Rethinking the Balance

I decided on Friday, after an eyeopening discussion with hubby on Thursday night that I was in need of a serious revamp of my daily schedule. There have been a lot of things around here that I have been neglecting by spending way too much time working and not taking care of what needs to be done at home.

There’s a lot on my plate and that certainly isn’t going to change. We can’t afford for me to stop doing everything I do or even to cut back. I just need to find a new approach to how I’m getting things done. With the way things had been, the house was a mess, our relationship was a mess and I was at a loss as to how to get things fixed.

Under my new schedule, I’m going to be alternating work-at-home time with housework time to see if that makes any difference. Rather than jumping from task to task, all day long, like I have been doing, I am going to try spending every other day shift on the house, then work late those nights. On the alternating days, I’ll concentrate on my writing business until the kids go to bed, then shut down and spend time with hubby and go to bed at a decent hour. I’m hoping that this change will allow me to get done what I need to, plus keep things at home in a better balance.

He should be finished with his 6 days a week overtime schedule in another week or two, so then I will have one full day on the weekends to devote to the work that needs to be done for clients, while still having a full day to spend with the family.

Getting myself to “clock out” has been my biggest struggle since starting to work from home. Even when the work is caught up, I find that I stay online, networking, chatting with friends, or looking for ways to promote the business and get new clients. I know that working for yourself takes much more than a 40 hour work week, but there has to be a limit or you’ll lost much more than money. Thankfully, I’ve learned that lesson before it was too late.