I’m obviously totally awesome at what I do because I’m not completely burned out yet although I do get very, very close at times. In fact, I admire my productivity and economy so much I thought I’d share some real-world tips for saving money while starting up a freelance business any moms just breaking into this madness. This is, after all, a very, very serious topic.
Save Money by Not Eating
I find that taking time to eat during the day just disrupts my productivity. Sure, it might only take five minutes to eat a bowl of cereal, but that’s five minutes I could be working without little boys for company. You can’t waste that time! It’s best to just not eat at all during the day and then gorge yourself on all kinds of junk food at night. This might be a terrible way to manage your health, but it’s a great way to squeeze every billable second out of your already too short work time. There’s an added benefit to not eating during the day – see the next tip!
Save Money by Skipping the Gym
Gyms cost quite a bit. The one near me that has great childcare is $75 a month. Who cares if that’s an article or two a month for a lifetime of fitness? Since I don’t eat during the day I find I don’t need to burn many extra calories during the day either. Fortunately, I do a lot of twitching in my chair while I work as I try to contain my adult-onset ADD, but between the twitching legs, flying fingers and wandering about the house I figure I burn plenty of calories.
In addition to the normal routines, I try to enhance my daily non-workouts by taking pointless trips to random places in the house. I find that by getting up urgently to do something important and then completely losing focus on whatever it was, I get to have at least thirty minutes of stair climbing, hall walking and standing in a lost stupor throughout the daytime hours. This is great exercise!
Save Money by Not Opting for Childcare
Who needs quiet and peace when they are trying to do a bit of creative work? Not me! I like to write in madness of the day (Jake! Stop hitting your brother!). I find that my best work of all comes at the end of the day when everyone is most tired and the boys are least likely to just play nicely together. (Brian! If you hit him again, there’ll be trouble in this paradise!) I know some writers create a peaceful luxury of silence while they work, but the really tough writers can crank out articles and blog posts with one hand and change a diaper with another. It’s only a problem when you forget which hand is supposed to stay clean for the keyboard.
Save Money by Never Cleaning
It’s amazing how much you spend on cleaning supplies. Want to really waste money? Why not hire a cleaning specialist to come and take care of all that cleaning for you? Who really needs a clean house? The houses and desks of geniuses are always messy! I’ve seen pictures! I certainly don’t have time to deal with things like vacuums and sponges. I figure if it was important enough to do during the day it would either involve billable hours or a future generation. Since I don’t see the sink paying me to get rid of the dirty dishes and it certainly isn’t going to be giving me grandchildren someday, the dishes can wait another day. Or two.
Everything you write is good, Rebecca, but I especially enjoyed this post – reminds me of my child-rearing years. I’m in the granny mode now so the day-to-day is quieter but that’s a good thing because I am less able (ok – unable) to focus amidst chaos. Eventually you’ll look back on this time fondly, wondering how you managed to get anything done. But by then it won’t matter because you, too, will be in the wonderful granny mode:)
I’m loving being a Mommy and loving the idea of being a grandmother even more. 🙂 I have two stacks of pages ripped out from house magazines. One is for the stuff I want to do now and one stack is pages saved for the day that I don’t have two boys in the house any more. 🙂
Dead on. And freakin’ hilarious. Did you take over for Clint or something? “Standing in a lost stupor…” – oh, how I’ve totally been there. Just this morning actually.
Nobody can take over for Clint, and that certainly wasn’t my goal. I was just amusing myself since I only get to write about being a WAHM some of the time. The rest of the time I’m handling business materials and website development for clients. Not as much fun although there are still some stupors involved.
Oh, man, does this hit home with me or what! I was cracking up until I got to the “save money by never cleaning” part, and then I said, “Uh oh…”
Hilarious!
Funny!! And I don’t even have kids. Except for my husband.
Husbands totally count as children. Mine is more high maintenance than my kids. I think it’s because I haven’t been able to train him since Day 1. Glad it was amusing for everyone.
I’m hoping this is meant to be funny because I did the no childcare thing for the first 3 years of my freelancing life. It was beyond stressful. My son would become such a bug a cute bug but still a bug. I couldn’t deal with it once he turned 2… he went to an amazing day care. Best investment ever! He gets to play and make friends while I get to complete a weeks worth of work in only 8 hours! Plus he still gets his mommy time two days out of the week. Everything else I get and understand but the child care thing.. you’re nuts to not opt for low cost child care! Best investment I ever made for my business.
People choose to invest in their businesses and invest in their families in different ways. No one’s way is right, wrong, best, etc. Every child and family situation is different. So I would say calling anyone “nuts” for doing something differently is stretching it a bit far, humorous post or not. I’m all for being tough on business here for those who want to grow, but crossing that toughness over the family line is a different story.
Dead on. It’s 12:34 AM and I’m sitting here with a bag of chips, a tub of dip, and a soda. I think this is the 2nd thing I’ve eaten today.