Making Your Work At Home Lifestyle Work For You

From the day my daughter was born, I knew that I wanted to be there with her for her first words, first steps, and all the way to her first boyfriend. From my own experience when I was a child left at home while my parents worked, I realize that the mistakes I made were partially due to lack of supervision. But with the rising cost of living expenses, how does a family survive on one paycheck so that one parent can stay home with their family?

Working from home is not a new concept. There have always been options such as being a writer or even a daycare provider in your home. Due to the technology of the Internet the ability to stay home and work have expanded to many different possibilities. There are major companies that realize that some of the best talent that was previously in the workforce are now stay at home moms and they are willing to hire you to telecommute from the comfort of your home office. Other companies specialize in hiring for work from home positions contracted with major corporations for customer service, sales and technical support. Not wanting to work for a corporation? There are unlimited opportunities to start your own business. Some ideas include, selling on an online auction site, starting your own ecommerce business selling anything from antiques to gift baskets, or offering services like concierge or even dog walking.

So now you are getting the idea of what kind of jobs you can do from home. So then, how do you handle your new at home career and family life at the same time. The key is timing and flexibility. When my daughter was very young, I did my first work at home job as a daycare provider for the state I lived in. I only had a total of two children in my house at one time, but it was a great way to make a little extra cash and gave my daughter other children to play with. From there I moved on to online auctions which allowed me to work on it during my daughters naptime or late at night. As time progressed, I expanded to different ventures that allowed me to work even with the little interruptions that came with having a young child. Once she was at school age the possibilities of what kind of work I could do expanded. I started my own website. I began writing and blogging in my spare time. I worked doing customer service for a company that was very flexible in their scheduling, allowing me to log on at what ever times worked for me. Now that my daughter is in her tween years, it is much easier for me to work with her there and my current desire to learn and start a web design business has even inspired her to learn how to work with the software I am using.

At this point I am successful at doing the things I love to do, bring home that much needed extra income, and be there for my daughter when she needs me. And to top it off I work when my husband is working and we are all able to enjoy being a family during nights, weekends or any time during the day if we feel like it.