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“How are you enjoying the time off?”
It’s a question I’ve had quite a bit over the last couple of weeks. It’s always asked in a completely innocent way, but when I’m faced with that question I can’t help but feel my heckles rising slightly.
A couple of weeks ago I did my last radio show and hung up my headphones for a while. During the 18 months I presented a breakfast show I also worked as a freelance journalist and copywriter. It meant that some weeks I crammed in 75 hours of work. Juggled around the fact I had my toddler home every afternoon, you can see I was pretty busy.
Since I finished my radio contract things have been a bit odd. I’ve been back and forth across the country sorting out a huge relocation to Devon, 200 miles from where we currently live. So it’s fair to say I haven’t settled into our new way of life quite yet. But I have still been working – it’s just that this working has been from home.
You see, I am now a Work At Home Mum. This is often referred to in inner circles as WAHM. Despite what someone said to me recently, this doesn’t mean I spend my days drinking cups of tea and sorting my sock drawer. It means I work. At home. And am a mum. Simple?
Not simple.
The thing is, it’s been a while since I last held this title, so I’d forgotten how some people fail to grasp the concept of freelance working. For many, the idea that someone can work from a computer in an office in their home, rather than an office in a building with other workers, is a bit of an odd one.
My daughter still goes to nursery, I still have a pick-up and collect run to do at either sides of the day. I still have clients to please and deadlines to meet. I still spin plates and have various projects on the go at once. Sometimes I have to go out for meetings – and in the future I’ll probably do more days in the office again as I go back to combining my radio work with my writing / editing / copywriting work.
I’m not complaining. I love my life and am very excited about our move to a more family-friendly pace of living in south Devon. But don’t assume that I’m going to be on a permanent holiday.
Because, you know, work at home mums still work.
Oh yes and just you wait till F is at school. The mums think I don’t work and I am the one they call on to pi9ck up their darlings if they are running late at work
The one thing I seemed to forget where I set up my Business from home was that ALL the other things that I do (washing, cleaning, cooking, school runs etc) would STILL NEED DOING!!
I must’ve been suffering from rose-tinted life views that day as, needless to say, Mt Washing is now roughly the same size as Everest and I never quite manage to get the house to the level of cleanly perfection I would like……
Usually, I laugh when Mr W ribs me about “sitting on my bum all day” but somedays I do grab the nearest item (usually a pair of small girls pants) & fling it at his head…….
We moved to South Devon two years ago now and we love it. It’s great for the kiddies, there’s just so much more to do. As for working at home with kiddies, I find the two don’t mix well at all x
Here here! Work At Home Mums work darned hard… I know, because I am one. In fact I’ve never worked so hard and even the hours I put in are nothing compared to the hours I put in parenting, marketeering and blogging. I wouldn’t have it any other way, because when it comes down to it I am the mistress of my own destiny in a way I wouldn’t be if I was going into an office every day. But even so, it is not the easy, put your feet up option that some might imagine!!
This drives me insane! I work from home (run a nail and beauty supplies company and also do freelance bits for my hubby’s IT business plus my blog!) and have a baby and a toddler. My husband works from home too and people honestly think we do nothing all day. My husband works 9am-5pm and then 10pm-4am some days!
I love working from home but it just not get the same kind of recognition as ‘work’ as people who go out to work do!
L x
I find my husband is the worst culprit for this. Because I’m at home all day, it’s all too easy for him to assume that I can pop to the doctor to collect his asthma inhaler prescription/go to the sorting office to collect a parcel that he missed/renew his car tax etc. I have to remind him regularly that his work stops when he gets home, whereas mine is round-the-clock and encompasses looking after the children and the house as well as working pretty much a 40-hour week some weeks. Working at home has definite benefits and I wouldn’t go back to office life now, but it is SO not the easy option.
I have just written a post about why i love being a work at home mum especially at this time of the year. People really don’t always get that we do actually work but i wouldn’t change what i do for anything. Good luck in your new role and lifestyle we love devon.
Yes!! I find people say “oh you’re so lucky”. It’s still the same work and pressure and you actually find yourself working even longer because you can’t switch off mentally. And then there’s fitting in all the housework in between, collecting parcels etc and sometimes working in isolation. It’s great sometimes but it does, like anything, have its downsides too.
In our new place we’ve got an office so I can walk away at the end of the day and close the door after turning off the computer. At the moment, I have an office space under the stairs but I can still see my computer mocking me when I’m not sitting (like a slave) at it!
Here here! I work two days a week and study part time but I’m still ‘just a mother’
You just can’t win!
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