WAHM

20 Vital Work At Home Tips for Moms

Are you interesting in working at home as a mom blogger?

The picture of work at home moms is a beautiful one.

You might imagine that you type out perfect blog posts while your sweet toddler snuggles quietly on your lap.

Or perhaps you envision waking up extra early to conquer your business tasks for the day before your kids and husband are even up.

Well, at least, that’s how I like to picture working at home.

In reality, it can seem a bit more jumbled and challenging to balance your day as a mom and working at home.

Motherhood is messy regardless if you work or not, and I am truly thankful to be able to make money and pursue passions while still keeping my family number one on my priority list.

And I was able to start this work from home journey when I started a blog!

If this is the year you want to stay home for good with your little one, here are 20 vital tips I have learned from the past 5 years of being a work at home mom.

The Best Work At Home Tips for Moms

Whether you start a blog, start a service, do networking or Youtube, working from home has so many perks.

The thing to remember when you start working from home is to manage your time wisely and have a plan!

1. Sleep Schedules Are King

I have twins.

For the first year of their lives I slept in 2 hour chunks of time.

Sleep schedules can be hard to integrate at first – it was for me! – but they are my number one lifesaver. I made sure to put them down both at the same time and create a routine around their sleeping.

My children go to bed earlier than most kids at around 7:00-7:30 p.m and they are 6 years old now. They sleep until 7:00 a.m. – sometimes 11.5 hours, sometimes 12.5 hours.

Now that they are older, they sleep through the night and don’t fight bedtime at all.

2. Routines Are Essential

Schedules are mom’s best friends!

With my bullet journal in hand, I can make my list, have my coffee, get the twins ready for school and then get to work.

While I don’t have a schedule set in stone, I know what I need to do every day. For example, Mondays are now my Youtube video creation days and Fridays are my other blog days.

This helps me stay in business and know what needs to be done.

3. Create Several To-Do Lists

Having one giant to-do list can be crazy.

If it works for you, then stick with it.

However, I find it more helpful to have a to-do list for the different areas of my life.

For example, I have a cleaning checklist, daily chore to-do list, daily writing to-do list, an, an ongoing list for my blog, and an ongoing list for home projects.

I feel that this helps me focus more and get more chores done int he house.

When I have guests coming over in 30 minutes, I don’t want to look at my to-do list and be reminded that I need to write an a blog post. Similarly, when I am ready to work, I don’t want to be reminded that I desperately need to wash everyone’s sheets.

This is constantly evolving every month for me though. Trying to find the perfect plan can be never ending. The point is to just do it and adapt.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Hire Help

For the longest time I was blogging all by myself. It was just recently that I hired a VA to help me manage my other blogs and Facebook groups.

It’s been helpful and has freed up time for me to land bigger writing clients and network with influencers.

I also rely on my MIL to help me with childcare once a week. I’m able to go grocery shopping and meal prep during this time so that I don’t have to worry about what to feed my family for the rest of the week.

If you work at home, ask for help!

5. Be Present

I find that the more present I am with my children in the morning, the less needy they are throughout the day.

I really try to engage with them and lavish them in snuggles and love so that their love meters get full for the day.  When my twins were smaller, this allowed me to tackle chores and other mommy tasks later in the day without much resistance.

Of course, this does not always work out perfectly. There were many days where one of my twins was attached to my hip while I sweated through making dinner.

You learn quickly to go with it!

6. Don’t Waste Nap Time

Nap time is your golden hour. Do not waste it on cleaning or social media.

Spend it doing the one thing that will impact your day and goals the greatest. For some, this will mean working out, and for others, this will mean working on their business.

I was able to make full-time income strictly from nap time and bed time. It’s possible!

7. Have Quiet Time Activities Ready

If you have little ones that don’t nap or struggle with nap times, try some quiet time activities so that you can still blog and work.

For my older twins, they can keep themselves busy with coloring and playing indoor hockey!

8. Set Time Wasters on Timers

If you feel like you never have time to pursue your passions or do something for yourself, evaluate how much time you waste. Do you constantly check social media, watch television shows, or play games on your phone? I get it.

Cut what you can live without from your life and set timers on the rest.

9. Motivate Yourself with Timers

Timers are also a great way to get started.

Whenever I am faced with a task I want to procrastinate on, I try to trick myself with a timer.

I tell myself that I only have to devote five to 10 minutes to it, and then I can jump ship.

Most of the time, I have regained my focus within that 10 minutes and am able to stay committed to the project, whether that be writing an article or cleaning the kitchen.

And if you don’t already know, you can get A LOT DONE in 15 minutes!

10. Use Driving Time Wisely

Don’t waste your driving time. That is precious time that you can listen to an audiobook, connect with your kids, take a business call, or dictate an article.

Usually, I have my kids in the car, which means Taylor Swift music. However, if they aren’t in the car, I try to capitalize on every minute.

11. Automate Everything You Can

My tithing and bills are automated, my book sales are automated, and my site is automated. It is all about working smarter, not harder.

If you can, try to find ways to automate your business. It can save precious time and can add up every week.

12. Get Away from the House

If possible, see if you can do a shared workspace or go to a coffee shop to do a bit of work.

I personally don’t do this since my twins go to school, but I did when they were little! Getting out of the house just clears your head and makes you feel needed!

13. Work Seamlessly

I use tools like Trello and Google docs to keep most of my work on the cloud. This allows me to work on any device at any time.

Whether it’s Evernote or Loom, see if you can find ways to streamline your work online!

14. Stop Multi-Tasking

Moms multi-task, I know.

But, when it comes to your business, you need to drop that habit quick.

I set hours to work, and then I focus on one task at a time. This allows me to be the most productive me possible. If I constantly shift windows, check my email, and try to research something, it takes me forever to do my task.

15. Declutter Your Life

Think how much time you can save each day if you had fewer items to clean and take care of and if you shopped less.

When my house gets out of control and hard to manage, it usually means I need to do a big declutter session.

Clutter sucks up so much time and energy. Try getting rid of 100 things and see how much better you feel.

Declutter your desktop, computer files and email too.

Since I am constantly saving Word docs and images, my computer gets messy quickly. It takes so much more time to find an important document or image when your desktop isn’t organized and clutter-free.

My go-to declutter bloggers is Cass of Clutterbug.

16. Simplify Your Schedule

I’ve had to say no to several things to create white space in my schedule. I am an introvert by nature and get overwhelmed easily if I am always running around or socializing.

But, I do know that many moms suffer from loneliness, so it’s important to carve out those social times when possible!

17. Work at Home Moms Can’t Do It All – So Give Yourself Grace!

We live in a world of mom bloggers that have 4+ homeschooled children, beautifully decorated homes, amazing craft sessions, and make several grand each month from their blogs.

Oh, and they also look ah-mazing in their size 2 mommy jeans, mostly because they eat an organic vegan diet.

Jealous much?

Even if some work at home moms paint themselves to be like that, the truth is that no mom is supermom.

No mom can do it all.

Stop comparing and focus on what you are good at.

I’ve learned to be okay with what I have because I truly don’t want to be the super fashionable woman that knows how to sew and decorate amazing cakes.

I still get jealous of that woman sometimes, but deep down, I really would rather be me.

18. Simple Meal Plans

I’m all about themed dinner nights in my house. Each week, my family has taco Tuesday, breakfast for dinner Wednesday, pizza Friday, and crockpot/soup Saturday.

Having these themed nights eliminates so much time and planning, and it gels perfectly in our schedule.

Meal planning can be the bane of your existence but try this to see if works!

19. Schedule Time Off

When you’re a work at home mom, there is always something you can be doing or working on.

The hustle never stops, which is why you have to force yourself to stop.

I love working – probably too much. I am aiming to be more intentional about being work and email free on the weekend, as well as scheduling an unplugged week once a year.

20. Remember Your End Goal

When you are in your 70s, what do you want to look back and see?

I have to remind myself that the only thing that truly matters to my heart are the relationships.

I want to look back and remember all the sweet memories made with my family and friends, not look at a decked-out resume.

Remember this when it’s 1 am and you’re still blogging!

Work At Home for Good

I love working at home. It’s allowed my family to move across the country from a 2 bedroom apartment to a lovely house.

It’s also allowed me and my husband to stay home and work together!

Okay, work at home moms, what does working at home look like for you?

Share with me your tips below!

Leave a Reply

8 Comments

I needed to read this today, it’s so easy for me (also a twin mom, mine are 19 months + have a singleton) to get discouraged about finding time, making my best use of time to DO ALL THE THINGS but then also be present with my children! I try so hard everyday, just seeing these tips, knowing I’m not alone, are helping me a ton today. Thank you. Utilizing no. 17 this week for sure, offering myself grace. So hard to remember to do, so important, as I stare at my screen trying to write with my enormous pile of laundry next to me and 10 minutes left in my twins’ nap. 😉Reply to Rebekah
Hey Rebekah, Yeah, having twins is a challenging and draining. My twins are 7 and while it’s easier in some ways it’s much more challenging in others. Trying to raise well-mannered individuals that aren’t afraid of taking a change and living the life they want is HARD! And then through a business to grow! You are doing great and give yourself grace! <3Reply to Elna
Thanks for this helpful article. I have been trying to multi-task and didn’t achieve much. I thought I was doing some other thing wrong. Now that you mentioned it, I guess its time to change my strategy and see how well I can do while focusing on one task at a time. Moms are superheroes, we save the days. But most times we need to be saved too.Reply to Chinazor
Hi! Yes, focussing on one task at a time is hard for me to. Sometimes I want to just stop and do something else, but I have to keep plugging away!Reply to Elna
I’m grateful! This is a timely post.Reply to Mercy
Hi Mercy, You’re welcome! Glad you found these work at home tips helpful!Reply to Elna
Hi Elna, Thank you for this great list! I really like the ideas #9 “Set timers” and #12 “Get away from the house”. I’ve found that when I go to Starbucks, I seem to get more done than when I stay at home and do work in my home office. Although I can’t go to Starbucks every day, even being able to schedule in once a week, might make me more productive! On my to-do list! I also love the timer idea. Right now I have so many things I need to get done in one day, PLUS find time to blog; it gets so overwhelming! After feeding and tending to our farm animals, doing homeschool with the kids, making their meals, helping them with their work, doing a few loads of laundry, clean up the house, and, AND, AND! I always feel like my time for blogging is so small. I need to get better at this time management business 🙂 Thanks again for all the great tips! -CherelleReply to Cherelle
Hi Cherelle, Wow, you are super mom for sure! Give yourself grace. You DO a lot already and it IS hard to fit blogging into that or when you work from home. It is a challenge for me each day and I live by my timer too!Reply to Elna