Christmas Time for this Work at Home Mom

I am recovering from Christmas. (Staying up late X-mas eve, recovering from a sinus infection, and Aunt Flow visiting.) But I'm not complaining. I spent a lot of time with family, which is a blessing.

The reason why I choose to work at home is because I really want to be home with our children. In order to make that dream a reality, I have had to reduce our spending. If I had known before I was married and had children that I'd one day want to be home with my kids, I could have avoided incurring such a high mortgage debt and I wouldn't have to reduce my spending so dramatically, but I happily reduce my spending to enable me to be home with our children. A resource that has taught me a lot about how to really reduce my spending is the book: Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy ( http://miserlymoms.com/ ). I recommend it to all moms, those who work at home, stay at home or work outside of the home.

Some of the ways I saved money this Christmas were:

I made 3 aromatherapy heat / cool wraps as gifts. The fabric for each one cost about $3. I filled them with rice and herbal tea. I only bought 1 box of tea $2.99 and used some more tea and rice I already had at home. I had the opportunity to use my husband's home-made heat wrap today and it worked beautifully.

I bought plain wood picture frames ($1) and painted them and put pictures of the kids inside.

I made an all natural scented body scrub for my DH. These ingredients were not that cheap-$7 per scented essential oil, $3.50 for a bottle of safflower oil; $3.50 for coarse sea salt. $1 per bottle with a cork to store it in. But I have enough ingredients to make a million batches. The recipe I used for him was:

• 4 tablespoons crushed coarse sea salt
• 10 drops spearmint oil
• 2 crushed bay leaves

It exfoliates and moisturizes.

I made blankets for the children of my close friends. The blankets were made from no-sew 27 inch pillow kits. The kind where you cut the edges into strips and tie in knots. Since their kids are preschoolers, the pillows are the perfect size for blankets. I also found some Raiders football fabric remnants and made a pillow for my brother-in-law. These pillow kits were $4.97 each in the clearance bin at the fabric store.

There is a picture store in my area called Pic**** Peo*** and they had an in store special for free pictures. I ended up getting 2 sheets of 2 poses so I paid $20. I went to Wal****** and made 4x6" copies for 29 cents each. I never buy school pictures or sports photos, so I felt is was ok to spend the money.

I also finally got around to planting the veggies I bought a few weeks ago. (: I bought approx. 40-60 onion plants for $3. I also planted 6 baby cabbage plants which cost about $2.50.

Cabbage cooked with bacon and onion and garlic makes an excellent tasting cheap meal.

I plan on growing some more greens and some fruit trees, too.

I guess I should get to work now, while my baby is sleeping. Achieving the right balance between family, work and rest is a challenge for me. But that is because I am very weary of allowing my time to be taken from my kids, even if it is to work. I desire to work at home and have time to do homemaking and have time for my kids and have time for me. ( The preceding was written in reverse order of importance to me )

One thing I think I need to do is to make sure I allow myself to be off 2 days per week-preferably on the weekends when DH is home. In order to do that, I will need to do more work during the week. Because my business plan included setting aside time to work and care for my kids and rest, I know I can do it, it will just require diligence. My learning curve will be steep during the startup phase so I can make sure that this business meets my needs. I am very picky now becuase I had a different work at home mom business before that was idyllic in the first few years, but then I had bigger goals and it no longer suited my needs. Yes, I do want the world. *If* I'm going to work while raising our kids, the children will come first, then my health-which is dependent on my not being stressed or overworked.

Darn, the baby is up and I haven't even begun work. That's what happens when I don't get right to work while he sleeps.

-signing off

Gaining Momentum

I haven't posted in a while. I have been going 'round and 'round in my head considering what I really want to do. I was worrying and not giving my concerns to God, which was a mistake.

God did something for me that only He could do. After I realized that I had been worrying way too much, rather than believing God's word, I asked for forgiveness. The scripture that came to me that caused me to stop worrying is the one where God says we should pray to Him to "give us this day our daily bread". What this has meant for me in life and in my business is that God didn't promise that He would give us a whole bunch of bread to store in a storehouse so we'd never have to worry again, but He did say that He would provide enough for us on a daily basis. Just thinking of that makes me smile.

Well, how this all relates to my VA business is that once I repented to God, when His spirit spoke to me, all sorts of things happened to make my VA business a reality.

1) My dad offered for me to take part in the business he has successfully run for about 25 years. This will create additional income for my family.

2) The phone company offered us a discount on my DSL/Phone/Cable package. I was really considering cutting off the DSL and Cable. We have a package deal that is very expensive. The new package will save us $49/month.

3) Additionally, a couple I know asked me to perform VA work for them on an ongoing basis. It is a good deal of work.

Prior to these things occurring, I was considering forgetting about my VA plans, they seems too hard, too much work. But when God pours you out a blessing like the one I received, and am receiving, you know that he is pointing you toward something. I had given up on this dream, but then God showed up in a major way.

I feel so blessed right now. I have been working at home, striving for balance in my life and my kids lives. My mornings have been picture perfect, just like right now. My new dog, a Yorkshire Terrier, is laying next to me on the floor. My 2 sons are playing with legos and watching Rug Rats. I never planned for life to be this good. But I did know God had a plan for me.

Did I tell you that my bank account will say I'm low on cash flow, but it doesn't matter to me, because my future is bright. I feel optimistic that I am leading the life God intends for me because I let go and let Him.

I love being available for my kids. I love not having clients in my home all day, as I did in my previous business. I feel like a better mommy since I can focus my attention on my kids. I feel balanced in other areas, as well. I am involved in lots of volunteer work with my local public school, and I've had more time to devote to that work.

For those moms out there considering work at home or considering becoming a VA, I'd like to tell you about my daily schedule, since becoming a VA:

I try to wake up very early, around 5am. (about 1/2 the time I do, and 1/2 the time I don't wake up until my DH leaves for work around 7:15). Once I obtain more VA clients, I won't be able to sleep in on those mornings. (;

While the kids are asleep, I make decaf coffee-it is a goal of mine to cut back on caffeine. Since I work on my kitchen table, I usually have to clean it off 1st and then set up my laptop and printer and other items I need to do my work.

Sometimes, but rarely, I make a healthy breakfast for my family. This is usually only possible if I get up at 5am. It is my goal to do this everyday. DH has diabetes and the kids and DH are more likely to eat healthy food if I make it, than if I leave it up to them to find something.

Depending on what time I get up, I have 2-4 hours of work before they wake up and need me.

Since my kids are home from school-we have year round school so they are off-they all sleep in until around 9:30.

So I take a break from work around 9:30 or 10 and clean up/recharge my batteries/spend time with my kids/etc.

Since 2 of my children are older-2nd and 6th grade- I involve them in my daily work goal setting. I tell them that I will be done soon, that I just have 1 more hour and then I'll be done. I think it is important that they see that I am indeed at work.

For me, the reason why I chose to work as a VA is to be home with my kids, and if I work all of the time, all day, that defeats the purpose of my choice. But I do think that they can stand to not need me for at least 4 waking hours per day, since the alternative is going to daycare all day while I have a regular job.

I then make sure I will have lunch ready for my toddler by around 12 noon, so he can take a nap and I can finish up my work while he naps.

Then the rest of the day is mine. Except administrative tasks for my own business and volunteer work, etc. This is just a goal, it doesn't always happen, but it helps me to get almost everything done early.

I just installed Office 2003 and am trying to learn Outlook and the Calendar program. I have a training CDRom (it was recomended by a successful VA and is called "PC Tutor Learn Office, Windows and more-Deluxe), I will have to schedule time to work on this. I find that I have to plan ahead to schedule everything in, both personal and business tasks, since becoming a VA.

I am also planning to reactivate my real estate license, since I have been doing Real Estate VA work.

Also on my "To Do" list is to finish putting up Christmas lights. My 8 year old son asked me to put them up and I said, "I'm too busy." and he said, "But we didn't have them last year either." And when I looked at the gutters of the house, I realized we have never put up lights since we have lived here-almost 4 years! That makes me really sad about he kind of life I was leading and made me even more determined to make the changes necessary to be more available for my kids. I can hardly believe that I haven't had time to put up X-mas lights! For 3 Christmases! And I didn't even realize it. That's not the life I want for my kids. I want time to enjoy doing "child friendly" activities with them.

I also plan to move my office away from my kitchen table and to our unused family room/formal dining. It used to be there. I also want to put a TV in there. Yes, I use TV as a babysitter for my baby while I do work. It is usually PBS. And only for 30 minutes-2 hours per day. And he always has toys to play with and I read him books daily, too. I would also like a CD player. I like to listen to Gospel while I work.

I guess it's time for me to sign off.

ps: my 8 year old chose the font color today...