So how do you organize your time so that you can get everything done without burning the midnight oil?  Well . . . to be honest, I haven’t completely figured that out.  But I do know that MOST nights, I go to bed later than I’d like, but I don’t stay up until ridiculous hours.  I also know that, if I were better at following my own advice, I could get to bed at a reasonable hour without sacrificing my to-do list.

I think it is very important to schedule “office hours” for yourself.  When I set office hours, it helps me really focus on my work.  If I’m working from the couch (like I am now), then it is too easy to watch what’s happening on TV (Clemson is up 17-14 over W. Virginia), to check Facebook (it’s my move on Words With Friends), or to peek at Pinterest (I could make “snowmen on a stick” for Bear’s breakfast using banana slices and apple pieces–how cute is that?!).

That’s not to say I never get distracted when I’m working from my home office, but I’m generally better able to keep it in check.  It also signals to Hot Husband and Bear that I am working and not available for minor emergencies like locating keys or wiping pee dribbles off the toilet rim.  Mostly, though, it helps me maintain my focus, so I even work from the office when I’m home alone.  If you do not have an office in your home or a room that can be used as an office, consider making a designated work space for yourself.  This may be putting a small desk in the corner of a room or even clearing a corner of the kitchen table and setting it up for use as soon as the dishes are cleared away.  As long as you have a place where you can work, a place that helps you switch from parent/homemaker/chef to employee/entrepreneur, that will do just fine.

Home office in a closet. Love it.

As for setting office hours, that’s actually a new development for me, but one that has already boosted my productivity.  Between Mother’s Day Out and generous in-laws, I am virtually guaranteed 8-12 hours a week of work time.  It is shocking how easy it is to fritter that time away.  By considering those hours to be my “office hours,” I eliminate time wasters, I dedicate time to work rather than errands, and I get much more accomplished.  The first time I implemented WAHM office hours, I got nearly twice the work done (seven web pages written) and still had time to get my car battery checked; deal with the plumber; wash, dry, and PUT AWAY laundry; vacuum the house; and spend half an hour on the treadmill.  Not bad, eh?

The great thing about being a WAHM is the flexibility in the hours.  I don’t have to adhere to office hours each day.  In fact, I don’t even have office hours each day.  Instead, I look at one week at a time and plan my hours around the week.  Here is  how my office hours work in practice.

Bear has MDO on Tuesday and Thursday?  Then office hours are 10-2 on Tuesday and Thursday.  Oh–wait.  I need to buy groceries and get my oil changed on Thursday.  That means I can’t be behind a desk all day Thursday.  So now office hours are 10-2 on Tuesday and 12-2 on Thursday.  Beela and Papa can watch Bear on Monday, so I’ll have office hours from 10-3 on Monday.  Hm–let’s see.  My project list is too big to complete in only 11 hours of work.  I’ll need to add in some hours during naps and in the evenings  . . .

It’s not a complicated planning process.  It’s mostly a matter of looking for pockets of time and committing myself to working during them.  Some days “office hours” may only be an hour in the evening.  Some days, I’m off work.  By setting designated times to work, however, I make sure that I’m not procrastinating and ending up with more days “off” than I intended.

When setting your own office hours, there are really only a few things to keep in mind:

1. When can you reasonably work uninterrupted?
2. What goals/tasks can you reasonably accomplish during that time?
3. During what times of the day or evening are you sharpest and most productive?
4. What other non-employment obligations must you complete during the week?
5. Will your hours significantly impact quality time with your family?

If you plan on working for several hours every night after your children are in bed, when are you going to have time with your spouse?  If you plan on popping  your kids in front of the TV for two or three hours every afternoon, when are you going to play with them.  Most people choose to work from home for the flexibility and the increased family time.  If you aren’t careful, you can end up sacrificing that time.

As in anything else, working from home requires a careful balance of priorities.  Setting flexible office hours helps you create that balance.

If you work at home, do you keep office hours?  Are they rigid or flexible?  Morning, evening, or scattered pockets throughout the day?  I’m interested to hear what works best for you.

I’m becoming much more aware of the necessity of organizing tasks on-the-go as well as at home.  Over the holidays, we took a 12-hour road trip to visit family (including the Amazing Amanda).  Knowing I’d have 24 hours in the car, I bought a car charger for my laptop and got ready to be held captive by my work while I was held captive in the passenger seat.  Unfortunately, my laptop battery is completely, unchargeably dead, and the adapter I bought did not have enough oomph to power my laptop.  In that 24 hours in the car, I got ONE article written.  *sigh*

Because I was away from home, I wanted a good way to organize and check off my work to-do list.  At first, I tried using a gTask Android app on my phone to integrate Google Tasks from Google Calendar.  If you are looking for a completely basic to do list, Google Tasks and the gTask app will work fine.  I find Google Tasks to be a little too basic, though.  I can’t prioritize tasks, and I can’t have different colored labels for different task lists (I’m wanting separate to-do lists for each client and for personal tasks).

Because I’m not enamored of Google Tasks (which is sad because I heart Google), I’m moving on to something else.  Currently, I’m trying Wunderlist.  I like how Wunderlist allows me to easily see my separate task lists and to display a single list or all my lists.  I can view by day, week, or more.  Wunderlist also sends me an email each day I have tasks to complete (read:  daily).  But still, with Wunderlist on my PC, I have to open a new window and can’t simply work from my Google account.  I know, I know–not a huge problem in any way, but it’s still not quite what I’m looking for.  I have to juggle enough tasks–I don’t want to juggle task apps as well.

Beyond to-do list apps and task apps, I need to find some productivity apps for managing my documents as well.  Currently, I’m researching the oh-so-generic term “productivity apps” to see what I think will solve all of my organizational dilemmas as a self-employed freelancer/blogger/household manager/(insert whatever else I’m forgetting here).  If I discover the perfect app to organize it all and make productive use of my time, I’ll be sure to pass it on to you.  The next apps I’m planning to research and try are as follows (if you have tried any of these, please let me know what you think of them):

• Remember the Milk
• Astrid
• Jorte
• Evernote
• Springpad
• GDocs
• Dropbox

In the meantime, have you discovered a can’t-live-without app?  What are your favorite task managers/organizers/productivity apps?

Anyway, I’ve mentioned before that this week is going to flat run me into the ground, and I’m about there.  However, I will say there is nothing like a deadline and pure panic to motivate productivity.  Remember that list I posted the other day about how many projects I needed to complete by the end of the week?  Well, I wrote sixteen web pages today.  SIXTEEN.  That’s twice my previous record of eight.  Man, that’s pretty, pretty good.  I’m starting to feel as if maybe, just maybe, I’ll get it all done.

Well, probably not, but I’ll be a lot closer than I thought possible.

I’ve been doing a great job with the I Hate Housework Challenge, too.  Yesterday when HH came home from work, he took one look at our kitchen and passed clean out from shock and joy.

Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but he NOTICED, which is pretty substantial for most men.

Yesterday I accomplished all the daily tasks on the list, including the room of the day (dining room).  The dining room part involved cleaning windows, dusting baseboards, and even climbing on the table to clean the light fixture thoroughly.  I even took it an extra step and cleaned the “Tupperware Cabinet” in the kitchen.  You know, the one you can’t open when guests are around because everything will fall out and you’ll be flat mortified because their “Tupperware Cabinets” are probably perfect?  Well.  Mine’s perfect.  I should photograph it.  And the linen closet.  And under the sinks in the bathroom.  They are, quite frankly, works of art.

Today I didn’t get everything on the IHH Challenge completed.  I didn’t do the living room windows or dust thoroughly, and I didn’t do the daily Swiffering in the kitchen.  I’ve even got a dryer full of clothes that need to be put away.  But did I mention that I wrote SIXTEEN web pages today?  Or that my cabinets are the most beautiful gems of organization or that my dining room light practically sparkles?  The rest of the house is “clean enough,” and we’ll get more of the deeper cleaning accomplished Friday morning when we get ready for the party.

So what are the secrets to my productivity the past few days?  Well, I’ve given it some thought, and these are some of the things that have helped.  Take what you can and leave the rest:

1. Priority Determines Capacity - I cancelled some appointments and focused my energy on the things that really need to be done.  And no, Pinterest doesn’t really need to be done.
2. I moved my laptop back into the office.  I don’t watch TV or anything when I’m working on the couch, but I really do feel more like I’m working and not like work is interrupting potential lounging time if I’m at my desk and not on the couch.
3. The Amazing Amanda - She has bailed me out with several posts on times when I just wouldn’t have been able to get to it.  I hope she doesn’t mind being paid back with a Pinterest scarf rather than money.  Because this blog, as she has discovered, ain’t a paying gig.
4. Beela and Papa – Bear’s grandparents, as always, have stepped up to care for Bear when I just absolutely had to have more time to work.
5. Bear himself – My goodness, that little guy has been helpful.  He’s finally at an age where he wants to “help” me clean.  I give him the Swiffer and he goes to town.  I give him a dust rag and he wipes everything in sight.  I give him a spray bottle, and Hello, Dolly, it’s like he’s won a prize.  He has been patiently watching Disney movies and has been just as sweet as he can be this week.  I could not love that little boy any more or my heart would just absolutely burst into a million pieces.
6. Hot Husband – That handsome man took over Bear duties so I could work.  He ran to the store and picked up milk, taking Bear with him, when I mentioned we were running low.  He took over bedtime, reading to Bear, so I could work.  Bless his heart, he’s so exhausted from his long days at work during conference week, that when he rocked the Bear to sleep, he rocked himself to sleep.
7. Flat Out Panic – I’ve been so stressed that I won’t be able to get everything done before the end of the month (read:  by deadlines and in time to put on this month’s invoices and before guests arrive for the party) that I’ve been working like a madwoman to get it all done.  The sheer terror I’ve felt has really motivated me to get a lot accomplished.  Tomorrow is going to be another challenging day, but I feel confident that, even if I don’t get it all done, I’ll be close enough that none of my clients are annoyed with me.

As far as getting things accomplished, this week is going to be CRAZY.  I have to finish all of my work projects before the end of the month for billing, and I just took on another project for a client.  I asked him if I could start it next week, but he needs it sooner, so I’ll be shuffling priorities and working extra late to make sure I get it all done.  By the end of the week, I need to write about 32 pages, 18 social media updates, and 9 product descriptions.  That doesn’t count any Nix9to5 posts or a few other pages that I should get done this week, but are secondary to the other bazillion projects (give or take).  I also have an all-day business meeting/work group on Saturday.

Oh, and did I mention that I’m throwing an 80′s themed birthday party for Hot Husband this weekend?  I’m not saying how old he will be, but it rhymes with schmorty.

I’ve already cancelled on appointment for the week, and I’ve already called in Babysitting Reinforcements in the form of Beela and Papa today.  Still, I’m not sure how it will all manage to get done.

In the midst of all this, I have officially begun my I Hate Housework Challenge.  I didn’t manage to get everything done–kitchen cabinets are still cluttered, and I didn’t sweep the floor, but I did at least buy new Swiffer cloths to help in this endeavor.  We went out to dinner tonight for an early birthday dinner for HH, so there weren’t too many dishes to load/unload, but my sweet HH did it anyway, even though it was his BIRTHDAY DINNER.  (Note:  If I did dishes on my birthday dinner night, I would pout about it.  Just so you know.)    I did, however, make the beds, sort the mail by taking care of what needed attention and trashing the junk mail immediately, tidy the living areas, and straighten and organize a bathroom (which wasn’t on the list).  And yesterday, I took the master bath and cleaned it so well that it turned into an all day ordeal.  You should come look in my linen closet and under my sinks.  Gorgeous.

Anyway, I’ve got work to do, a party to plan, and a house to clean before I pick up Bear from Mothers’ Day Out in a few hours.  This week is going to be busy, but it sure should prove to be productive!

http://vanchick.files.wordpress.com/

My struggle with maintaining a clean and tidy home while simultaneously raising a rambunctious toddler and working as a freelance writer is well documented.  During the past year, I’ve juggled my tasks poorly and don’t feel like I accomplished any of them to my full potential.  This second year seems to be improving–I’m not (as) behind on writing tasks, I have more time to play with and learn with the Bear, and my house . . . well.  It’s still a mess.  A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about taking Baby Steps to organization, and there has definitely been some improvement in all areas.  The house IS tidier, clean laundry isn’t left waiting to be folded and put away (at least, not for quite as long) and I’m getting more accomplished each day.

Still.  Overall, things aren’t running as smoothly as I’d like them to.  While I’m getting closer and closer, I still haven’t found or developed the system that seems to work the best for me.  Most of the “housecleaning checklists” I’ve found are way too comprehensive.  I’m not ready to dust the corners of my attic just yet.  For now, I’d like a system that helps me get dried toddler food off my kitchen floor without daily mopping.

Who am I kidding?  I’d settle for getting the bed made every day.

“But, Nicci,” you say.  ”Making your bed takes, like, 30 seconds.”  I know, right?  And yet it never manages to get done.  So how do I find a program or strategy that helps me develop a routine, a habit, of accomplishing all these 30 second tasks each day without it turning into a full on marathon cleaning session?  Or worse, allow me to get distracted enough to start cleaning closets, which we all know requires an entire vacation to accomplish adequately?

I Google it, of course.

As I turned to the Magic of the Interwebs to solve my housecleaning/organizational problem, I kept encountering the same thing as before.  Too.  Much.  Cleaning.  I mean, I’d love to spit shine my baseboards and all, but first, I need to fight the army of giant dust bunnies that has set up a impenetrable perimeter around the walls.

And then I found this:  The I HATE Housework free e-course.  Now, I know you can get daily emails from a bunch of different sources, notably The Fly Lady, but she wants me to put on my shoes even if I’m not leaving the house, and that, my friends, will not stand.

For the life of me, I cannot remember which site led me to the I HATE Housework e-course, but I do remember that the writer made it sound like something lazy normal people can accomplish in 35 days–with or without appropriate footwear.  I headed right over to MomChats and signed up for the email.

Right away, I began receiving daily emails with tasks to accomplish.  Over the course of the 35 day Housework Challenge, I should be able to establish cleaning routines that don’t take up all my free time, and I should be able to have a house that is clean enough to be presentable to mourners in case of my untimely demise. (Quote from my mother as I was growing up:  ”What if I die and people come over and see the house like this?!”)

Now.  I haven’t actually BEGUN the Housework Challenge yet.  It says it’s designed to start on a Monday, and since I signed up mid-week . . . well, that was just the perfect excuse to procrastinate.  However, I’ve created a folder in my email account and named it “Housework Challenge,” as the first I HATE Housework email suggested.  Now I can begin the challenge whenever I want, and I can revisit it any time my good intentions lapse and I find myself needing to rekindle my housekeeping efforts.

When I DO actually begin the I HATE Housework challenge on Monday, my first task is to begin implementing the daily chores.  These are as follows:

• Make the beds as soon as you get out of them.  What?!  Do I have to?!  Isn’t just getting out of it enough?
• Sweep the floor. This seemed a little much to me, but with the constant kitchen mess of the Bear, probably not a bad idea.  I’m going to cheat and Swiffer or vacuum, though.
• Clean off the kitchen table and countertops.  Ours are a catch-all for whatever we bring in the house.  Drives me nuts, but I’m as guilty as anyone.  Must nag talk to Hot Husband about this.
• Load/unload dishwasher.  This is, typically, Hot Husband’s job (*swoon*).  I could help out here, though.
• Tidy the living areas.  Not clean.  Tidy.   As in the “10 second tidy” type of clean up.  Pick up stuff and put it where it goes.  NOT on the kitchen counter.
• Sort mail and toss junk mail immediately.  The I HATE Housework challenge says if you don’t have time to sort it, leave it in the mailbox.

Guess I didn’t need to worry.  When I picked him up, his teacher used words like “so good,” and “angel,” and “perfect,” to describe my little Bear, and all I could think was, “How well she knows him already.”  I swear, that boy is going to make  his poor mama’s heart just burst with pride and love.

Now that Bear is back in Mothers’ Day Out a couple of days a week, I’m ready to get myself back into a routine. I’ve been doing a much better job of budgeting time for work and been doing a lot less procrastinating.  On the other hand, I have nothing in the freezer, haven’t worked out since I got pregnant (well, maybe once or twice), and my house is a cluttered mess.  I also have a lot of housecleaning projects I’d like to get taken care of in addition to the normal stuff.

My plan is to try do find a way to schedule a little bit each day, reserving MDO days for big work days.  I’m  not sure how I’m going to make that all work, yet, but I guess it will just be trial and error.

We did get a new gym membership, and while that may seem a little silly considering my old gym membership has not yet expired (not that I’ve been going anyway), the new one is practically across the street.  Saving about 40 minutes of total drive time from heading to the gym should really help by eliminating an excuse.  Plus, who’s got an extra 40 minutes to waste in the car?  Not me, that’s who.

For my work organization, I’ve been scheduling my projects on a monthly calendar, then breaking them down by daily tasks.  I’m able to see at a glance when my standing deadlines are each week, and my evolving projects I can break down by day into manageable tasks.  I haven’t perfected this yet–I still  have a tendency to overschedule and underproduce on many days–but it’s getting closer and I am getting more accomplished.

As for housekeeping, I still haven’t found a schedule or  that I like for cleaning the house, and I haven’t been crazy about any of the ones that I have come up with.  I tried the FlyLady routine, but my heavens, that woman is out of control.  It was too much for me to think about, and even her baby steps wore me out (Seriously?  Shoes every day?  No.  I don’t think so.).  I’d like something that gives me one or two tasks a day with a day off for random projects, and I’d like something efficient.  I mean, is it better to do all the floors one day, dust another, clean windowsills another, or is it better to do a whole room each time?  Room-by-room, or job-by-job?  What do you think?  Have you come up with–or found–a routine or schedule you like?  If so, I’d love to hear it.

Score for Two Days:

1. Three potty stickers Sunday, three so far Monday, and several pair of wet underwear
2. Two and a half loads of laundry (getting the last load out of the dryer in just a minute)
3. Two “Couch to 5K” runs, one “Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred” workout
4. Grilled veggies, fresh strawberries and pineapples, egg whites, lowfat cottage cheese, turkey bacon . . . so far so good
5. Four of my clothing drawers organized, two of Bear’s clothing drawers organized, and some progress made on Bear’s closet
6. Two blog posts (three if you count this one) and three product descriptions written (still woefully behind)
7. Pool inflated and filled, but not yet played in

Well, I thought I wasn’t getting anything accomplished, but looking at this list makes me feel a little better.  Even though I am woefully behind, I am making progress, I guess.

Of course, the unstructured work day of a work at home mom is one of the blessings of being able to work from home.  If I want to wake up early and finish my work before 8:00 and play the rest of the day, I can! (Okay–that will NEVER happen).  If I want to procrastinate all day long and then work into the wee hours to catch up, I can! (Much more likely.)

Yesterday, Bear and I had nothing planned for the day.  I had some work that needed to be done, and I had some laundry that needed to be washed, and a plethora of any other tasks with which any other mom anywhere else is beleaguered.  As Bear ate breakfast, though, I thought, “Eh.  Let’s go to the zoo instead.”

So we did.

I love being a work at home mom.

The article was a guest post written by Heather of Work at Home Market, a WAHM resource with which I was unfamiliar until this article, but which I will be checking out in more detail soon.

In “How to Transition to Working at Home,” Heather writes of how, when she got married, she and her husband decided she would quit working outside the home after six months.   Heather’s experience is different from mine in several ways–the most important of which, in my opinion, is that Heather made the transition before she had children.  When I finally decided enough was enough and that I could no longer leave my Bear every day, I had to overlap my “outside job” and my new work at home jobs while caring for an infant (whom I was still nursing!) in the hours between the end of the regular work day and the baby’s bedtime.

For any moms looking to make this change, know this before you start:  It.  Is.  Exhausting.

That’s not to say it wasn’t worth it, because it was.  Just bear in mind that you will work a full day outside the home, take care of your family until bedtime, and when they are all cuddled up asleep, you will continue working into the wee hours.  And this schedule will last months.  Before undertaking a schedule of this magnitude, be absolutely certain that both you and your husband are on board and committed to your working at home.

Even with a Hot Husband who was committed to my staying home with our Bear, our marriage suffered neglect during this time period.  I’m not sure either of us was prepared for the amount of work I would be putting into the project or the care of our child, and the time that it would take away from our relationship.

Before I give any advice on how to handle that transition, I think I need to reflect on the experience a little more–to determine how I could have been more organized and prepared, and to what we as a couple could have done to make the process easier for both of us.  The first step, I think, is understanding that you are going to embark on an extremely difficult journey and keep your focus on how rewarding the destination will be.

Heather does not write how to manage time in her article on the transition to working from home.  Rather, she gives steps to finding a job and marketing your business, product, or service.  Those in the beginning stages, those considering becoming a work at home mom, will find “How to Transition to Working at Home” useful in determining how to get started.  Her advice on setting a deadline is particularly beneficial, I think.  If you want to work from home, this article gives a good, basic reference and is worth the read.

If I find a resource for how to survive the overlap, or if I can organize my own experience to share with you objectively, I’ll post it on Nix9to5.

What about you?  Have any of you successfully made the switch?  What is your number one piece of advice for making the transition to working from home?

Being a WAHM has a unique set of challenges–just like being a stay at home mom has it’s own benefits and drawbacks, and just like working outside the home has pros and cons.  I do think that, for our family, my being a work at home mom is the best possible solution. We simply can not afford to live on one paycheck, and working outside the home was killing me–I couldn’t stand not being home with my Bear!

For most people–including me–it is difficult to figure out how to find legitimate work you can do from home, or how to find work that pays well enough.  There are, however, several options available, depending on your education and skills.  Not everyone can be a copywriter, not everyone can be an online tutor, not everyone has the magic eBay touch . . . but there is a wealth of opportunity if you are committed to thinking creatively, willing to try new things, and dedicated to the hard work necessary during the transition.

One of the best resources I found for job listings, employment ideas, and even daily living resources for work at home moms (or those striving to become work at home moms) is WAHM.com.  A lot of the resources and articles on this site are good for all mothers,  not just those working from home.  With recipes, parenting tips, job advice, and more, WAHM.com is an excellent resource for time-starved mommies.  Check them out and let me know what you think.