Work from home: Efficient time management tips for women working from home
time management tips for women – Adjusting to working from home has been hard for everyone, but especially for women living with a husband, kids, and in many cases, extended family. Without househelp, managing the office alongside doing household work and attending to kids can seem impossible. Feelings of frustration can emerge, and it can make you feel alone and helpless. 
While being in this situation is unavoidable due to the raging pandemic, here are some tips that can help you manage your time and reduce some stress.
Efficient time management tips for women working from home
Deciding on Office Hours
- Fix office timings with your supervisor or boss, and make sure you stop working when your “office day” is over to maintain a work-home balance. Tell your kids and family to not disturb you for any reason (unless it is an emergency of course) during this time.
- Try scheduling more demanding tasks when children are attending virtual school so you can minimize the disturbance and focus on work.
- If there are more people in the house working at the same time you do, speak to them about setting up a schedule for any calls everyone has so you can avoid disturbing each other.
Creating an Office Space
- In order to mentally detach yourself from your home atmosphere, set up a workspace for yourself. You would be better off if it is a separate room away from other family or kids, but if you don’t have another room in the house, you can set up your dining table as a workspace, or even get a small table and set it up next to the window in the room of your choice. Pick a chair that’s comfortable to sit in for the length of your office hours, and make sure you pick a spot where you get lots of natural light.
- For small kids who may disturb you, you can try putting masking tape on the floor around your desk and telling them to not disturb you when you’re inside the taped-off area. More crucially, however, you should do step 3 for your kids.
time management tips for women
Creating a Timetable for Kids
- In order to make things feel as normal as possible, you should create a home environment for your kids where everything is time-bound, just like it is at school. Set aside particular times of the day for your child to get their homework done. If your child does not have homework, have them spend time on learning apps.
- If your child is having trouble with their academic performance, you should hire tutors that can help virtually. If this is not affordable, try to work out timings in every capable adult’s schedule so that everybody in your house can help tutor the child.
- Fix timings for eating snacks throughout the day, and prepare these snacks in advance (when you do the next step). You should also fix times in the day when your child can watch TV or play video games.
- Make sure to set up virtual playtime for your child with their friends so that they do not feel isolated while staying at home. You can buy games that can be played over a video call or through an online gaming platform. Schedule this playtime when you take a break for evening tea, or after your office hours are over.
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Efficient time management tips for women working from home
Meal Prepping
- Perhaps the most daunting task for any woman who is responsible for managing household work is cooking. Finding time to prepare three meals a day for the whole family while balancing office workload is just not feasible. Meal prepping is a valuable strategy that can save time on a daily basis by taking advantage of whatever free time you may have available.
- Take some time out each weekend to decide what meals you are going to prepare in the following week. Pick recipes that either do not take more than half an hour to cook (excluding time taken to chop vegetables), or do not need you to spend time actively cooking, like stewing or cooking in a pressure cooker.
- To prep your meals, start by chopping all vegetables, making dough for roti, and/or cooking rice during free times. This can be done entirely on the weekend or you can do it partially on the weekend and set aside half an hour on weekdays to finish the rest of the work. Be sure to not spend more than half an hour on weekdays because you will need time to do the actual cooking, and then to clean up after cooking as well.
- If possible, you can take meal prepping to the next level by preparing entire meals in big quantities and storing them in your fridge. An ideal way to do this is to dedicate a whole day, usually on the weekend or a holiday, to prepare several dishes and refrigerating them, or if you have space, freezing them in your freezer. If you are someone who does not get a lot of time during the week to cook at all, or if you ever feel tired and do not want to cook, cooking your entire meal in advance can be a great way to be prepared.
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time management tips for women
Dividing Some Chores
- Another daunting task in the household is doing chores. This is the hardest to get done without household help, so this is when you need to ask everybody in the house to cooperate and help out.
- Dishes and utensils can easily pile up in the sink, so ask everyone to wash their own dishes immediately after each meal. It is not hard to teach kids to do this, and in fact, can be a good exercise to teach them about responsibility. As for the adults, you may need to gently remind those who are not used to doing these household tasks that this is an extraordinary time and everybody needs to do their share to keep the house running smoothly.
- Even hanging clothes to dry after doing laundry can be made easy by making it into a fun game for younger children. If you have older children and even some capable adults in the house, draw up a monthly schedule where everybody takes turns to do chores like hanging clothes to dry, along with sweeping, mopping, washing the bathroom, etc. Again, gently remind everyone that everybody needs to find time to do their share because your time is just as limited as theirs, if not more.
time management tips for women
Finally, remember that you need to be vocal about your needs. Plan things well in advance and communicate with everyone so that everybody gets their share of the work done. Don’t be shy to ask for help when you are struggling, and request people both in your house and at work to have some flexibility until the crisis is over.
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