A Day In The Life of A Work From Home Mom

Recently, I switched to self-employment from a regular 9-5 job.  This came after realizing that I had been working 75 hour weeks for months, and I was exhausted.  I was missing out on the best moments of my daughter’s life, and realizing that I really enjoy working for myself!

I’ve been reading “A Day In The Life…” posts from other bloggers, and while it may seem like a cliche type of post, I really enjoy reading others’, so I thought maybe I should do one for my days.  Mind you, they’re not very interesting, and a year from my days will definitely look different, but for now, this is what works for me.

First up, salary –

Are you intersted in what I make hourly?  Well, let me tell you that it varies a lot from month to month, but you can find a comprehensive listing of all of my Blog Income & Traffic reports here, which will will tell you how many hours I work each month, how much that works out to per hour, as well as exactly how I make that money!

4:30am

At this point, I’ve been snoozing my alarm for 15 minutes, but 4:30 is the latest I can get up and still get The Big Guy on the road by 5am, so up I go.  I help The Big Guy get his lunch packed, make sure he takes his allergy pill, and we sit and talk for a few minutes for he leaves. It’s so nice because we can take it easy, I’m still in my pajamas, and it’s just really relaxing.

5:00 am – 8:00 am

The Big Guy leaves for his 6am – 2pm workday, and I head down to the basement to get work done.  Baby RB40 is still asleep and will stay asleep until sometime between 8 & 8:30, so during this time I crank out a major portion of my work for the day.  Usually, unless I have a video call or something, I’m still in my pajamas, hair a mess, and with unbrushed teeth.  Still, it’s the most productive time of the day for me.

This morning time starts with my adding my Pinterest Marketing clients pins to the promotion groups, as well as pinning their new posts, and queuing up posts for boards that need to be done.  I’ll also do things like check the previous days’ analytics, Mint.com for the family’s finances, and try to empty my inbox as much as possible for the upcoming day.

8 am -ish

Baby RB40 wakes up.  Usually, “things” have escaped her diaper, so I strip her down and get her started in the bath.  After quickly washing her, I leave her to play in the bath as long as she wants to while I straighten up our bedroom (she gets her bath in the master bathroom), put on real clothes, and finally brush my teeth.  (Yes, I do not brush my teeth until 9…so sue me:-)

We then eat breakfast together and she’s usually so much fun during this time.  At 9am I walk her across the street to our neighbor’s house, who watches her from 9-12 so I can get some work done!

9:00 – 12 pm

Time to think about the day. At this point I sit down and really figure out what I need to get done.  Often, I have a video or phone chat with a client or potential client of The Pinterest Assistant, and having my daughter out of the house allows me to take these and actually sound and look professional.  It’s during these 3 hours that I get the bulk of my work done.

12pm – 1:00

Once 12 rolls around, it’s time to go get my daughter from the neighbors.  She’s usually hungry, so I put her in her high chair to eat and she’s usually happy there (as the slowest eater EVER) for half and hour.  During this time I clean some, and maybe start some laundry.

Once she’s done eating I let her play until 1 or 1:30, at which point she goes in her room for a “nap.”  I use the term “nap” loosely because sometimes she decides she doesn’t want to sleep, but regardless, I close the door to her room, and barring some crazy emergency she stays in there for 2 hours.

1:30 – 3:30

It’s during this time that I get the stuff done that I forgot to put on my to-do list earlier, catch up on emails, and create graphics.  Usually because I’ve already worked for 6 hours, I try to save the easy stuff for this time, but inevitably there are a couple pressing things that I have to do first.  Generally, I catch up on my TV shows during this time too :-)

Around 3, The Big Guy gets home.  Right now, he’s been leaving literally 20 minutes after he gets home to go mow and earn some extra money, so I usually get him something to eat and spend a few minutes talking about his day.  On the days he’s not mowing though, we figure out what we’re going to do as a family in the evening.  One of the awesome perks of the early mornings are the long afternoons that we can spend as a family!

3:30 – 6pm

Once my kiddo gets up, we do whatever the day holds.  Once we get our garden planted, we’ll be working out there, but other days we need to run to the store, or we go play outside.  Whatever it is, I try to be engaged with my daughter for these 2-ish hours.  This serves to tire her out, get my mind off my endless to-do list, and help her to work up an appetite.

6pm – 7pm

Dinner time!  Usually I will have thought through or thawed out dinner, so this usually goes pretty easy.  Once again, I pop Baby RB40 in her high chair for half an hour while she picks at her food, and once she’s done we go play in the basement, which hold my office/her toyroom.  I really try to keep the TV off during this time, but if she’s in a really bad mood or something I’ll turn it on.

7pm

Bedtime!  Baby RB40 goes to bed, and if The Big Guy is still gone I’ll get some work done.  If he’s home we’ll spend time together either vegging out in front of the TV, or cleaning together.  Either way, we keep our evenings short and low-key, because bedtime comes at:

8:30pm

Yes, we go to bed this early, because we get up at 4:30!

And then, we do it all over again!

I know that I am incredibly lucky to be able to work from home, to spend time with my daughter like I get to, and even for The Big Guy to have the schedule he does, and I am so grateful for all of it!

Tell me, what do your days look like??

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