Comments on: Productivity vs Balance During Summer Break

By: Parenting While Freelancing | Freelancing and Outsourcing Tips, Commentary, Analysis, and News from oDesk

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:25:46 +0000

[...] “Productivity vs. Balance During Summer Break” from Freelance Parent “Planning Your Summer” from The Writer Mama “How to Have Children and a Freelance Career “ from The Essential Site for Journalists “One Runny Nose, Little Sticky Fingers and a PC Clinic” from Freelance UK Ideas to keep your kids busy from Today Is Fun [...]

By: Teresa

Teresa — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:32:51 +0000

When my girls were little, I used mother’s helpers and traded babysitting with neighbors. My husband is a night-owl and he’d often keep the girls up late, which resulted in them sleeping really late. I get my best work done early in the morning.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:14:02 +0000

If you’d like a tool for managing your time and projects, you can use this application inspired by David Allen’s GTD:

http://www.Gtdagenda.com

You can use it to manage and prioritize your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, schedules and a calendar.
A mobile version is available too.

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:33:18 +0000

Thank you for the timely post! I've been wondering too how to get through the summer with my four at home. I like the 2-hours-at-a-time idea, and the early morning work. I'm also purposefully keeping it low-key, and leading up to the summer I wasn't trying to win new clients. One idea might be too arrange reciprocal plays with other freelancers' kids. I've done this with another mom throughout the school year. Also, if you have a laptop and one of those new Internet sticks, you can take your work on the road. On a related note, I'd like to hear from other writers how they divvy up their day to deal with email, social media, blogging/commenting on blogs, marketing, and oh yeah, client work. Kims last blog post..Label me annoyed: why can’t food labels be written better?

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:15:15 +0000

Summer is only a little different for me, as two of my kiddos aren't even in school yet, and frankly I find it helpful to have the 7yo home to help keep the 4yo busy! They play so well together (when they aren't fighting anyway!) and spend most of the day outside. The hardest part of summer for me is the lure of the sunshine and the desire to spend time out with the boys going for long walks or hanging out at the sprinkler park. I build in the necessary time for side trips at least once per week or work really hard in the mornings so we can have the afternoons, after baby's nap, free to just hang together. Lauries last blog post..Personal Calling Cards

By: Allena

Allena — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:09:36 +0000

hey guys, I swear we already talked about this! but I am lucky in that my hubs has a reduced summer schedule, so we just trade off. Then, add in summer camps and VOILA!

By: Michele @ The Integrated Mother

Michele @ The Integrated Mother — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:33:14 +0000

Your husband has good insight! My kids have been on summer break since May 22nd and since then I've worked in roughly 2-hour segments too. Since each of my kids are involved in a couple of extra-curricular activities throughout the week, I also squeeze in work while I'm waiting for them. The first few weeks were rough as I adjusted to having kids around while I worked and they adjusted to keeping themselves busy without my direct input - ALL the time. For example, my kids are involved in a bunch of summer reading programs (at library, local book retailers, etc.), so they have an incentive to read *quietly*. They also each have Summer Bridge workbooks, and love working in them! It helps that after they complete a certain # of pages, there is a reward at the end. Michele @ The Integrated Mothers last blog post..Claim it girl!