I remember when Suzzane was little and I was with my ex-husband working from home was a dream even though I had signed up to sell Tupperware and Avon. I liked being able to do it because Suzzane was able to help me. But I still worked outside the home because my ex-husband didn’t make enough for us to survive on without two incomes coming in.
Then Suzzane was gone and I knew she would want me to rebuild my life. David and I go together and I worked outside the home and did Craft Fairs until I became pregnant and had to stop working. I was blessed to be able to stay home with Charlie for the first year of his life.
Then it was time for me to go back to work but I didn’t want to leave Charlie. I decided to give working at home another chance. This time I didn’t want to do Craft Fairs or events. I wanted something I could do from home and be at home at night with David. Which is how TheMommiesReviews.com was created.
Now, 19 years later and here I am still blogging. I made it through Covid when a lot of businesses didn’t. I moved the site to a new blog which a lot of bloggers would have quite and through it all I am still here struggling but I’m home with Charlie and I’m able to work when I want to and to me that is a Godsend and its’ what keeps me grateful, thankful and blessed.
If working from home sounds like a dream because you get to stay home, work in your pajamas if you want to, and decide how to spend your day. That might be true but work doesn’t end at night when you go to bed its still there waiting for you. Even though the office is closed.
I thought I would share what happens when the work keeps piling up, the household responsibilities need attention, and everybody seems to think that because you’re home, you’re available? That’s something I’ve been thinking about lately more and more as Charlie gets older and I try and decide what I need to do for my family.
If you’ve followed GreatfulMoments.com, you know I’ve spent years writing, sharing stories, reviewing products, answering emails, and working to build this website. There is always another article to write, another social media post to share, another email to answer, and another idea running through my head.
But here’s the thing about working from home. Your home is still a home, and life doesn’t stop just because you have work to do. One thing I’m grateful, thankful, and blessed for is my husband, David. He works long hours, and there are days when he comes home from work and still cooks dinner or helps clean the house so I can keep working.
I appreciate that more than I can explain. I know not everybody has a spouse, family or friends who are willing to step up and help in that way. But lately, I’ve been looking at how much responsibility David is carrying, and it has me thinking about the changes we need to make as a family.
We’re facing some difficult decisions about a car payment of $500 a month and the insurance that goes with it. Those are expenses that we cannot continue carrying as though nothing needs to change. David has been working crazy hours, and I worry about what all that work is doing to his health.
After a heart-to-heart conversation last night, David and I started talking seriously about turning in that car. It’s not an easy decision, and I know it could be a hard lesson for Charlie. As parents, we want to help our children, even when they’re grown. We don’t want to see them struggle, and we don’t want to disappoint them.
But Charlie is 19 now, and part of growing up is learning to take responsibility for the things we want and the expenses that come with them. Sometimes, loving our children means setting boundaries. It means recognizing that we cannot keep taking on every responsibility for them, especially when doing so puts an unreasonable burden on somebody else. And I keep coming back to one thing: David’s health is a lot more important than that car.
I want to help my husband. I want him to be able to work reasonable hours and enjoy his life without feeling that he has to keep pushing himself to cover every expense. That’s one of the reasons I’m working so hard to build GreatfulMoments.com into something that can help our family.
Working from home has its own challenges, especially when other people are home, too. Charlie is 19, and he’s here a great deal of the time. He has talents that could help with our online work. While I’m writing articles, he could help with pictures and sharing posts on social media. Those are things that would take some of the workload off me and give him an opportunity to contribute.
There are also the everyday responsibilities that come with living in a home. Helping prepare dinner, putting dishes in the dishwasher, or carrying the trash out when it needs to go doesn’t mean somebody has to spend the entire day cleaning. It simply means everybody contributes what they reasonably can.
I know my brother Gerald has limitations because he can’t see, and I’m not asking him to do things he cannot safely do. But there are things he can do, and finding ways for everyone to contribute would make a difference. I’m not expecting a perfect house. Goodness knows, mine isn’t perfect now, and I don’t expect it to be.
What I would like is for the responsibility of keeping things running not to fall so heavily on David while I’m trying to build my business. When we’re all living under the same roof, we need to find a way to work together. That means both Gerald and Charlie needs to help.
Then there are the dogs. They need to go outside, and sometimes I find myself having to ask and remind people repeatedly and it doesn’t happen and I have to stop and take them outside because even when Charlie finally does it he will not go if I don’t take my dog which again he could do.
When I’m in the middle of writing an article or trying to finish something for the website, stopping what I’m doing isn’t always convenient. But the dogs still need attention, and somebody has to take care of them. Family visits can be another challenge. My sister may come over when I’m right in the middle of working, and then I feel guilty because I’m upstairs working while she’s downstairs.
It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with her. I love my family. But sometimes I simply don’t have the time to stop everything and sit and visit for as long as someone might like. There are deadlines to meet and articles to finish. There are emails waiting for responses, pictures to find, and posts that need to be shared. Working on a website involves a lot more than sitting down and typing a few paragraphs. I want to be available to the people I love, but I also need them to understand that my work matters. And that’s something I’m still learning to balance.
I’ve tried setting work hours. I’ve tried making plans for what I want to accomplish during the day. But no matter how many times I try, something seems to interrupt or distract me. Somebody needs something. Somebody wants something. The dogs need to go outside. A household responsibility comes up, or a family member wants to visit.
And before I know it, the hours I planned to spend working have disappeared. People sometimes assume that because you work from home, you can stop whenever you want. They may think you can answer a phone call, run an errand, visit for an hour, or take care of something around the house without it affecting your work. But those interruptions add up.
When you run a website, you have to make time for the writing, the research, the editing, the emails, the publishing, and the promotion. If you’re trying to build a business, those tasks are part of your job, even when you’re doing them from your bedroom or home office.
I’m learning that setting work hours is only one part of the answer. The people around you also have to understand that those hours mean something. And sometimes, you have to learn to say that you cannot stop right now, even when you feel guilty about it. They should get mad and cope attitudes but in my home more times than not that is what happens and it isn’t fair.
I want to be honest about something as I begin this new Working From Home series. My life is not perfect. My house is not always clean. My schedule doesn’t always work out the way I planned, and I certainly don’t have all the answers. But I’m going to keep taking baby steps.
I’m going to keep working on GreatfulMoments.com, keep learning, and keep trying to find ways to make this business grow. With the help of the Lord, I believe I can get this blog to where it needs to be. I don’t have a dream of becoming a million-dollar blogger. That’s not what I’m working toward.
I want to be able to help my husband. I want to take some of the financial pressure off David’s shoulders. I want to build something meaningful from the years I’ve spent writing and sharing stories online. And I want to do that without watching the man I love work himself into the ground.
That may mean making difficult decisions. It may mean changing the way we handle responsibilities in our home. It may mean asking for more help, setting boundaries, and learning that I cannot do everything myself. It will take time, and I know there will be days when things don’t go as planned. But I believe that small steps still move us forward. One article at a time. One task at a time. One decision at a time. And one prayer at a time.
I wanted to start this series because I know I’m not the only person trying to work from home while managing a household and caring about the people under that same roof. Maybe you’re trying to build a business. Maybe you’re working remotely for someone else. Maybe you’re a blogger, a freelancer, or somebody who is simply trying to bring in extra money while still being available to your family.
Whatever your situation, I hope you know that you’re not required to have a perfect house, a perfect schedule, or a perfect life to make progress. You can be grateful for the people who help you and still recognize when you need more help. You can love your children and still expect them to learn responsibility. You can love your family and still need time to work.
And you can have a dream without knowing exactly how you’re going to accomplish it. That’s where I am today. I’m figuring things out as I go, trying to make better decisions for our family, and trusting the Lord to guide me along the way. Working from home isn’t always easy, but I’m not giving up.
I’m going to keep taking those baby steps, keep counting my blessings, and keep working toward the goal I’ve set for myself and my family. Because at the end of the day, I don’t need to become a millionaire. I just want to help my husband, build something worthwhile, and know that the work I’m doing is making a difference. And that, to me, is something worth working for.
Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.
GreatfulMoments.com
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
