The Ugly Truth About Working From Home

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What do you think of when you think about working from home? Do you imagine leisurely reclining in your favorite chair, coffee within reach, with your laptop propped up on your lap? Do you think about sitting on your porch, listening to the birds chirping while you type away to your heart’s content? It sounds amazing, doesn’t it? While I have no doubt that those scenarios CAN be a reality sometimes, it’s definitely not the norm at my house. What does working from home actually look like when you have kids at home? I’m here to tell you the ugly truth AND the beauty of living out your dreams from the comfort of your home. It’s probably not what you think.

No Two Days Are the Same

You can craft the perfect schedule and plan out your day a week in advance, but I promise you, if you’re a mom, chances are that schedule will go straight into the trash.

Kids are really good at doing their own thing, and that typically means our day revolves around them. Depending on the ages of the children in your home, you may need to only work while they are asleep.

Luckily, two of my kids are older, so they can help me a lot when it comes to housework and helping out with the littles. I do still have one child at home who is very needy, so working while the rest of the kiddos are at school can be a challenge. Sometimes I dream about what it’ll be like when she starts school this fall. I’ll get so much more work done!

Your House Will Probably be a Mess

If you’ve been a reader for a while, you might remember a post I wrote about “How to Keep Your House Clean for Good.” In it, I share a cleaning schedule that absolutely does work IF YOU FOLLOW THE SCHEDULE.

I’ll be honest, with the workload I’ve had lately, I haven’t even wanted to follow my cleaning schedule. I do get my kids to help me, but keeping the whole house clean is not their responsibility. They have certain chores they do for pay and for free, and I have certain chores that are my responsibility. Since I’ve been working more hours the last couple of months, I’ve been slacking on my part, and it shows.

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You’ll be Home

Depending on your mindset, this could be a good thing or a bad thing. For me, it’s only good. I get to be home with my kids. That is the whole reason I’m doing this. It would have been easier to get a job rather than starting a business from scratch, but here are a few reasons I think working from home is so much better for our family.

I get to be with my kids while they’re little (priceless).
If my kids get sick at school, I can go get them without asking permission from anyone.
I can attend school events without asking my boss.
I get to set my own work schedule.
No daycare fees.
Save money on fuel (no commute).
If I want to take a few days off, I can. Whenever. I. Want.
If I want to make more money, I just get more clients or raise my rates instead of asking for a raise and hoping they say yes.
I’m in control of every aspect of my work. When I work, where I work, how I work, who I work with, everything.

All that goodness outweighs the “bad” for me. In all honesty, the bad isn’t even that bad. It’s tolerable. It’s worth it. It’s worth every bit of extra work and late night. I LOVE working from home. It really is the only option for me.

Would you love to start a business that you can work from home? Do you want to be with your babies while they’re babies? Do you want to be in control of every aspect of your work?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, I encourage you to explore your options when it comes to starting your own business.

Here are a few past posts that may help you decide: