Category Archives: Working Moms

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Being a stay at home mom is one of the most amazing things in the world. But the pressures of being a stay at home mom in what is a society that almost ruthlessly demands a family has two incomes can be stressful. Being a mom is the most rewarding job in the world and the hardest too. You work around the clock, you go above and beyond, there are no sick days and sometimes the people you are working for (kids!) are the least compromising people you’ve ever met. Yet, despite all your hard work, you aren’t adding to the family coffers and that can be immensely stressful. You don’t get a paycheck.

Luckily for you, we have done a bit of digging, searched for great money-saving resources for moms and dads, and came up with some amazing ways in which a full-time parent can earn a bit of extra cash on the side. This means you can help with the financial pressures of living while not having to sacrifice any time with the kids. Hopefully, there is something for everyone.

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Test The Web

We live in a world that is completely infatuated with the web and this can play right into your hands, as UserTesting will attest. All you have to do is test websites and give verbal feedback on your experience. They only take about twenty minutes each and the average pay is ten bucks. So an hour a day for five days, wow, that’s an extra $600 a month. What’s even more amazing about this avenue is that you get given sites that match up with your profile, this way your feedback becomes even more valuable.

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People Pay For Opinions

It may only grant you a few extra dollars at a time, but taking surveys online. How long they take varies as does the amount you get paid, but over the course of a month or a year, it could make a huge difference to your utility bill fund. Companies like SurveyClub and Swagbucks pay you money for every survey you complete, while Harris Poll rewards you with points that can be redeemed for gift cards, with the occasional cash prize thrown in. So make sure you know what you want first and then go from there.

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Sell Your Photos

With the rise of Instagram and smartphones that have six-hundred million megapixel cameras built-in, everyone has become fascinated – and dare we say obsessed – with photography. Chances are, you are nodding your head right about now. This is a good thing because if you have started to become quite the amateur photographer you could start turning your snaps into cash. Sites like Shutterstock and Foap are a great source of supplementary cash. All you have to do is upload your photographs and, voila, if someone downloads it you could get anywhere between fifty cents and $300 depending on the licensing fee.

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Be A Professional Juror

More and more attorneys and law firms are using panels of mock jurors to get constructive criticism on their cases before they head to trial. Seriously. Our favorite of the ones we came across is OnlineVerdict, where cases rarely take more than an hour and you can get paid up to sixty bucks. Like we said earlier, the internet has given birth to so many alternative ways of making money and you don’t even have to leave the kids. It’s crazy, but it’s cool.

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If you’re a Mommy, you will know how important every last buck is, so if there are ways to make a little extra income – you will want to know about it.

Fortunately, there are things that can do that aren’t too time consuming, so you’re not going to be exhausting yourself out every day.

Interested? – Then keep reading.

Sell your things

Why keep clutter in your house when you’re not getting any use from the thing anymore? You can find Sure, some things are sentimental, and you shouldn’t throw them away if they mean a lot to you. But if you have a bunch of things hidden away in the attic, or locked up in the garage that are just wasting space – sell it! (There are more clutter busting tricks on https://www.realsimple.com.)

The internet is a brilliant way of getting rid of your unwanted items and getting a good deal for them. What may seem like junk to you, could be of value to someone else, so it’s wise to do a bit of research before you stick a price on something. That cabinet taking up room in the corner could be worth a whole lot more than you ever could have imagined!

Work from home

There are a whole bunch of jobs that you can do, like write blogs or even do online surveys – there are actually sites that you can make a decent amount with considering what you’re asked to do.  http://www.surveyssay.com/ lists the best sites if you want to go down this route. You can also be an online tutor if you enjoy teaching people, whether than be maths, science or even teaching foreign students how to speak English! This can be a very rewarding job, plus you can work the hours you want so that you can fit it in perfectly with Mommy life.

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If you’re at home looking after your own little ones, then it doesn’t hurt to take in another one or two. If you have friends that planned an event and don’t have any childcare available – offer! Word of mouth works great for this kind of thing, so spread the word and get your friends and family to do the same. More people will trust someone they know, rather than a stranger online, especially when it comes to their children.

Advertise your hobby

If you’re a creative one, then use your hobby to get some money coming in. Maybe you like to bake; if you do you could get in touch with school fairs or local events that are going on, and they may pay you to provide your delicious treats for people. If you take yourself as a bit of an artist, why not advertise your work online? People might commission you to do a painting or even a portrait of a family member. If you’re into photography, then consider selling your photos too! If you have a certain eye for things, then people will appreciate that and may want to frame a photo that you took when you were enjoying a family vacation.

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Let’s face it – very few of us really want to be at work. Even those of us who claim to love our jobs would usually rather be doing something else. So, in a way, it doesn’t really seem fair to highlight several health dangers that your job may be posing to you. It just seems like it’s adding to the insult, right?

That being said, here’s a list of several health dangers that your job may be posing to you.

Stress

The most common health problem in this category is stress. A lot of people just seem to accept stress as something that comes naturally with the territory, something that there’s no point in trying to defeat. After all, a job isn’t supposed to be some stress-free, spa-like paradise, right? The problem, of course, is that too much stress is catastrophic for your long-term health. If you’re getting stressed out at work over long periods, then you need to consider some changes. There are ways in which your job can be made less stressful, so consider bringing up the issue with your boss.

Poor insurance

A lot of people get their life health and dental insurance from their place of work. The problem is that the plan hasn’t really been picked by you – it’s been picked by your employer, and it’s part of a corporate package that might not meet all your needs. You need to check everything about the plan you’ve been provided to make sure it covers what you need. You might be able to get a better insurance plan somewhere else at a lower price – after all, you’re not obligated to keep the insurance plan your employer has given you. Consider finding the Delta Dental insurance phone number if you want to know more.

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Lack of exercise

Office jobs can take a massive toll on your health over time. That’s because you end up sitting down for about eight hours a day. If you’re not getting enough exercise, then you’re really doing your body a disservice. The problem is that a lot of people think that going to the gym after work a few times a week will sort out the problem. This is false. It’s the length of uninterrupted time you spend sitting that really does the damage, so you need to make sure you’re able to break it up and have a good move around every couple of hours.

Low mood
If you don’t enjoy your job, or if it’s filling you with the aforementioned stress, then you’re going to start developing problems with your mood. People who stay in jobs they don’t enjoy for years may even find themselves struggling with depressive disorders. Just like stress, low moods are much more damaging to both your physical and mental health than most people seem to thing. You may want to consider reassessing your goals and getting a job that will better align with them, or perhaps talking to your employer to see if there’s a remote work arrangement you can make that will provide you with a better work-life balance.

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Ensuring your workforce is happy, healthy and therefore productive it not always easy. Some business owners can feel that they constantly need to be watching over their staff to ensure they are being productive in their day to day work life. However there are some ways to increase how productive your staff are being, without having to watch them like a hawk, whilst making sure they are healthy and happy. Here are our top tips on how to do just that.

Create a Supportive Environment

In order for staff to be productive they must first feel happy and satisfied in their job. Therefore it’s essential that you are creating a supportive, motivating and happy workplace. Make sure that managers are checking in with staff regularly to deal with any issues or problems they may be facing. By ensuring staff are having regular meetings with managers will ensure that your staff feel respected and supported, which will have a huge impact on how motivated they feel within their jobs.

Career Development

Staff also need to feel that there is room for growth and progression within a company in order to feel motivated within a company. If your company encourages growth and development your staff will be much more productive as they are working towards a goal and working for the growth of a company they are able to see a future in.

Keeping Staff Happy & Connected

Another way to increase productivity is ironically by getting them away from their desks from time to time. Organising fun team building activities outside of the office, or just treating staff to a pub lunch on the last friday of the month can work wonders in making staff feel more connected, and therefore happier and more productive. So think of ways you can treat your staff so that you are creating a happy and energetic work place

Keep Them Hydrated

Keeping your staff hydrated is one of the best things you can do to keep them alert, energetic and in good health. Therefore it’s really important you can offer your staff an unlimited amount of fresh cool water in the office. If you don’t already have a water cooler, have a look at water coolers Melbourne to see what models and pricing are available.

Extra Treats

Again, if staff feel that their health and general well being is a priority for the company they will feel much more productive and motivated. So think of other little ways you can show them that their health is important to you. Providing free fresh fruit every day, or a free yoga class once a week are all little ways that you can make sure your staff are feeling happy and looked after.
If your team feels that they work in an environment where they are important and looked after they will invest much more of their time and effort into making sure they are working well and doing the best that they can within their jobs. So using simple tricks, like the above, can all add up to making a big difference when creating a happy, healthy, energetic and productive team dynamic.

On call 24/7

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People in the healthcare business are among the busiest professionals our society has. And this can create a lot of personal problems for them, especially if they’re parents. If you’re in this position, then there’s no doubt that you want to be able to spend more time with your family. Here are a few suggestions that will get you closer to that goal.

Look into part-time work (or days)

A lot of healthcare professionals don’t like the idea of changing career. But if it’s something that will help you achieve a better work-life balance, then it’s certainly something that’s worth investigating. You could make a move to a part-time carer, for example, which will give you a bit more flexibility.

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If you don’t want to make the move, then consider requesting a cut in hours from your current work schedule. While the healthcare system is often overworked, there may be opportunities for fewer hours every now and then if you ask. Something else you could consider is a rearranging of your schedule. Instead of working fewer hours across a week, consider taking on more days but with fewer hours within those days. This can result in more evening time in total – the precise time your family are going to be home from work and school.

Start your own practice

Much of this problem that healthcare professionals have – and, of course, doctors in particular – is that they often have very little control over what happens in their career. They get a call and bam – they’ve got to be somewhere else. A patient takes a sudden turn for the worse and they’ve got to get to that patient’s side.

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If you’re still passionate about healthcare but want more control over your career, then you could consider starting your own practice. This, of course, will be a time-heavy endeavor for a while. But it will give you more control over that time. A lot of professionals actually pursue this route in order to spend more time with their family. Consider looking into practice finance.

Remember what you want outside of medicine

The life of a healthcare professional is often taken up, minute for minute, by thoughts of their career. There are so many complexities and worries that emerge from this line of work that you tend to think about it all the time, finding yourself unable to truly switch off. So it’s important that you actually take the time to assess your own needs and desires. Don’t just assume that this is a selfish thing for someone working in healthcare to do. Not everyone expects you to be some sort of unbreakable superhero!

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If you need to, take some time off. Then make a list. You may think this sounds a bit trite, but never underestimate the power of getting your thoughts into order. You don’t have to think about the long-term; that’s often what makes people so stressed. Think of things you want to do from a short-term perspective. Want to take a trip somewhere with the kids? Want to paint or read more? When you start listing things, perspective and focus will come.

We all know how hard it can be to look after ourselves when we’re on the move. Busy days at work and a happily chaotic family life can leave us stretched a bit thin. What’s more, it can feel like taking time for yourself is taking time away from family time. It’s all about getting the balance right. Here are some top tips for how to get the balance spot on, and how to look after yourself properly!
Food

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The food we eat can make us feel sluggish and lethargic or fuel us for our busy days. Ditched processed foods which are laden with sugar and start eating fresh homemade meals instead. Of course, when you’re on the go you can hardly whip up a nutritious meal, so planning is essential.

If you struggle to find time in the mornings to get everyone ready for school/work and make yourself lunch, do it the night before. If you’re having pasta bolognese for dinner, cook extra pasta. When the pasta is ready simply save some of the plain pasta for your lunch. Then after dinner toss through some lettuce and tuna for a quick and healthy lunch. In the morning you just have to grab and go. Similarly, if you’re having chicken for dinner, cook an extra breast (baking is best) and boil some extra broccoli. This is a great lunch, full of protein, for the next day.
Health

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Finding time to take care of your health is essential. Florida Woman Care of Jacksonville has a whole range of services for women concerned with their health. From the menopause to vaccinations, your health should be a top priority. Having a great diet is one thing you can do to improve your health. Keeping fit and de-stressing are other ways you can improve your health too.
Fitness is great for your physical and mental health. Taking the time to go for a walk or a run, is sometimes the only time we get to ourselves in a day. Use it as a chance to decompress and have some quiet alone time. Exercise also helps to stave off depression making us feel more positive and happy. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Keep your brain working to the best of its ability by taking the time to rest. Each day steal a few quiet minutes to meditate and contemplate. What did you achieve? What’s bothering you? Deal with the issues of the day and move on. Stress can invade our sleep and every aspect of our lives. Make sure you deal with yours.
Happiness

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Of course, our families, partners, friends, and loved ones provide us with ample happiness. It’s important, however, not to feel like a slave to our jobs and family responsibilities. Make sure you pursue hobbies which make you happy. Whether it’s going to the cinema, painting, or singing, practice your hobbies at least once a week. When you’re busy providing for others and being selfless all week, it’s okay to take some me time and not feel guilty about it.

Life as a parent can be extremely busy and chaotic at times. Throw housework, paid work and the hopes of a social life into the mix and it can leave you feeling frazzled on a regular basis. Everyone needs a break now and again. If you want to avoid burnout and stay functioning, it’s so important to allow yourself a bit of time off. When you have the opportunity, don’t feel guilty about it. It’s not lazy it’s important, so embrace it and enjoy every minute!

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Whether you spend your free time working on a hobby, exercising, meditation or anything else is entirely up to you. If you’re wondering how to find time here are some tips that might help.

Work a Flexible Job
A flexible job can make life much less stressful. If your kids get ill, you’re running a little late, or some other family dilemma crops up, you have the freedom of being able to attend to problems and catch up on work later. Freelance work from home gives you this benefit; rather than having to attend a workplace with regular hours, you can work the job around other commitments. Blogging and making Youtube videos are all examples of flexible jobs you can do in your own time. It can take a while to get set up and is likely something you’ll have purely as a hobby for a while before paid opportunities come your way. But eventually could be a good source of income. Freelancing sites where you can write, design, code and other jobs can be useful too. Here you bid on the jobs you’re interested in, and if you’re accepted will finish them by a certain deadline. It means if you have a busy day you can not take any work and if you’re not, work as much as you want.

Arrange Meetups With Friends
When everyone starts working and having families, it’s easy for friendship groups to drift apart. Everyone is busy with their own lives and finding a time when everyone’s free can be a struggle. But it’s important to do this when you can, your friends allow you to just be yourself without the part of you that’s a mother or wife. You can have fun and unwind, something we all need to do every once in a while.

Allow Family To Help
If you struggle finding time to get work done or just relax when you have so much to do, family helping out can make all the difference. If your children have aunts, uncles and grandparents who love spending time with them then take them up on their offer. Even a couple of hours one evening or weekend frees up time for you to do something else. You could get productive and tackle work or housework while you don’t have little people under your feet. Or you could just chill out, take a hot bath or watch a movie!

How do you maintain the elusive work/ life balance?

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Modern moms seem to have it all, but juggling a career and a family life can be exhausting. Trying to reconcile the desire to provide for your family, while you also want to spend as much time with your family can be guilt-inducing and tiring to the extreme. But it is totally possible; it just takes a lot of organization, trust in other people, and some smart career choices.

Consider going self-employed
If you really want to control your working hours so that you’re able to prioritize time with your family, moving towards freelance work can make that a whole lot easier. Working from a home office allows you to be around the house when you’re needed, and dictating your own working hours means that it’s possible to get things done while children are at school or in bed. It isn’t surprising, then, that more and more moms are choosing to bring their work life and home life closer together in this way.

Take advantage of training courses
To really boost your career, training courses are a great way to prove your worth and useful contribution to the team, without necessarily having the length of service of some of your colleagues – something which many moms find can hold them back in their job. Courses which demonstrate strong leadership abilities, new training techniques, or new data handling techniques will set you out from the crowd. Showing you can lead and train a team is the best way to push yourself into higher management, so courses such as Training Connections Captivate classes are great to boost your skills and demonstrate your willingness and ability to learn to your employer.

Find quality child care
The best way to abate your guilt when you choose to work full time is to ensure you have child care that you trust. It’s easy to feel guilty that you’re dropping your kids off every day to spend time with someone that isn’t you, but when you’ve got child care that they love, that guilt is abated. Friends and family are great for babysitting occasionally, but a nanny that works with your family long-term is more able to offer educational and structured childcare.

Get organized
When time is of the essence, organization is key. This goes for your professional life as well as your home life. Working long hours to come home and see the kids for a few hours before bed can be tricky, so make the few hours you spend together of a high quality. Keep a family planner up to date with the kids activities, your work responsibilities, and fill any free time with fun, loving, and educational activities you can all do together. Quality time is the best way to make up for lack of time.

Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up
Furthering your career is to offer your children a better life. It can feel like you don’t have time for them, and sometimes you’re too tired to do anything with that time, but remember that your role in your company offers your family more opportunities than they might otherwise have.

Working from home can be a godsend for working moms who want to make the task of juggling work and home life as simple as possible, and as working from home is becoming increasingly popular, there is no reason why you should not strive to make the move from office to home.

If you do decide to make your home your office, however, do not think that it will be all plain sailing from the get-go. Working from home can be as challenging as it is freeing. The good news is that there are several things you can purchase to ensure you are as productive at home as you would be working out of your property. Here are the most essential:

A Reliable Internet Service
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If you work from home, it is highly likely that you will need to spend a large chunk of your day connected to the internet, which means you need a reliable, ideally high speed, internet service. Luckily, there are now several companies, including wavedirect.net, who offer high-speed internet, even in rural locations.
As well as setting up a good high-speed internet service, you should also consider purchasing a mobile wifi dongle, which you can use as a backup if your connection goes down at any time.

A Home Office
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If you want to get anything done, you will need to set up a dedicated home office space and let the rest of the family know that they should not bother you there unless it is absolutely essential.
If you have a spare bedroom, that would be an ideal office space, but you could just dedicate a corner or your bedroom to the task, but if you have the cash to spend and the space to do it, you might want to consider installing a cabin, which can serve as an office, in the garden, where you can get quieter.

An Internet Phone Service
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If you don’t want to risk your toddler answering the phone to an important business client, you would do well to set up a dedicated business line. This can be done cheaply by using an online internet service like Skype.

A Decent Computer and Storage
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Since you are likely to be working online all day, you will want to ensure that you invest in a quality computer or laptop, which will enable you to complete your work and stay connected come what may. The last thing you need as a home-working mom is for your computer to crash when you have a 5 o’clock deadline to meet. Nor do you want to lose a week’s work because your hard drive crashed and you hadn’t backed it up with external storage or a decent cloud service!

This post just covers the basics you will need to work from home. there are many extras which will make the experience more comfortable and much more profitable. You should be able to identify any extra requirements for being a working mom at home, such as comfy chairs and organizational storage space, after a few weeks in the job.

A lot of moms dream of starting a business, but unfortunately few take the leap. If you’ve been thinking about starting a venture of your own for a while but aren’t quite sure what route to go down, you may be feeling a little stuck. How about starting an entertainment based business?

The great thing about these kinds of businesses is that there will always be people in need of entertainment for a party or event, plus you can easily work it around your little ones, or could even take them with you. They could give you a helping hand in return for a little pocket money, perhaps?

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Want to know what it takes to launch an entertainment business?

Then read on, as all is about to be revealed.

Decide who to cater your services for

The first step to launching an entertainment business is to decide who to tailor your services to – aka who do you want to work with. You could choose to offer entertainment for all sorts of things; it just depends on your personal preferences. For instance, some entertainment companies specialize in kids parties, while others are happy to do both kids and adult parties, as well as other events. It’s just a case of determining who you would be happy to work with.

Pick what entertainment you will offer

Once you’ve decided who to cater your entertainment to, the next step is to decide what to offer. This depends on why types of things you think would be popular, and also, what you can afford to offer – it’s important to remember equipment doesn’t always come cheap. Popular activities for having at birthday parties and events include trampolines, bouncy castles, a body zorbing ball, and sports activities. Take some time to think through the types of activities that you would like to offer, as well as the insurance that you would need to have, and then pick what you want your business to offer.

Team up with other local entertainers

To up your chances of business success, consider teaming up with other local entertainers. Look for people who work in entertainment but aren’t direct competitors, such as singers, performers – jugglers, dancers, etc., people who dress up as kid’s characters, etc., to team up with. Agree to share business with each other, so that you both benefit from each other’s success. For instance, if you’re invited to attend a kid’s party with a fairy princess theme and know someone who dresses up as a Disney princess, recommend them to the party’s organizer, and hopefully, in the future, they will do the same for you. To meet other locals who work in entertainment, make sure to attend local networking events – you can find out about these by having a browse online.

So, there you have it, everything that you need to know about starting your own entertainment business. Take note of the tips and ideas above, and you can up your chances of business success and making a go of your venture.