Blogging, Working from Home and Being a Homeschooling Mom

Working from home has been a blessing for my family, it is something I love sharing about because I want to help encourage other moms who want to help improve their family’s finances, but I also want to give them a realistic picture of what that looks like in our family. Here are some of the common questions I get asked:

How did you decide what WAHM opportunity was a good fit for you?

We have done many businesses from our home, but my blogging was not born out of a desire for a business. I had a message to share and wanted an outlet to share it, so in 2007 Homemaking911 was born. Since then, we have been presented with opportunities to speak, to make books and audios, to prepare and share resources relevant to topics on my heart. This changed it from being solely a ministry to making income for our family as well.

How do you balance your homeschooling and working at home?

In my case, my husband and children come first, household management comes second, enjoying ministering, and sharing relevant information with moms comes next, and the business aspect of blogging comes a very distant fourth. It’s tough enough balancing homeschooling and parenting to pressure myself to make blogging high priority. Sometimes, I get really inspired and excited and work a little harder- push myself a bit. But usually, it’s not that important relative to meeting the other pressing needs of my family.

My favorite resource for getting a realistic view of how much time I should be spending on each thing in my life is Managers of Their Homes.

What kind of income do you generate for your family & how long did it take you go get to that point?

Blogging for me is very part time. Some months, I make very little. Some months, a good sum. My revenue has ranged from $0 to $11,000 in a month. On months where I get very excited and want to share something new or helpful with people, I always make more. When I am busy with my family and other obligations, I make very little. It is definitely an effort=money formula, and I have not found anything other than good old-fashioned hard work to make an income. But, it’s work I love, work I can increase or decrease as my family’s needs require, and I know I am helping families, so I continue doing it as I am able, and don’t worry about it otherwise.

Another resource that I found to be useful back when I started this endeavor was the book Mommy Millionaire by Kim Lavine.