How realistic is it to do freelance work from home with no paid childcare?

[naturelover]

I'm thinking evenings and weekends, when DH is around to look after DD (11 months old).

I really need to earn about 400 pounds a month, and I can probably charge 20 pounds an hour. But of course will need to set myself up as a freelancer, find clients, join professional body etc. In other words it might take a while to be earning properly.

Mon-Fri I basically do all childcare and housework, and have just about finished chores and dinner by 8pm. I have no "me-time" to speak of, and am exhausted by bedtime.

Quite frankly I'm worried about being able to do all this. DH is aware he will have to do more chores (he works long hours), I worry that we will end up not spending any time together as a family, we'll be working non-stop around each other.

I don't want to put DD in childcare, not least because I'm still breastfeeding a few times a day.

I think if she was at a childminder's a few hours a week I could get some work done, but then my hourly rate would obviously come down. And initially when finding clients etc I might actually be spending money on childcare and not making any money to pay for it (would have to spend savings - which makes me nervous).

Sorry for the ramble. I'd appreciate your experiences/opinions. Thanks

Hi naturelover,
I'm a freelance writer. Not very long after DD was born (nearly two years ago) I did a bit of work around her naps - I think I submitted my first feature when she was 10 weeks old. I don't have the sort of job where I need to do face-to-face stuff, but as others have said, you still need to be professional on the phone and to react quickly to emails.
I juggled it during naps, evenings and weekends until she was six months, then had my MIL and my dad look after her for a few hours each a week, but to be honest as I work from home that didn't work - they just didn't get the thing about me being a working professional and were forever popping into the office to ask me things or to 'see mummy working', and I was still BFing and could hear her cry sometimes and it was too stressful.

When she was nearly 8 months I found a nursery I was happy with and put her in two full days a week, tweaking it to four mornings after a couple of months, which we were both much happier with. By that time, I'd got the ball rolling enough with work again to ensure that the childcare costs, though steep, were always worth it because of the day rate I charge.

I have also stopped doing business journalism and focused on much more highly-paid corporate/marketing jobs cos I just have to make the most of my limited hours. Actually, until I got pg again (due in five weeks) I felt that I had achieved a pretty-much perfect work-life balance. God only knows what having two will be like, but now I know I can make part-time freelancing and part-time mummying work, at least I have a benchmark to aim for.

Childcare for two will take a lot more out of income, obviously, and yes, it will end up costing around 50% of my income a month once we have two nippers in for four mornings a week. Childcare vouchers through DH's work help, tho, and I set myself up as a ltd company last year so I will do the same with number two.

In summary, I think while you are setting the business up and getting clients in then it's possible to do it around baba. Once you start seeing it as a 'proper' paid job, though, you will need proper support. And I second the cleaner thing - no way could I use any of my limited hours at my desk to be cleaning toilets instead, that really wouldn't add up. HTH, and good luck!

I am a freelance picture researcher, I work from home on a laptop, with my DS who is 2 and 3 months playing around me. He tells me when he gets really fed up with my working and asks me to put the computer down. I can't afford child care and love being with him. Most of my work gets done in the evenings and his naptimes (which are getting less and less). My screen breaks are regular - trips to the park, playing in the garden etc, but I do manage to get an average of 3 hrs done during the daytime and the rest in the evenings (very late nights working). It does get difficult if a client calls, but a tub of fruit and the tv are a great distraction to keep him quiet as I leg it into the kitchen to peer at him through the window whilst trying to be oh so professional!

It's not ideal, as I do feel on deadline days as if I am short-changing him, but make up for it by doing more on the other days. It makes him very independant and he plays really well on his own and has a great imagination, and the bonus is I am here to share this precious time with him before he begins pre-school next yr. I feel very lucky that I can work from home and look after him myself and if being knackered is the main downside it's not that bad really... plus it's great not having to commute to work!

I would so love a cleaner... my housework does suffer, which my DH hates - but I can't do everything! Oh and I am pregnant with second - due in Jan 09... how on earth will I do this with 2, I wonder?!!

Good luck!

I didn't realise there were other people doing the same as me! I started freelancing when DS1 was 1 years old and although he went to nursery two mornings a week I had more work than I could do in those mornings (plus the cost was astronomical!) and I have worked around my two children ever since. It does work most of the time (but phone calls and conference calls are a problem - I agree bowel movements are set off by the phone ringing!!). I sometimes wish I could only work while they were elsewhere / asleep but in reality it is impossible. DS1 did say to me recently 'I wish I had a mummy who didn't work' and once when I was away at a friend's house and rang him up to say goodnight he asked 'why didn't you take your laptop with you?' These sorts of comments make me cry but I tell them that if I didn't work we'd have a lot less money for treats and things and they sort of get that! So it works but sometimes it's really hard.

I retrained myself into a new career (web development) while my dd was a baby, and started my own business when she was 4 and at nursery for half days - was a single mum with no family support at the time so I had to fully support her.

When I started the business she quickly learned that if I was on the phone she had to be quiet as a mouse! I think because I did work outside the house for a couple of years before starting the business and she had to go to a childminder, she liked it better that I was home even if I was working.

She is 11 now and the business has it's own office now outside the home but I still work from home on holidays or if she is ill etc. I still work longer hours than I would if I worked for someone else, am usually working at 11pm, but I also have the flexibility to go to things at her school, or work from home at the drop of a hat if she is off school, so I wouldn't change it for anything.

It's possible, I've been doing it for 8 years. I don't have to take calls though and I never have to meet anyone so it makes it easier. I do everything by email and FTP.
When they were younger i would work during nap time and after they were in bed at night. Now I work when they're in school and it's a hell of a lot easier to work and not be exhausted.
My clients all come from word of mouth. It's hard not having a steady income but what I get is worth the time I spend at it.