Life as a WAHM Series – Guest Janine Huldie Offers Some Advice

First things first:

Now with that out of the way… 😀

Once again, Janine is back! WOOHOO!!! I love her posts. I find them so inspiring! Today, Janine is kind enough to share with us some advice on getting started as a WAHM as well as on some of the things we may forget about in the beginning, like taxes!

So grab a green beer, and enjoy Janine’s post!

Janine’s Advice

Janine’s Hubpages Profile

“Rome wasn’t built in day!”  I heard this some many times over the years, but will be honest no truer statement can be spoken when one decides to become a WAHM.  There isn’t one easy formula to actually becoming a WAHM.  But when you do make this decision, you will learn quickly that you will have many options and probably be a bit overwhelmed, too.  So, I will try to give you some pointers from what I have gone through from the beginning of my WAHM trek.

Where better to start than at the beginning.  So when I first started this journey, I thought I would write for one site (Hubpages) and see where it took me.  And at first this worked just fine for me, but then I yearned for more than that.  I also tried my hand at content mills and this too left me feeling like I needed so much more.  It wasn’t until, I began blogging that I found my true passion.  This led me to writing an actual book.  Granted even though the book is written I still need to edit and I am no where near done with that yet!

And even with blogging, I have tweaked my content, as well as advertising and even doing sponsored posts/giveaways.  Trust me, I am still evaluating what works here and what doesn’t as I write this.  The point is being a WAHM gives you a wealth of opportunities, but it also leaves one like I just stated constantly evaluating the job you are performing as in what you can do better and what might not be working at all.

Also, even though I write online there are so many opportunities and not just to write.  I know many who have businesses where they sell a product or service, whether it be their own personal website, through Etsy or even on Ebay.  The decision is yours, but make sure you are utilizing your best talents.  If you are crafty, then you may very well want to do something that uses and plays on those talents.

The next thing you will definitely take into play is time management.  If you are a parent like I am you will also probably have to work around your children’s schedules.  Working online is not like working outside the home, whether you work in an office retail or any other place of business.

When you work at home, yes you can set your own schedule, but you may find that you are working many more hours than if you were just working a typical 9 to 5 job.  Trust me, I have been there and I have had to learn how to balance my work and my life, too.  And this too is still a something I quite frankly struggle with, because I am truly dedicated and love writing.  However, I do constantly now remind myself to step away from time-to-time, because I have a life, too and I don’t want it to go on without me.

Another consideration being a WAHM is that you need to have some sort of book keeping to keep track of your income and expenses, too.  I found great resources online for this here and modified it for myself.  You don’t want to be caught come tax season with your pants metaphorically down!!  I was able to purchase the book Your Blogging Business to help break it all down for me.  And the best part it is deductible on your income taxes, because it is an expense.  You may not be making much in the beginning, but still you need to start somewhere and this is a good place to begin.

There is probably more that goes into working from home, but these are the tips that come to mind for me that seem to be the essentials for anyone just starting this journey.

My final words are good luck and hope this has helped break being a WAHM down just slightly.

Thank you Janine! These are some excellent tips!

Thanks for reading, and once again I’d like to wish everyone:

Happy Saint Paddy’s Day!!

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Getting Organized: Our Financial Binder

Yesterday, I showed you how to make your own blogging planner.

Today, I’m going to show you how to make a Financial binder to keep all of your bills, bank statements, and taxes organized. I got this idea from a blog post awhile back. I feel bad because I don’t remember who I got the idea from, but I admit the idea was not my own!

I used to have a small finances section in my home management binder, but unfortunately, I never used it. I’m just not a budget person. I know, weird right? As much as I love organization, you’d think I’d keep a meticulous budget. But sadly, no.

What I actually keep is all the billing statements I get and as I pay them, I write down the day, time, amount of payment and how it was paid (including confirmation numbers if there are any) on the statement itself. I used to file all of these statements in my file drawer, but I kinda ran outta room!

How I Started My Career as a WAHM

I’ve been a WAHM for a little over a year now, and wow has it been a crazy one! I have to say, I’ve enjoyed it for the most part, but I do miss my career.

I spent 16 years as an ophthalmic technician. In English, that means I spent eight hours a day performing eye exams on patients. I would check their vision, pressures, glasses prescription and dilate them before they saw the ophthalmologist. I thoroughly enjoyed my career, and if I may say so:

I was DAMN good at my job.

But the office politics zapped the joy right out of it, and it became just a paycheck. I began to dread waking up and going to work because the doctor I worked for had absolutely no integrity, and that is something I just can’t deal with. Integrity is my #1 value, and I will not sacrifice it for a paycheck or anything else. That’s just how it is.

Just Another One of Those Days

Another Gloomy Day

As if I needed more problems at the moment.

Greg’s unemployment is on hold until they verify his workman’s comp settlement. You know, the state will do anything to get out of paying a claim.

So, rent is late again, and we’ll have to pay the $108 late fee that our landlord will be charged for being late on the mortgage. You know, because we have an extra $108 just laying around for no reason. Let’s not forget about the bills I still have to pay, like car insurance, phone etc. It just keeps getting better and better.

But at least we’re not being evicted.

This means I’m going to have to write 24/7 to make the bills. I told Greg I need help. I need time to write, and the house still needs to be cleaned, stuff needs to get listed on ebay, and Sam needs to be homeschooled. Unfortunately, Greg and Sam are going to have to temporarily take on more than their fair share this month. Since they haven’t been doing much lately, this should make up for it. No, I’m not bitter, why do you say that?

I Think Murphy Took a Day Off!

I’ve had a migraine for 2 days, and it’s not showing any signs of letting up anytime soon.

However, I actually woke up to some good news today:

• Quite a few of our items sold on eBay, including a few things that I thought would never sell!

The best news I received though is:

• I got my four-star rating back on Textbroker!! YA WOOHOO!! 😀
  

  Our Old Huge TV

Today was also quite productive. We got the old, ugly entertainment center out of the bedroom, along with the old tube TV we had before we got our HDTV. I also cleaned my desk, and it is even more clutter free than it was when I cleaned it the last time.

The only problem with this productive day? Since my hubby can’t lift the TV because of his hernia, I had to do it. It’s a 27″ huge CRT TV.

About 6 months ago, I was able to lift that TV with absolutely NO problem. Today, I was able to lift it from the stand it was on, but I was too weak to hold it for very long. In fact, I almost dropped the damn thing on my foot.

That REALLY sucks.

But, surprisingly, it didn’t depress me. If anything, I think it helped motivate me. During that 18 months I was working out, I found myself doing it for strength, endurance and weight loss. I wasn’t doing it to look the way society thinks I should (even though its kind of an unavoidable side effect). I actually enjoyed the strength I had. I could lift something heavy without the fear of pulling a muscle of giving myself a hernia.

Murphy Hates Me

Murphy’s law has been kicking my ass as of late. You know, that law that states:

Anything That Can Go Wrong, WILL!

This guy, Murphy, whoever the fuck he is, totally hates me.

Or 2013 just isn’t going to be my year…

Frits Ahlefeldt PD, via Public Domain Pictures

I prefer to think Murphy hates me because at least then I have someone to blame.

As if it wasn’t bad enough, my landlord decides to make it worse. We’ve lived in the same house for seven years and never once has she EVER done an inspection. But all of a sudden, she’s gotten a bug up her ass and will be inspecting the house this month.

She said she’d give us 48 hours notice… How kind of her…

We’re hoarders clutter bugs… and while our house isn’t as bad as some, we haven’t quite made it to minimalism as of yet. But we’re working on it. However, we do have 6 cats, and the carpet hasn’t been cleaned in seven years. It’s not pristine if you get my drift. Napalm would be the easiest solution, but I’ll hold off on bombing the place temporarily.

The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

Photo by SatyrTN CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thank you!

To everyone who kept us in their thoughts and prayers.  Apparently, someone heard them.

Yesterday, we were told a settlement had been reached in regards to Greg’s workman’s comp case. Although I can’t go into any details until the case is completely closed, I can say we’re getting an advance that will keep us from getting evicted.

I Got Fired From ChaCha

Seriously? I’m still in shock.

I got an email a couple days ago that told me my employment with ChaCha was being terminated. No explanation why, just “we’re terminating your contract.” Now, I know I shouldn’t feel bad, I was only getting paid a penny per answer. But when I read the email, I got the same feeling I had gotten when I was fired from other jobs. I really should be happy about it, all it did was distract me while I was trying to write, and it created more problems than it was worth. Plus, now I don’t have to deal with all the stupid questions about sex and kids sending in their homework questions.

Time Waits for No One

S Sepp CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I have recently realized that I can get a considerable amount of writing done under pressure. In fact, I wrote a 500 word article in about 20 minutes. I’m not kidding, I had 48 minutes to get the article done. I know because I stared in disbelief briefly because I had forgotten all about this particular article and saw how little time I had left. Granted, it was an easy (really easy) article to write, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did it.

So, I decided to test my theory. For the past 2 days, I have left myself about an hour before a deadline, and damn it all if I haven’t gotten more work done in that one fracking hour than I have in an entire day. What is it about deadlines that makes it so easy for my brain to (finally) put words into a sentence?

“My First Haircut”

This is how much I cut off!

With all the excitement of the election, I thought I’d blog about something a little less volatile.

Since we don’t have a lot of money, I’ve given myself a haircut, and it didn’t come out all that bad. Tonight, my daughter said she wanted her hair cut short, like mine. I think I asked her if she was sure for about half an hour before I actually did it. Yup, I put her hair in a ponytail and cut it. 😀

It’s about 12 inches long!! Her hair is super short now; I think it’s even shorter than mine (and I keep cutting mine!). She looks SO different, but she’s so freakin’ cute!! I thought she was going to cry her eyes out after I cut it because it is just so much shorter than it was, but she absolutely loves it.

I’m so relieved!!

The Process

Sam’s new haircut. Isn’t she cute??

I have no idea how to cut hair, well.. I have some idea, but I (unfortunately) didn’t have enough time to do it right (I can always fix it right?). So I put her hair back in a ponytail and cut it off (see above photo!).

After I cut the ponytail, I put vitamin E in her hair to condition it since we had just washed it, ran the brush through it, and then I evened it out a bit. It still needs to be evened out, and styled a bit, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that by her reaction and enthusiasm. She was bouncing all over the place!! Then she sat on the couch and said the “all this election stuff made me tired.” Right, it was the election, not all the bouncing around! 😀