Being a work-at-home Mum (WAHM) can be tricky. You want your job, maybe you own business, to be a success. However, you have a lot of other responsibilities that are equally as important and take up a chunk of your time too. We are always being told about how to find a work-life balance, but when your work and life are in the same place, that’s difficult. There’s got to be a way to find equilibrium, to steady the footing. Let’s have a look at how to discover balance for WAHMs.
Bracket Your Time
One of the most important things to do when searching for balance for WAHMs is bracketing out your time. Get a diary, use a spreadsheet, and get an app on your phone. Whatever way you want to do it, you need to block out specific times for specific things. If you want to work between 10am-noon every day, block that out. If your child has a weekly dance lesson, block that out on the day it takes place. Block out time for household chores, making food, and that regular catch-up call with your mentor.
Be sure to write down date nights, meditation sessions and when you want to finish for the day. One of the most important parts of bracketing your time is actually sticking to it. Yes it can be adapted and you might need to be flexible, however, you need some routine to work through. If you can share this with other family members so they know what you need to be doing when, even better.
Talk To Your Partner About Balance For WAHMs
That said, if you have a partner, you need to talk to them about balance for WAHMs. They will have busy lives of their own yes, but they might be able to pick up a bit of the slack around the house. Perhaps they can help with one of the school pick-ups each week which means you get a full two hours of work in on a Thursday afternoon rather than stopping halfway through a project. Openness and honesty is so integral and finding that steadiness is often something that comes with clear lines of communication. You’re in this together and you need to support one another too.
Find Time For You
We’ve mentioned downtime and this is so important. We cannot all function 24 hours a day. Even with long shifts of work and ferrying the kids around to different clubs, we need downtime. This might be a monthly Saturday that you take for yourself. A solo walk in the countryside can work wonders for your head. It could be a weekly evening where you attend a Yoga class to help you refocus. Time off helps us rejuvenate and come back with freshness.
Be Realistic With Your Balance For WAHMs
Finally, when searching for balance for WAHMs, you need to be realistic. This isn’t going to be easy. You’ve likely started questioning this balance because you have got yourself into a routine that you are not happy with. One you simply cannot function through. Small steps and little changes will work better than huge overhauls which are harder to stick to. When you realise that it will be hard to alter things your expectations aren’t going to be dashed when things go wrong.
Find that time for your work, block out a coffee with your best friend or gym session where you can work on yourself. Our calendars are so often geared towards showing us those annual events we need to plan for. However those daily and weekly events affect our everyday lives much more. Some of these apps you can download will give you notifications and reminders too which can be useful. Your responsibilities need to be looked at, organised and worked on so you can find the balance for WAHMs that you need. Wishing you the best of luck.
