It may come as no surprise to you that my husband and I are full of entrepreneurial ideas, and we are always coming up with new ideas to further our own businesses. But if you’ve ever worked for yourself, you know that requires very long hours to be worked, something which can become extremely difficult when you add kids to your family.

When Mackenzie joined our family, I had already been a home-based entrepreneur for 3 years and we were running 3 business on the side, plus I was writing about 4 blogs. I decided the blogging chaos was killing me, and so No Ordinary Homestead began as a place where I could share all of my thoughts and interests about life, instead of having them compartmentalized across the Internet in a bunch of other blogs.

Nowadays, I’m a WAHM to a preschooler and things have really changed over the years. The blogging has become more developed, we added a few new companies to our list and there never seem to be enough hours in the day to get things done. But there are times when you can still get things done, whether you’ve got kids coming and going, or are working outside the house. You’ve just got to get organized about it.

When Will They Let You Work?

Newborns — When Mack was first born, it took me several weeks before I was really back in the swing of life. It seems like newborns are either sleeping, feeding, being changed or cooing for about 5 minutes until they’re asleep again. So it can be really difficult to concentrate on anything unless your little one is asleep…and you’re still not going to be able to work on anything that requires hours of concentration.

After a few weeks, I became an expert at typing with only one hand while Mackenzie was nursing. I was simply getting a bit bored while having my little piglet suckling on me what felt like 16 hours of every day. And then in those moments when she would sleep, I was usually trying to fit in some housework, figure out what was for dinner, get myself looking presentable or get work done. I definitely wasn’t able to work a lot during those months, but they are also the most precious moments of your baby’s life. So don’t worry if you feel like you’re not getting enough done. Do what you can do and just stare at that precious new life you created.

Toddlers — Mackenzie was awesome as a toddler (1-3 years old) because she was rather self-sufficient and liked playing by herself for 15-30 minutes at a time. So you learn to get things done as quickly as you can in that time frame, and it does require some planning so you remember what needs to be taken care of and in which order. But this was probably the easiest time frame for me to get work done because she was rarely getting into trouble, would play nearby where I could see her, and we could still take breaks together to hang out.

Preschoolers — As the name suggests, when your kids hit the age of about 3, you will probably be thinking about putting them in some sort of daily program for at least a few hours. Here in Germany, it’s pretty standard to put your kids in preschool for 3-4 hours in the morning, which is a nice block of time to get some work done…assuming your child slides right into the new routine. With Mackenzie, it’s not been the easiest thing in the world, and we’ve been struggling since she started on February 1st. Just when things start to look better, she puts on the guilt and makes me feel like the worst mom in the world for sending her off for half the day, when all she wants to do is stay home and play with mommy.

Grade schoolers — Now I don’t personally have  a lot of experience with kids this age or older, but I think that the older they get, the easier it is for them to occupy their own time. Plus they’re in school, over at a friends’ house, in afterschool programs and so on. Granted, someone has to play chauffeur; but thanks to modern technology, you can take your laptop or iPad wherever you go, and even be connected to the internet. So you can be blogging on the go, making your shopping list, finishing up a business proposal or any number of things while you wait for your kids to get out of school or even during those little league games. Hopefully it’s not always necessary for you to work through a game; but at least you know you can when you absolutely must.

Parental Guilt

There is a moment (or many moments) in every parents’ life when their child either makes them feel sad or guilty for leaving or working a lot…but you have to remain in charge. If you know that your son or daughter is in good hands when they go off to school or daycare, you don’t need to worry about all the tears they bring up in the morning when you drop them off. There are a few rare cases when something is wrong and you should always keep up with what is going on at your child’s school, but they are probably just trying to get you to let them sit in front of the TV all morning instead.

And speaking of which, sometimes you just need the TV as a distraction. It’s still not recommended to let kids under 3 watch more than an hour of TV per day…and older kids also shouldn’t really glue themselves to the TV for more than 2 hours/day. But if and when you have to use the TV as a babysitter, pop in something educational and hope for the best. Because it’s going to happen. And most kids turn out just fine, assuming that’s not their routine every single day.

Find Your Balance & Timing

Set yourself working limits so that you work in spurts. You can try 15 minute sections, or the Promodoro Technique with 25 minutes working & 5 minutes break in a continuous cycle. Or you can just create whatever method works best for you. I personally like to put in about an hour of work, and then I take a 10-15 minute break with my daughter. This helps keep her happy and still allows me to bond with her…but at the same time, I get to take my mind off my work which allows my head to function more clearly after the break as well.

Also, make sure that you focus your energies wisely. If you are writing and doing things which require concentration, get them done while the kids are gone and the house is quiet. Then when it comes to laundry, housework, filing and all that, you’re usually going to be a lot better off doing that while they’re home. You can even get them to pitch in if they’re old enough. Mack is a dusting champion with some old gym socks over her hands!

Do you work from home yourself? What advice would you give others? What’s the most useful advice you’ve ever gotten?