Get Yourself More Time As A Work At Home Mum – 8 Top Tips

If you’re a mum to small children, there’s never enough time, especially to run a business. My theory is that if I can claw back as much time as possible from household tasks, I can use that time on my business.

Yes, I’ll admit I’m not the world’s best housewife, but life’s too short for perfection.

This was going to be a top ten list, but I had to go and clean the kitchen! Do you have a tip you’d like to share?  I’d love to hear it so please do drop me a comment.

1. Decide on the level of chaos you can tolerate and don’t do any more housework than you need to keep your sanity

We all have different standards when it comes to cleanliness and tidiness, so make sure you’re working to your own standards rather than someone elses. After all, it’s your house.

It’s OK to leave a certain amount of mess for later. If everything has to be  clean and tidy before you start work, you’ll never start work! On the other hand, a lot of mess can be distracting and depressing if you have to work in the midst of it. Decide what level of mess you can tolerate and let the rest go, for now at least.

2. Don’t iron unless you really need to

Where possible, buy clothes that don’t need ironing. And don’t iron things that don’t really need ironing such as bed sheets, jeans and t shirts. If you hang out clothes to dry carefully, it’s amazing how many items you can get away with not ironing.

3. Clean the bathroom when the kids are in the bath

Clean the loo and washbasin when the kids are in the bath. You’ll be there to supervise them and you’ll just need to whizz around the bath after they get out.

4. Get a slow cooker

These are absolutely brilliant. You spend 10 minutes throwing in some meat, veg and sauce ingredients at breakfast time and you have a delicious home-cooked meal ready and waiting in the evening.You can even cheat and use a packet sauce, many are pretty healthy these days (check the label, obviously). I get a wonderful smug feeling knowing that my eveing meal is taken care of by 9.30 in the morning!

You can do much more than just casseroles too-  try curries, pasta sauces, soups and pot roasting joints. Even rice pudding!

My top tip is to buy one with both a high and low heat setting. The low setting takes 6 to 8 hours to cook, the high setting takes 3 to 4 hours. Which means that if you have an especially chaotic breakfast time, you can get the slow cooker on at lunchtime instead.

Even better, get a slow cooker that’s bigger than you need so you can cook extra and  freeze a couple of portions for another day.

5. Get a breadmaker

This means you never have to stop what you’re doing, bundle everyone into their coats and pushchairs and dash down the shops because you’ve run out of bread. Providing you’ve got a stash of flour, dried yeast, salt, sugar and margarine, which isn’t hard to do as they all keep for ages.

6. Do your grocery shopping online

I thought this was a no-brainer, but I’m surprised how many people have said to me  ‘I bet the supermarket isn’t much fun with a baby and a toddler, is it?’. Er, no it’s not!

7. Have a ‘ten minute tidy’ at the start of nap time, then get down to work

If you’re lucky enough to have children that nap, spend ten minutes having a speedy tidy up then leave the rest. Tidying is much quicker without little people around, but don’t let it suck you in so you accidentally spend the whole of nap time cleaning.

I kid myself that the faster I go, the more calories I burn. Well, I can dream!

8. Ask for help

If you work from home, it’s easy for other family members to assume that you’ll do all the housework and cooking, just because you’re there. Not only does this eat into your working time, if you teach young children that mummy isn’t the only one who does housework, they’ll be in good habits for later in life.

One Good Way To Save Money as a Business Mum

Software can be expensive if you’re running a small business from home.

A good example is Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook (and sometimes a few other programs thrown in).  Bought from the Microsfot Office website, the Home and Student version of Office 2007 costs £99.99, but you cannot use it in ‘business situations’. The standard version costs £349.99 if buying from scratch and £249.99 if you’re upgrading from an earlier version.

The good news that you can get very similar software for free – check out Open Office. As an ex-Microsoft Office trainer, I  didn’t look at Open Office for years. I’d spent so long learning MS Office to the advanced level, I couldn’t face learning new Office software. But if you’re a regular Word, Excel or PowerPoint user, Open Office will look very familiar indeed. A few minutes exploring should be all the training you need. If you’re worried about the files being compatible with Microsoft Office – say, you need to send a spreadsheet to your accountant who only has Excel – don’t be. Open Office can cope with MS Office file formats.

It’s amazing that we all go out and pay hundreds of pounds for software we could (effectively) get for free, but I guess that’s the power of Microsoft.

There’s a lot of open source software out there – the blog software I use, WordPress, is open source and doesn’t cost me a penny. If you’re thinking about buying new software, it’s well worth Googling to see if there’s an open source equivalent. You could save a heck of a lot of money.

Can you really make money from an internet business?

If you've looked into starting your own internet business you'll have seen websites claiming you can make "$$$" by doing very little work. There's a lot of hype out there and it's bound to make you feel cynical if you read enough. I'm certainly not making $$$ from this website (yet!), but I believe that internet businesses aren't that much different from any other business. You'll need a product or service that customers are prepared to pay for, a marketing strategy to tell people about it, some cash to invest to get you going, consistent planning and hard work. This week I've found a couple of thought-provoking posts if you're interested in running an internet business, but have doubts that it can really earn you money.   First up is  5 big internet business lies from hiremyparents.com and it's well worth a look. If you're feeling that it's impossible to get your information website noticed in the ocean of information out there, check out Diana Schiedman's Stand Up 8 Times blog post: The Internet and Online Marketing: Musings.

One Day…

This post was prompted by the Writing Workshop on the Sleep Is For The Weak blog.

One day parents will really be able to balance working with spending time with their children.

One day there will be a part time job for anyone who wants one. Jobs which make full use of mums’ (lets face it it’s usually the mum) skills, expertise and training. Jobs with an equal status to full time jobs and that pay the same rate per hour.

One day schools will teach kids how to be their own bosses so they will know there is more to working life than the employment career ladder. Lets give kids more flexible work options and prove that running your own business isn’t just for hard boiled macho blokes in suits.

One day companies will make full use of not-so-new-anymore technologies so that more of use can work remotely. Then we’ll be able to work more flexibly and our work will have less impact on the environment (less travel, less fuel).

One day childcare won’t be so outrageously expensive that a parent with two or more pre-schoolers can’t afford to work.

One day the media will stop flogging the tired ‘old working mum vs stay at home mum’ debate. It isn’t a straightforward choice between one and the other, many of us juggle both options  and we change the way we work (or don’t work) as our children get older. We don’t sit around arguing about which is best – we just get on with what works for our family. And we support each other in our choices.

One day women will refuse to compromise either their career or their family time and will start their own businesses so they can do both. Hang on, that’s already happening!

Do you have any more? Post me a comment…

Top 10 Tips for Finding a Great Accountant (and why you need one)

When I started out as a freelance trainer almost ten years ago I knew I needed help filling out my tax return form and making sure my books were kept properly. But I was apprehensive about hiring an accountant because I'd never done this before. I didn't really know what an accountant should do or how to find the right one for me. If you're new to business you'll probably feel a lot like I did. Which is why I've asked my latest guest blogger, Amy Taylor of Amy Taylor Accountancy, to share her expertise. In this article, Amy covers…

  • What to look for in a great accountant
  • What a good accountant should do for you
  • Why you need an accountant
  • What to do if you can’t afford an accountant
  1. First decision : High street practice or sole practitioner?  The main benefits of a sole practitioner are lower fees and a more personal service.  They are often more flexible, and as they run their own businesses are much more likely to understand the pressures you are facing.  My clients chose me because they like having a regular point of contact and proactive tax planning advice.
  2. Talk to your business contacts and attend networking events.  Word of mouth is often the best way to find a great accountant.  Find out who your business contacts use, their experiences and attend networking groups which invariably will have at least one accountant in attendance who you can get to know informally before deciding on appointment.
  3. Check out Twitter.  It’s another way of getting to know an accountant informally.  See if they offer tax advice that is relevant for you as it’s a good sign they understand your business.  Follow some lists such as http://twitter.com/efficiencycoach/great-accountants and http://twitter.com/BookMarkLee/uk-tax-and-accountants to get to know some great accountants, including me http://twitter.com/amyaccountant .
  4. You absolutely WILL save tax.  A good accountant will assess its clients’ needs, identifying areas where tax can be legitimately saved and offer tax planning advice for the future.  Areas where I have helped my clients save tax is by advising on the best VAT scheme, identifying missing expenses, such as costs of working from home, broadband, insurances, carrying forward Class 4 NIC losses and advising on eligibility for child tax credits.
  5. Avoid fines.  Getting your tax return in on time is essential if you are to avoid heavy fines, and/or interest.  A great accountant will know all the deadlines applicable to your business and make sure you work together to meet those deadlines.
  6. Prove you are taking reasonable care.  HMRC have changed their penalty regime from 2009 which means that you must demonstrate a commitment to correctly declaring your tax liabilities, and taking the best possible care over your books and records.  What better way to prove your commitment than taking on a suitably qualified accountant.  It says to the taxman, look I know this is my weak area so I am taking responsibility for my tax affairs by appointing this expert to help me.
  7. Ask if your accountant will give you regular updates or a newsletter.  I provide my clients with personalised updates to their particular industry or background, to make sure they are aware of any changes, for example compulsory online VAT filing, etc, so they can plan ahead and take on additional accountancy services if required.
  8. If you have issues over affording an accountant, look for an accountant who offers special rates for start-ups.  I have very reasonable packages for start-ups as I recognise how finances can be pushed to the limits in the first year.  A good accountant will advise you on how to keep your books and records in order, to obtain the lowest fees possible.
  9. Another reason why it is important to have an accountant is if you move house. If you are self-employed you won’t have any payslips to hand over as proof of your income when getting a mortgage, so it is essential to have an accountant who can provide you with a reference, let the bank know your past accounting and tax history and future expectations of growth.
  10. If you get it wrong and choose an accountant who is not right for your business needs, don’t worry.  It is very easy to change.  Find a new accountant and they will write a “professional enquiry” letter to your old accountant asking if there is any reason why they shouldn’t work with you.  They will also draft a letter for you to sign which allows the old accountant to pass over all old tax calculations and accounts to the new accountant.

Good hunting!  For more information on accounting and tax services from Amy Taylor Accountancy, or a copy of my ebook “10 Top Tax Tips” for the self-employed, please ring me on 01767 260282 or email me at amy@tayloraccountancy.net.  Visit my website at www.tayloraccountancy.net. Amy Taylor Accountancy takes every care in preparing material to ensure that the content is accurate and up to date.  However no responsibility for loss to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of this material can be accepted by Amy Taylor Accountancy

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