One of the best things about the internet boom is that it has opened up opportunities to work from home that otherwise would never have existed. As a work-at-home mom with two small kids, being able to stay at home and see to the kids while earning enough money to help ease the financial burden at home is a huge deal. However, the set-up is quite frankly less than ideal if your goal is maximum productivity at work.

When it comes to working at home, any parent knows that no matter how well you plan out the day something is bound to happen to disrupt your schedule. It may be something trivial like spilled milk, or something more important like a trip to the emergency room. No matter what it is, the point is that the small things can add up leaving you wondering at the end of the day where all the time went, and having to scramble to finish your work.

If you work at home and have kids, here are some tips that could hopefully help increase your productivity:

Set aside a work space for you – The work space may be an entire room, or just a small corner at the kitchen. The point is that you should have a place where you can put your laptop and the rest of your work stuff that the kids will know are off limits. Having a work station will also help you not just in having a place to dump all your things, but help put you in the zone once you start working.

Establish your kids’ bedtime – This is not only good for your kids, but will also give you a more predictable time of the day when you can catch up on work without any interruptions. The few minutes you spend putting them to bed might will earn you hours of “you time” and plus points in the bonding department.

Pre-post – Every time you have a chance to do work ahead of time, do so. Publish posts ahead of time so that the next time some emergency arises you won’t have to worry to much about unfinished work because you’ve already done them ahead of time!

Photo via Charlotte Fire Dept Credit Union

Originally posted on December 18, 2011 @ 10:22 pm