sleep when she was supposed to during the day, though I kept her eating when she was supposed to (I could make her eat, but I couldn't make her sleep!). 

To add to her sleeping difficulty, she seemed to have so much gas pain or some kind of digestive discomfort that prevented her from getting to sleep and woke her up early. Finally I found it was an oversupply problem and the extra foremilk was making her gassy. I was able to solve this with block feeding for a couple weeks (thanks to the great help I got in the Chronicles Google Group!). Sleep slowly got a little better, but it still just never happened the way it was "supposed to" during the day. I realized that I may have read Babywise but my daughter hadn't so I would have to teach her.

We kept working toward getting full naps in at the proper times, and finally when she turned 6 weeks something seemed to click and from that point she would go to sleep on her own and nap well for most naps of the day.  It has been that way ever since. (She is 12 weeks old now.) She is so much more happy and contented than I could have imagined she would be. She never cries except to be a little fussy when she is tired sometimes, and she really cries as soon as she realizes I'm about to feed her. She likes her food! 

For anyone who thinks that Babywise is following someone else's rigid schedule for your baby or is based on crying it out, that is so far from the truth! The beauty of Babywise is allowing the parent (not the baby or a book) to be in charge and direct the day to best meet everyone's needs (including baby's). And I never did crying it out, first because I knew her cries were from pain and crying wouldn't make that go away, and second because since 6 weeks I can put her in her crib and she will go to sleep all by herself without crying. Sometimes she has minimal low-level fussing, sometimes not, and if she does I give her a pacifier and she goes right to sleep. She also sleeps through the night now for 8-10 hour stretches. 

I work at home, so it is imperative that I am well rested at night and that my baby takes good naps and is contented when she is awake without having to be held constantly so I can get my work done. (To learn more about what work I do at home, you can visit my website http://successworkingathome.weebly.com/index.html.) With Babywise she does all this. Babywise is the best thing that ever happened to us!

I don't believe that it is necessary to follow Babywise strictly to achieve good results, but what it is beneficial for is to provide certain guiding principles that the parent can apply in the way that works best for them, even if it is different than the way Babywise applies these principles. I am thankful to Babywise for the principles of the eat/wake/sleep cycle, feeding is parent-directed not baby-directed, baby can learn to go to sleep on her own (even without crying it out), getting full feedings, and not extending daytime feedings until sleeping through the night.

Even though I don't follow Babywise rigidly, I have used the principles in it to guide us and have achieved the desired result of a baby that sleeps through the night, is well-rested in the day, and is perfectly happy and content, a real joy to have in my life.

-Janice