Has anyone started a job working from home since having children

[catlover564]

and if so what is it? I'm not sure I will be able to go back to work part time at my current job as it is a full time position and just trying to think what I could do from home to earn money?

Working from home does not mean working and doing childcare at the same time - you still need to use nursery/childminder/wrap around care if you are doing a proper job for proper money, even if your office is the kitchen table. There are quite a few phone-based jobs that you can do from home e.g. providing customer service & support which you can find with a quick google, but you won't get far if you are likely to be interrupted by a crying baby or an insistent toddler!

Yes I work from home in the evenings. It can be exhausting but means we don’t have to pay for childcare, and at least I’m at home still. Search online for remote work, there are a few things, and quite a lot of 100% remote companies, especially in the US.

I work in marketing part time and the work is project based, meaning I can work whenever i like as long as I get the job done.

DS goes to slep at 8.30 and I work until 10. I get a dolid 7.5hours of work done in the evening. The rest I do during the 2 days he is at nursery. I also fo bits of work here and there furing his naps at home.

It's much easier now we have a routine. Looking after a child is a ft job in itself so you really have to have a solid routine coupled with a very flexible job to make it work without significant childcare.

I do translation, online teaching, proofreading, copywriting nd other computer-based work. I do it when DC is napping and then in bed, plus the odd afternoon when he's with family. It's exhausting and I have to be organised but it saves us paying for childcare and means I get lots of time with DC.

I used to do some transcription and some consulting from home (this was pre children). Since having dc, I’ve worked from home part of the week in all my positions (I’m an academic, so this is normal in my field anyway).

As others have said, unless commuting or lack of transport or something is the issue (I work from home because my actual office is 3 hours away and I can’t do that commute every day), working from home isn’t that different than working somewhere else. You will still need childcare. I can return a few emails on my days off when I’m home with dc or if one of them is ill. But I can’t get anything significant done with them home with me. You may be able to pick up something that you could spend an hour or two on during nap time or after bedtime (selling stuff on Etsy or whatever), but nothing that has pressing deadlines because that free time is never guaranteed.

If you do want to be self employed, no matter where you work, it would be good to think about your skill set. What can you already do that you’d enjoy doing every day?