Time is money, as the old adage goes, and the notion will certainly not be lost on anyone looking to pull off the balancing act between working from home and bringing up children.
Whether you’re running your own small business or working flexibly for a single employer, maximizing your productivity at home is never easy but any improvements you can make could be very valuable indeed.
So here are five apps and tools that could be really helpful if you’re looking to get more out of your time as a mom who works at home.
1. RescueTime
Getting distracted while working online is a constant problem for most of us these days and it generally takes a good deal of self-discipline to avoid the lure of websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to name just a few.
RescueTime helps users ration the time they spend on websites that are major source of digital distraction so that they can manage their day and use their time more productively on a routine basis.
2. Doodle
If you’ve never heard of Doodle before, then it’s time you did.
It is a tool that essentially allows a number of people to use the same online spreadsheet simultaneously wherever they are. This simple mechanism can be priceless if you spend any portions of your time trying to organize meetings with a particular set of people whose time is as in-demand as your own.
The system is super streamlined and makes it incredibly easy to see when certain individuals are free and available to meet up.
3. Pocket
If you’re a mother working primarily from home then there’s a good chance that you’ll be familiar with the feeling of trying to frantically pick up via a mobile device where you’ve just left off online on your home PC.
Pocket allows you to save webpages of interest on one device and have them ready to review and read again on another, such as your mobile phone or your tablet computer.
So any spare moment you find yourself with can then be put to productive use.
4. Evernote
Evernote covers a suite of software solutions that are all designed to simplify the processes of note-taking and scheduling. It is extremely useful for all those purposes and it can be used across virtually every type of computer, tablet or mobile phone, including all Apple, Android and Microsoft-operated devices.
As with any productivity-oriented app system, Evernote can take a little getting used to but once you’ve been using it for a while you might just wonder how you ever organized your working life without it.
5. YouMail
YouMail is a really interesting service that has to be paid for on a subscription basis but which can save time in crucial moments by essentially taking a voicemail message, transcribing it and sending the resulting text to your mobile phone.
You can also get it for free at the iTunes store and on Google Play.
So if you receive a voicemail while you’re out running errands or taking your little ones to school, then you’ll know what you need to action much more quickly than you otherwise might.
What other tools do you find useful for working from home?
About The Author
This is a guest post by John Baird, a personal finance and insolvency expert from Scotland Debt Solutions. He specializes in advising people on how to manage their money and deal with their personal debt problems.
