Life is often hectic for stay at home parents. It gets more so when you work from home. There’s the kids to care for, the house to keep at least reasonably clean and meals to prepare, all while getting your job or business taken care of. It’s not the easy life many people think it is.

But even in the most hectic of times it is possible to get things done. Trust me, I know! I just spent two days helping my sister by watching her kids while she waited for her husband to go into surgery, and I’ll be doing it again this week since the surgery was rescheduled. Yet I managed to get things done with 4 kids under 4 running (or crawling) around the house.

How??

First comes sheer determination. The good thing about having the extra kids is that they kept my daughter a bit busy playing. Mealtimes took more time, as did discipline. Fortunately, my particular home business allows me to interrupt my work quite freely, so while all this was a hassle, it did not keep me entirely from getting things done.

However, under normal circumstances, a bit of planning can go a long way. I work a lot of evenings because that is when I can work in peace, making sure to take some time for my husband too!

If the kids are driving you nuts, it might be time to take time for them. With four kids in the house, I made sure to plan activities. We’re making play dough one of the days that they are here, for example. They’ll enjoy the process of making it, which of course takes some of my time as well, but then they’ll happily play with it for a long time after.

Next, consider some chaos-reducing ideas. Try scheduling your day a bit more. If you aren’t the type to adhere to a firm schedule, just have a general one, such as starting out by getting the kids breakfast, then answering your emails, and so on. One of the best things about working at home is that you don’t have to have a firm schedule, but a flexible schedule can help things tremendously.

Getting the kids out of the house helps too. If they’re old enough to play outside with little supervision and the weather is good, get them out of the house! They may only stay out for a little while, but they will have probably used up a good deal of their excess energy.

A separate home office is a big help if you can spare the room and the kids are old enough that you can close the door. Teach the kids to knock before coming in and what constitutes reason to interrupt your work.

Of course, kids aren’t the only thing that cause chaos when you work at home. Sometimes your home does it to you too. When you stay at home, you’re the one who has to deal with the plumber if there’s a problem, and that can be extremely inconvenient if you were really hoping to get things done. Just remember that a good plumber (or other repairman) does not need you to hover over him while he works, and let him do his job, keeping yourself available for questions and price quotes. He’ll often get done faster, so if you’re being charged by the hour, it will cost less too.

Then there’s one of the most difficult things for just about anyone working at home to deal with – computer trouble! This is why you should back up your machine regularly, so that a computer crash is an inconvenience, not an outright disaster! But even when you can’t use your computer you can probably get work related things done. You’ll be limited to organizational issues, however, such as going over paperwork and filing, or maybe calling customers, but if you haven’t been keeping up on these things, they need to be done anyhow. Then again, if you’re organized, maybe computer trouble means it’s time to take a little more time for the kids.

A hectic life doesn’t mean you can’t get anything done around the house, but it does mean you have to plan a little better in order to get things done at time. Take a little extra time as you need it and the chaos may not seem as bad.