Saturday, we talked about wives who work from home and we’re launching a series on wives who work from home this week and how it may affect your home life, specifically your marriage. For business tips, check out our home business blog.
Yes Honey, I Do Have a Job
One difficulty you may have when you are a wife who works from home is that your spouse may not appreciate that you actually have a job. A typical day for me begins about 4:30 in the morning. I get up, have a light workout followed by a shower and a cup of coffee. Then I start work, I write for about an hour and then my daughter is up and it’s time to get her fed, ready for school and off on time.
Once she’s at school, I come back to the house and work for another couple of hours before running any errands that need to be done. Errands usually take an hour to an hour and a half and then I’m back to work. In and around all of this, I take care of the house, volunteer at the school and let’s not forget look after our daughter and make sure she gets to her after school activities and so much more.
I am always running. My husband gets up around 8 and is out of the house by 9 and then isn’t home again until after 5 or 6. There are many times during the day when he’ll call and ask me to take care of something for him and for the first couple of years I was working out of the house, he would ask me to run almost all the errands and to take care of most of these things because I was home.
When he came home at night, he would talk about how tired he was and that’s why he couldn’t do something and I would get very frustrated and I remember the first argument we had because he said he couldn’t do something and his reason, and he emphasized that he had a job! The implication being, I didn’t because I just work from the house – thus I don’t work as hard, etc, etc etc.
A Piece of Advice
Gentleman, ladies – if your spouse works from home and by work, I refer to any employment they engage in at home whether it’s being a stay-at-home mom or working out of a home office – it’s still WORKING. Don’t be dismissive of it and don’t act like it doesn’t rate up there with your job in an office. It’s hard to work from home, it’s hard to balance all the things that need to be done and it’s hard to make it work in such a way that no one feels neglected.
It’s important to respect an accomplishment and to put value into it – whether you understand what it is your wife or husband does when you walk out the front door and are gone for hours – you need to respect it. It’s important to respect them and appreciate them.
Have you had trouble with your spouse respecting your working at home?
Be sure to check out the home business blog for great tips on starting and running your home business.
Related Articles:
Married with Children – A Disruption Of Life?
Calling a Truce in the War of the Wives
Standards of Comparison: Housewife versus Stay At Home Mom