Work at home trends are changing, and actually employment trends in general are as well. For one, certain segments of society worked less in 1990 than they did two decades before.

For one, women who didn’t work outside the home reaped 6 to 10 extra hours of leisure. The gain in leisure was a minuscule few minutes a week for employed men. However, this was a change nonetheless.

Part of the reasons for the shift is because of labor-saving appliances and other aids that have lessened time it takes to complete household chores. This as well as no need to commute makes a huge difference.

The opposite seems to be true as well. Many women who used to stay at home and now hold jobs often experience an increase in workload by about 13 hours a week. The Inflexible usually worked while a woman is in the labor market typically requires them to put in a full week-often the same time every day.

This leaves household chores undone. At the end of each day the woman (or the man) has to come home and do them. Nevertheless, women with jobs spend less time on housework than their counterparts did 20 years ago.

Part of this is because they are usually now compensated with much higher incomes. This leads them to be able to afford to pay someone to help them with domestic chores.

Living Standards

An interesting question has been asked. Some experts and consumers wonder if having more free time translates into higher living standards. Some studies indicate the possibility.

One clue about living standards of people who work at home is present in government and trade group statistics. These documents do indicate Americans are spending more time and more money on recreation. Some of the numbers calculated are a bit old, but important to analyze nonetheless.

From 1970 to 1991, the number of Americans who play golf regularly doubled. By the early 190s a total of 11% of the population now enjoyed this past time. Similar results are indicated by records of numbers of adult joining softball teams.

The number of people participating in this sport jumped six-fold in two decades. Other statistics also show some answers. In 1970, a quarter of Americans bowled but more recently about a third of the population does.

An increase in the past few decades in the number of recreational boats and pleasure trips was also noted. The same is true for average baseball game attendance.

Of course, this may not necessarily account for recession years. However, overall over the past 30 to 40 years have been generally more prosperous for people. Some of these people work at home and enjoy more leisure time.

This is a continuation of “More Work at Home Tips: How to Separate Work from Play.” The purpose of this two-part blog series is to show you simple ways to maintain a professional work environment.

You would be surprised at how easy this is to do if you just know how. It requires minimal effort on your part. For instance, consider the following tips:

• Listen to quiet music versus loud and upbeat music if that is what you need to help keep you motivated. This will help keep stress and anxiety at bay and help you concentrate. However not too soft of music or you may fall asleep!
• Keep some water and/or small snacks by your desk. The water will replenish you and the snacks will keep you from having to get up to eat between means. (Do not overdue the snacks though. Consider veggies, fruits, or other low-fat snack or finger foods such as popcorn.
• Keep out of your personal e-mail box until the work day is done. Either that or only check your personal e-mail while on break. This is one of the hardest habits to quit, but you are likely to have a shorter work day if you do.
• One of the most practical tips for people who work at home is to know when to stop, believe it or not. Yes, occasionally you may have to but in double time during a deadline crunch. However, realize that your work quality will be poor if you try to do this on a regular basis.
• If you set a schedule as recommended prior to reading this, arrange your work time around what is best for you. For instance, some people’s peak performance time is in the morning, while for others it is afternoon or evening. Everyone is different and there is no shame in that as long as you get your work done.

There are a number of other ways you can stay on task while you work. This very important if you plan to succeed and plan to better your financial future.

The key to success while you work at home is balance. Although it might require more of your time than working outside the home until you are more financially established remember you have a life outside of work.

This may be hard to remember in the beginning stages of attempting to work at home. This may be especially true if you have just quite your full time job and are a bit unsure of your financial future.

Well the hope is that you at least saved up a little bit of money before you let go of your full time employment. That would help reduce anxiety as you balance work with family, fun, and friends.

Practical Tips

Balanced means exactly that-balance. This means that equal “weight” or attention is given to each aspect of being at home. For instance, working at home does not necessarily mean you get to do whatever you want all the time.

You have the chance to create a schedule that suits you, but that schedule should have in it enough hours blocked off so that you get your work done. One of the challenges of working at home is having enough discipline to do what you need to do but provided enough relief and break time.

Another challenge for those who work at home relates to those who have children. It may be very difficult to accomplish anything-as important as your children are-if they are constantly interrupting you.

You can do a variety of things to help keep them busy while you work. For instance, maybe you can even have them help you with tasks you need completed, especially if they are old enough to stuff envelopes or type.

You can even create for them their own special office area. However, of course most people who work at home have children who are old enough to go to school. In this case, moms typically try to get a majority of their work at home tasks done during this time.

By the way, babies sleep quite a bit so if the children are less than two years old this still provides mothers and/or stay at home dads with ample opportunities to get work done. Still, be careful to keep an eye on your kids as busy as they are!

In the event you are not able to watch your children plus do your work maybe you can swap babysitting time with other parents. If you find three or four people to network with in this way it will also free up time to work at home. This network will also help cut down on childcare expenses as well.

One last Piece of Advice

Always remember the reason why you probably wanted to work at home in the first place-that is if you have children. Although you need to set aside enough time to complete your tasks so you can get paid make sure you stay involved in your child’s lives and give them the attention they need.