Work at Home Mom Stress

By: Aurelia Williams

The trend of moms working from home to be near their children has grown in the last couple of years. Now that they have found jobs or businesses to run, they’re starting to realize that working from home is not as easy as they thought it would be. The work they do is hard to separate form their personal lives, which makes it hard to schedule time for work responsibilities and home duties.

The workspace these moms use to do their jobs at ends up being a part of their household, so that makes dividing work and home life even more difficult to do. Imagine that your office is a part of the dining room, which also happens to be the room where you eat your meals as a family. How easy is it going to be for you to leave your work life to be with your family when the office is 5 feet away from the dinner table?

The realities of dividing work and personal life can get smudged for work at home moms. When that happens, one’s stress level is sure to rise, which could jeopardize one’s sanity. To prevent your sanity from leaving, you should find ways to ensure that separation takes place between your job/business and your family life.

Assess the current situation. Try to find an area, within your home, to have your office so that it won’t interfere with your family life. The home office needs a room with a door where you can be apart from the rest of the house. A den or a garage can be converted into office space that is exclusive to your business. Some people have resorted to placing their office in the laundry room, just because it has a door! When that is not an option, set up shop in your bedroom to keep it away from the family areas.

Organization is the next step. A messy desk can be a huge distraction when trying to work. Everything needs to have its place. If you worked in an office, your boss would not stand for a messy work space. There’s no difference when you’re office is at home and not at the worksite.

Use inexpensive organizing items, such as baskets with separate compartments to help organize the odds and ends on your desk. You can keep rubber stamps, letters, invoices, pens, pencils, and the like in here. Organization makes finding things much easier, which results in a more relaxed work day.

Keep your business phone separate from the family phone line. When using the same line, you run the risk of your children answering business calls or picking up the phone during a conference call. This causes your professionalism to fly right out the window and takes your customers or employers along with it.

The same goes for the computer. It’s best to keep your business computer separate from what the other family members use, but budgets don’t always allow for this. In that case, make sure that the business/job files and documents can’t be easily accessed by anyone but you. This will help prevent some of the stress that could be brought on by family members stumbling on a client’s important document and accidentally deleting them.

Be sure to use calendars or planners as they are very helpful when trying to keep track of business appointments or deadlines and family appointments. This will lessen the stress of setting up family appointments when you’ve forgotten about business deadlines you have.

Consider hiring a sitter on days you have a lot of work to do. Being a work at home mom gives you the benefit of controlling your own schedule. Having a sitter keeps the kids away from your office and gives you quiet time to focus on your work and gives your kids a chance to have fun without you feeling too guilty.

Mixing business with family in the home setting can be a major source of stress. Keeping the business side of your life organized and separate is crucial to success in keeping your stress levels down and your sanity intact.


Aurelia Williams is a certified life coach and author of Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work And Family an Easy Step-By-Step Guide To Balancing Your Work And Family Time.

Article Source: http://greatarticlesformoms.com

Aurelia Williams is a certified life coach and author of Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work And Family--an Easy Step-By-Step Guide To Balancing Your Work And Family Time.

Tofu Scramble Breakfast Burritos

Tofu Scramble Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients

1 block firm or extra-firm tofu
2 potatoes (diced or chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 tablespoon garlic (minced)
2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon coriander
2 tablespoon turmeric
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
flour tortillas, burrito size

Directions

Heat oil in frying pan over medium-high heat, add diced potatoes, salt and pepper. Fry until golden brown, about ten minutes or until cooked through. Frozen potatoes like hash browns work as well. Throw in onion and garlic, cook about two minutes, stirring frequently. You may use garlic powder if you prefer.

Squeeze excess water from Tofu and crumble into the frying pan, in chunks about two-three inches big. Add nutirional yeast and spices. Stir-fry for two minutes. Make a small resevoir in center of pan, pour in soy sauce and cook for a few minutes.

Heat flour tortillas 15-30 seconds on each side on a separate frying pan or griddle. Wrap the Tofu Scramble up and dig in.

You may adjust the spices, add bell peppers and whatever else you'd like. This concoction originally was my boyfriends response to the store-bought tofu scramble that left much to be desired. I make this as a breakfast and lunch very often and everyone loves it.

Serves: 1-4

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Enjoy! ;)

Work At Home Moms...Managing Your Weight

By: Tammy Embrich

I don't know about you, but this has been a constant battle for me. I know sitting at the computer all day is not healthy for anyone.

But, that is what I do...I'm on my computer an average of 8 to 10 hours every week day marketing my websites and keeping them updated. And sometimes, I end up working on the weekends. That adds up to quite a bit of time sitting in my office, which in turn could result in unwanted extra pounds if I'm not careful.

I know this is something that all work at home Moms can relate to, unless you are a naturally thin person and have lucky genetics.

It is somewhat different for those who are involved in direct selling home businesses. They have products to deliver...some host parties, and some attend craft shows, home business conferences, and seminars. They tend to be a bit more active instead of sitting in front of a computer all day.

Staying in one place all day is not healthy at all. It slows down your metabolism, it slows down your blood circulation, and slows down your digestive tract. It also interferes with oxygen flow to the brain. It just isn't good for you, unless you take the required steps to help yourself.

I have found the below tips to be quite helpful and also strive more everyday to follow them:

* A daily exercise routine, preferably in the morning
* Drink plenty of water, at least 4 to 6 glasses per day
* Take one or two short walks during the day, in addition to the workout in the morning
* Don't eat meals at the computer desk
* Don't eat snacks at the computer desk
* Watch your in-take of carbohydrates, sugars, and fats

I do my workout in the morning. I get it over with first thing so I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day, I feel more energized during the day, and I just feel better and more ready to face my daily tasks. Plus it helps those endorphins kick in that just makes me feel better physically and mentally.

I have done more than just manage my weight by following the above tips. I have actually lost some weight. That in itself, makes me want to strive to keep doing what I'm doing and stay as healthy as I can.

If you are a work a home Mom, and you battle with weight-gain...think about the tips I have provided. Discipline yourself and try and stick with a daily routine for more activity, less weight-gain, and a more healthier you.

Article Written By: Tammy Embrich

Tammy is an Internet marketer and is the owner of

Work At Home Opportunities and Real Work At Home Jobs.

Tammy's two work at home websites focus on free telecommute job leads, articles, and more.

Advertising Your Work At Home Business On A Tight Budget

By: Tammy Embrich

It may come as a surprise to you that you can effectively advertise any type of work at home business on an extremely tight budget. It may come as an even bigger surprise that you can advertise with no cost involved at all.

There are many effective promotion techniques that marketers use everyday that are comparatively easy...even for the not so savvy. Advertising is the lifeblood of your business. The Internet houses a vast array of free advertising tools that have proven to yield the best results time and time again.

Ready to get started advertising your work at home business? Below you will find some reliable advertising techniques for your use. These are ten of the most popular ones. Most of these are absolutely free...while a few will have minimal fees.

1. Post on free networking forums using a signature with your niche keywords.
For Example: If you have a work at home website, use work at home. Or, if you have a work at home mom website...use work at home moms.

2. Start a blog. Blogs are currenlty all the rage on the net these days. With a blog, you can either use a free blog such as blogger.com or a paid one such as wordpress.org.
With a paid blog, you will need a domain name and hosting. After you have your blog up and running, with a few good-quality posts...start blog rolling (link exchanging) with other bloggers. It would also be in your best interest to start commenting on blogs that share in a similiar niche.

3. Write articles that relate to your work at home business and submit them to article directories, message forums, and ezines. Make for sure to consistently attach your resource box along with a link to one or more of your businesses or websites at the end of all your written articles.

4. Participate in forum contests where the administrator offers free advertisement as the prize. There are many forum owners that offer these type of contests.

5. Watch out for website owners that offer big advertising discounts and specials. You can usually find these advertising specials on message boards, or the websites themselves. You can also do a search on Google.com for this.

6. Another good idea would be to offer to help moderate at various forums in exchange for an advertising deal from the forum owner. You may be surprised at how many forum and website owners that would make a deal with you.

7. Get listed in web directories. There are lots of website directories that are free to list your work at home business. You will find a few here and there that require fees for this. You will also find some that require a reciprocal link back.

8. Sign up for ezines and news letters. You will find a lot of these that you can list your business for free just for signing up. All it takes is a little bit of your time, but the rewards can be substantial.

9. Create some business cards and flyers for your business. This can be done with your computer and printer. All you would need is the software to create the cards and flyers and the paper they are printed on. Vista Print.com offers free business cards with a minimal fee for shipping and processing. They also offer free logo design. Or you can have them printed at Office Max or any business supply store that offers this type of service. The cost for this service varies.

10. Word Of Mouth: This is the best advertising technique there is...and best of all, it's absolutely free. Conversing with friends and acquaintances about your business yields big rewards. Tell your fiends, and they will tell their freinds...and so on.

These are ten advertising methods that will not shrink your pocket book. Most of these will just require some of your time and they are quite effective...use them to your advantage.

Article Written By Tammy Embrich


Tammy is an Internet marketer and the owner of
Work At Home Opportunities
And owner of Real Work At Home Jobs.

Tammy's two work at home websites focus on free telecommute job leads, articles, and more.

Smoothie Recipes

Healthy Banana Mango Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of organic vanilla yogurt. (You can substitue low fat yogurt if you are watching your calorie count.)

1 banana, cut into about 1" pieces

1/4 cup orange or tangerine juine. (My kids like the fresh tangerine juice from Odwalla).

1/2 cup of frozen mangoes

Directions

Place all ingredients in the blender on high and blend until smooth.


Milkshake Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

1/3 cup whole milk yogurt
1/3 cup cultured buttermilk
1/3 cup whole coconut milk
frozen fruit to taste

Directions

Measure ingredients to fill the glass you will be using, then pour into the blender and blend until smooth.


Fruit Burst Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

2 bananas
6oz.blackberries
1 cup pineapple juice

Directions

Mix all ingredients and blend until smooth

Makes 2 servings.

Strawberry Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

4 oz. strawberry syrup

4 oz. low-fat milk

3/4 C. vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream

20 oz. ice

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

Makes 3 or 4 servings.

Enjoy! :D