Jobs now has an RSS Feed!

I just noticed this on the right side of the screen: There is now an RSS feed for Jobs. Whether you’re inside of a blog, reading the blog itself, or looking at a list of all the employment blogs published here at Families, you can find the RSS feeder on the right-hand side of the blog itself. I am fairly new to RSS feeds, but in just the few short weeks since I’ve started using it, I have already wondered how on earth I got along without it. If you have found blogs that you want to read every time … Continue reading →

Two Top 10 Lists for Multitasking

No, I’m not asking you to multitask by reading both lists at the same time. As I said earlier today, multitasking only works when you do one thing that requires your brain and one thing that requires your direct physical involvement at a time. If you do more than one of either, all tasks will suffer. It has been scientifically proven that you cannot speak and listen at the same time, because as amazing as our brain is, it has limitations on how much it can do at the same time: Mainly, it can only do one thing. Sad but … Continue reading →

Yes, Multitasking can be a Good Thing (in the Right Situation)

After I finished writing my last blog about multitasking, I headed off to the shower to get cleaned up for the day. As I showered, I realized that I made the fatal mistake of lumping all multitasking into one big pile, which isn’t right. First off, multitasking lends itself quite well to mundane tasks that do not require any brainpower to complete. As some of you know, I am LDS, which means twice a year I get to stay home for the weekend (woot!) and listen to talks given by the head people in the Church via the radio, Internet, … Continue reading →

Leaving Work at Work: Phone Calls at Home

I just had a blond moment (which is rather difficult for a natural brunette to have, but somehow I managed.) I work at a local care company that I shall call Services for You, and 100 times a day, I answer the phone, “Hello, Services for You, how may I help you?” until I’m sure I could answer phones in my sleep. Here I am at home, sitting on my bed, typing on my laptop (love the laptop!!) when my cell phone rings. I flipped it open. “Services for You, how may I help you?” I asked absentmindedly. I was … Continue reading →

Give Yourself a Break!

Do you have a problem finding balance? I do. The other night after spending a fun weekend in the snow with my family and returning home about five p.m. I broke down. I mean really broke down, waterworks actually. You see, I had so much to get done. The house needed a little tidying up, dinner needed to be made and I had one hundred pages to read for my class and a presentation to prepare. There is always so much to do and never seems to be enough time to accomplish it all – without tears anyway! As I … Continue reading →

Setting a Schedule and Sticking to It: Part Two

If you missed Part One of “Setting a Schedule and Sticking to It” please check it out here. Otherwise, read on! Once you have a rough idea of how many hours you need to work, and what days of the week you are going to put those hours in, you can get down to the nitty-gritty. Here are some ideas of questions you need to ask yourself when setting up a daily schedule: Are you an early bird? Or a night owl? I have fought against my natural body instincts enough to tell you that it’s a losing battle. I … Continue reading →

Setting a Schedule and Sticking to It: Part One

In yesterday’s blog, I talked about staying aware of your time sinks, using a kitchen timer, and why chocolate is important. Today, I wanted to tackle the problem of trying to set up a schedule for working from home. One of the biggest pulls towards working from home is the fact that you can work anytime–it’s flexible! But the biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. Many people who work from home end up working throughout the day from morning until evening, seven days a week. Although that sounds admirable (what a work ethic!) what actually ends up happening is … Continue reading →

How Many Hours Are You Truly Working?

When I first decided that I wanted to work from home so I could stay home with our children when we had them (that still hasn’t happened, actually) I decided to become a medical transcriptionist (MT) because that was what I read about in an ad in the newspaper one Sunday. Not really the best reason for choosing a career path, but at the time, it made sense to me. I quit my day job and went to school full-time so I could graduate quickly and start working right away as an MT. My husband was very impressed with my … Continue reading →

Working with Kids under Feet

Guest Blogger. Uggghhhh. It is not as easy to work from home with kids under foot as you may think. I now remember why I had “retired” from writing for a while. Imagine: you are sitting down with your deepest thoughts and have your article all planned out. You pull out your notes, review them and sit down to write, then suddenly “Potty! Potty! Potty!” or “Mommmmmmmyyyyyyyyy! Billy hit me!” Even when you have prepared the children with everything you can possibly think of including a movie, popcorn, and juice. Even if you take them potty before you start work … Continue reading →

The Background Check

If you are looking to get a work from home job, you may be required to get a background check (and pay for it! However, you will not send any money for the background check to the company that hired you.) I have to admit when I applied for the online tutoring job, I did not think about how they find out if I’m a good or bad person. Since I work with kids I can totally understand why they would want to have a background check done. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. I had no … Continue reading →