Today we wanted to talk about homemaking and running a business from home. Not only do homemakers juggle so much on a daily basis but then adding the element of running a business from home can make or break some parents.
How are we homemaking and running a business from home?
We know it isn’t easy and it is truly a juggling act. We run three online businesses from our home. We have two handmade businesses where were sell handmade products on Etsy and Handmade on Amazon platforms. We also run a blog called Sunup to Sundown. In addition, one of us also works part-time outside of the home 2 ½ days per week. As you can imagine, we feel like we are running nonstop at times.
In addition to running our businesses, work outside of the home, we are also the parents to two small children. We wanted to share a few of the things that have helped us to have success in homemaking and running a business from home.
Take Turns Working
When you have young children they require constant supervision and redirection. We have a 15-month-old and 4-year-old who require just that. As much as we both would like to work at the same time, this is just not possible. What we have found to work well instead is to take turns working and parenting or keeping the home. Typically one of us will work for a couple of house and then we will allow the other to work for a couple of hours and continue this rotation throughout the day.
Batch Your Work and Processes
We batch as much of our work as possible. Whether this is in the production of items, running our business, writing for our blog, doing housework, or parenting we try to batch our work. In this way we can cut, stain, paint, or lacquer multiple items at once. We can package multiple items for shipping at once or we can do a bunch of housework at once such as in an hour or two hour block of time. It really makes you feel like you are getting a lot more accomplished and see more results in a short amount of time.
Batch Cook on the Weekends
One other thing we do is batch cook every weekend. Each day of the weekend we cook a larger meal then what we will eat for dinner so not only do we have dinner made for that night but leftovers for another meal. We then rotate these leftovers for lunch and dinners throughout the upcoming week. We also do any baking such as making homemade breads, cookies, or sweets all at once. This might mean that we have something baking in the oven, something cooking in the crockpot, and something simultaneously cooking on the stove or in the instant pot at the same time.
Learn to Let Go
This way we still feel as if we are making progress on both our home and businesses and not neglecting our children. The other aspect is that we have learned to let things go. We feel that you can’t keep a spotless house every second of the day when you have so many other tasks at hand. Therefore, we try to keep our home as tidy and picked up as possible and just try to stay on top of everything and feel that we manage pretty well.
No One is Perfect
One important thing to realize is that no one is perfect. No matter how perfect things appear on a video, picture, Instagram upload, or YouTube video it just isn’t. Most of what is being portrayed is a snippet of their entire day. So don’t feel like you have to achieve the picture perfect home, business, or level of parenting and do the best you can. That is the best everyone can do. We are all just doing the best we can while keeping everything and everyone afloat this crazy wave we call life.
We’d love to hear what you think about this post. How do you run your home when life gets busy? What has worked well for you? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for visiting Sunup to Sundown! We’ll be back soon with another recipe or update regarding our journey to become more self-reliant. Please subscribe, like or share this post with others who could benefit from it.
I have left many dirty dishes and piles of laundry on days when we are the busiest. We prepare pasta sauce, beans and bread for the week and that way we always have access to a quick meal on our busy days. When we make natural ice cream from fruit like bananas we make up a bunch to freeze. Great post, thank you.