https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 16 Jul 2026 01:25:03 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1014876 Wed, 14 Aug 2013 01:43:00 +0000 katsupgirl 1014876@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@HabesBabe: this is my ideal setup! This would be great for me. It's how I imagine it would if I worked from home. </p> <p>I think you really need to have a dedicated work spec that you take seriously and that everyone respects. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1014823 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 23:50:35 +0000 lamariniere 1014823@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I WAH but I am a freelancer (with regular clients/regular work). </p> <p>In the beginning, DS was home with me and I could only work while he napped. Otherwise it was just impossible. Now he goes to daycare half days, soon to be full days, and I can usually get everything done with working 4-5 hours per day. </p> <p>We have a room that serves as my office/playroom/guest room and I only work in there. I don't need a phone for work. I am self employed so I can deduct certain things like % of rent for my workspace, Internet costs, utilities, office related purchases, etc. from my taxes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1013613 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 13:36:58 +0000 wheres_c 1013613@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I worked from home for 3 months and quit because I wasnt able to get everything dome with LO at home.<br /> I think the bare minimum you would need is a home office and some sort of childcare.<br /> I didnt have either and it was a nightmare. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1013383 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 12:44:05 +0000 HabesBabe 1013383@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am a full-time WAHM and LO is 12 months old... the two words that make this work are: YO MAMA (well, my mama, I guess)!</p> <p>I'm lucky enough to have a mom who is retired and LOVES watching LO. We don't pay her (she refuses), but we did give her my old car and pay for her gas, maintenance, insurance, etc. </p> <p>She comes over every morning, M-F, and is at our house from 8a-5p. She takes LO for walks, plays with her in the living room, etc. I take breaks to nurse her and make her breakfast and lunch (If I'm not busy, I eat lunch with her) and when I'm feeling tired/stressed, I come out to give her snuggles and kisses.</p> <p>Our situation works perfectly for us, but it's not without its issues-- first off, my mom is over for 50 hours a week, so we get on each others nerves sometimes. Second, she watches a lot of CNN, MSNBC, etc. and LO plays with the TV on in the background for hours a day. But overall, we're really pleased with everything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1013287 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 12:19:52 +0000 yoursilverlining 1013287@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I work from home. I have a home office, although I usually end up working at the diningroom table. LO goes to daycare; there is no way I could get any amount of substantive, decent work done if she were home with me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1013258 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 12:13:48 +0000 LemonLong 1013258@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've WAH full time for 3 years now. I have my own dedicated office at home. The company provides my computer, printer, shredder, phone line and Internet. My LO goes to daycare full time and I work regular business hours. I manage a team of employees in TX and WI. I've never met 75% of them face to face. I travel about a week every quarter. Most of my day is spent on teleconferences, web exs, e-mail, and INstant Messaging my team. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1013138 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 11:40:11 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1013138@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babyjmama: My company has locations all over the U.S., and most of the people are scattered everywhere from East Coast to West Coast. A good majority of us have a telecommuting option because our meetings are all held via webex and most communication is done via webex/phonecalls/emails. </p> <p>Even though I WAH some days, we still send my daughter to preschool, and my son is being watched by my MIL. I wouldn't be able to do my job and watch the kids at the same time. I don't really have enough space in my house for my own office, so I have a small desk setup in my room with dual monitors and that works for me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1012914 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 10:41:52 +0000 GrapeCrush 1012914@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I WAH after DS was born. He was home with me every day. In the beginning it was pretty easy, he was only 12 weeks, and he'd chill out in the bouncer. I stopped WAH when I had DD, and DS was 15 months. It definitely got more difficult to work with him, because he was demanding more and more attention, and not sleeping as much. It was/is definitely doable, just not easy </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1012878 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 10:26:27 +0000 Lozza 1012878@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've looked into working from home with my current job (which is not uncommon at my employer) and here's what I've found (we all work in health research):<br /> 1. Everyone has dedicated work space- usually in some kind of study or room that does not have another daily function (maybe a guest room that is only used occasionally). We have a study that I'd use.<br /> 2. We all spend a lot of time on the phone, so everyone who works from home has a land line. We don't have one currently, we'd get one if I started to WAH.<br /> 3. I would continue to send LO to daycare on a full-time daily basis. There's some flexibility with my job/hours, but I need to be able to put in about 8 hours a day, mostly during normal business hours, and there's no way in the world I could do that with LO around. If LO can't go to daycare, I'll often work a partial day from home and I can make it work, but it wouldn't be feasible as a long-term solution. With a child younger than, say, 1 year, and a lot of job flexibility, I could probably get away with hiring a babysitter for half the day, working during naps, and rearranging my hours and DH's hours to cover the rest of the day, but now that LO is mobile and verbal, I wouldn't be able to get a full day in with him in the house, even if he had a babysitter.<br /> If I worked from home, we wouldn't be saving money on childcare, but I'm currently one of those people with a long commute, so my primary goal would be to gain time rather than money. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1012781 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 09:53:12 +0000 littlecasita1122 1012781@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I worked part-time from home when LO was 4 months until about 10 months old, then quit because it was too much to handle. We would have needed childcare if I continued and it didn't make sense I wasn't making enough money to cover that and still bring in a good amount of income. Basically working from home is ideal if you have super flexible hours (and you're willing to work weeknights/weekends to make up if needed), your child is an awesome napper, or you can afford for childcare. I think working from home is great for those who have longer commutes, flexible schedules, etc but it's very hard to get things done with a LO running around! My job consisted of a lot of phone calls and trainings that needed to be scheduled in advance and sometimes my LO would nap for 1.5 hours and other days it was only 45 minutes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/wahm-how-does-it-work#post-1012735 Tue, 13 Aug 2013 09:43:15 +0000 doodlepoodle 1012735@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've never had a WAH option, but I'm just wondering how it works. Do you have a full home office? Do you have a lot of phone call needs? Does your LO go to daycare? Just looking at the future here and wondering about logistics :-) </p>