Balancing Response- Guest Poster Erica Martin
Updated on: by Erica Martin
By Erica Martin:
It can be very difficult to balance work at home jobs with other priorities. Many articles have been written about the benefits of working at home, but regardless of whether you work at home or outside the home, you still have to balance your priorities.
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In her recent blog post on this subject, Jess Weaver wrote that she had two major priorities – taking care of her children and making money. I’d like to share how I balance my priorities as both a wife and a work from home professional.
One thing that probably makes me different from a lot of people I know that work from home is that I don’t have children, so in the eyes of many people, I may have it a little easier. That may be, but I do still have priorities to balance outside of my work.
Since I work from home, I’m also responsible for making a lot of the phone calls that need to be made with regards to things like doctors appointments, filling prescriptions, calling about bills, and a lot of other things that my husband may not get to do since he works outside of the home. The way I balance these is by trying to fit them around my work from home jobs. This isn’t always easy if the phone calls have to be made ASAP, because my main work from home job does have scheduled hours, even though I don’t work 40 hours a week at that job.
The way I handle this is by making a list of the things I need to do, and deciding when I can do them based on my schedule, and when the tasks in question need to be accomplished by. For example, if I find out on Monday that my husband needs me to call about a bill that’s due on Wednesday, which is one of the days I work all day at my main job, I’ll go ahead and call about it on Monday, since that’s one of my days off. If I find out on Tuesday that I need to call about something that’s not due until Friday, however, I’ll put it off until Thursday, which is one of my days off, or if the company I need to call is open late, I may wait until after I’m finished working for the day. Other things, such as working at my other “eggs,” like Demand Studios or Merchant Circle, I’ll work around my other priorities based on whether or not there’s any work available.
I hope this provides some insight on how I balance my priorities as wife and work from home professional. It can be difficult to find the perfect balance, but once you do find it, you’ll be able to take care of all of your priorities with few problems.
Erica Martin has been working at home for different companies since 2003. You can find more about her experience by viewing her online articles at Yahoo!
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Jess
June 25, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Thanks for the heads up. Making a list is always a good idea. I make a list of my goals for that particular day. 🙂
Katie Jones
June 25, 2011 at 1:58 pm
It is so wonderful to read from someone who shares the same experiences as I do. I do not have children as well and I do not like it when people assume I have it easier because I don’t! I still have to worry about bills, cleaning the house, making dinner, doing laundry, doing errands, etc. My mind is constantly on overdrive trying to accomplishing everything I want to do in a single day.
Lists are extremely important and making out goals you want to accomplish that day are helpful as well. I appreciate your post and look forward to reading more! 🙂
Rona
June 26, 2011 at 2:28 pm
I have a 19 year old son at home and work at home fulltime. He may not need me as much as he did when he was 2 years old but he still calls on me for advice and assistance.
Years ago, my husband and I decided that I would handle all the family finances,scheduling, ect. There’s are plenty of times I wish I had a personal assistant!
It’s nice to read different people’s experiences of balancing their day.
Tilly Davies
June 27, 2011 at 12:15 am
Thanks for this Erica. Some good advice here, it is all about proper planning and working with a to do list.
Erica
June 27, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Glad I could help ladies!