So I’m a newer mom of two; oldest is 5 and just started school, the youngest is 5 months old. When youngest was born, I was really looking forward to going back to work and contributing to our income in some way. I was hoping to work from home (I will literally consider anything) but send the youngest off to daycare a few hours a day. Not only would that give me a bit of a mom break and sense of accomplishment, but it would give us some extra income to boost debt pay off and savings. Hubby is Active Duty Navy, for reference.
Unfortunately, our newest little lady has decided that it is not going to be that smooth. She’s a breastfed kid, fully intends to keep it that way, and eats every two hours like clockwork. There is no convincing her to take a bottle at all and she goes from “I could eat” to “I NEED TO EAT!!!” in two minutes flat.
I see a lot of customer service jobs on here and other websites but is that really feasible with an infant??? I need someone who does it or has done it to give me the lowdown. Is it like a shift situation where you’re online for a minimum amount of time? Or a case by case situation and you’re just on call within an amount of time??
Thanks for any help, tips, or tricks you can give.
I can only speak generally about working from home- I did it for years with toddlers but it was not customer service. The short answer is that I ended up doing 2 days of day care and worked my schedule around that until they got older. I also worked some evenings and a few weekends.
It can work! Just takes a lot of adjusting. And the end result of being home with your kids as much as possible is totally worth it, IMHO.
My suggestions are: make a specific place your working space, keep to specific times, put on a ‘work shirt!’ - sounds odd but helps change your mindset… do your best to separate work from home. It sounds impossible but I did it for 10 years, and then again since March 2020. I love it. And it does get easier, I promise.
I work in a call center. It is NOT flexible to having young children as far as breaks after concerned. Your daughter would need to be in daycare when you are working. I understand that you want to get back to work for finances and a mental break. But enjoy the experience of having the baby around. She won’t be a baby forever and you’ll miss the snuggles and nurturing. FWIW, my babies are in their 20’s now. I miss the bonding with them, though, I don’t miss the middle of the night feedings.
Tbh, as much as I love the snuggles I also get mentally done with her much faster than my first. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to be home with her but I’m still fairly new to being a SAHM and I kinda was looking for something to give me a mental break from the parenting, even for just a few hours.
What is available on the Navy base where your hubby is stationed or his ship is homeported ? Talk to other Navy wives to see what they have done or do right now. There is always the base Exchange or the Commissary. Base personnel office, base doctors, or dentist offices. Do you have any office or professional skills ? Is there a base kids daycare ? You never mentioned what skills, knowledge you have.
Big Lew, I haven’t been able to look into the Base much yet, mostly because COVID has thrown a wrench into the availability of a lot of things. Before we got married, hubby and I did long distance so I only just moved to the area a year ago. He’s a sub guy and enlisted right before we had our first.
Thankfully, our immediate neighbor works in the Commissary and gave me some tips, her little lady is just shy of a year. But apparently (at least at the moment) Base Daycare has been limited to pretty much only the kiddos who are already going, unless the parent is in dire need of a sitter. Even if I could pick up work, with her 2 hour feed schedule and her refusal to take a bottle, it’s just about pointless to try to do anything too rigid. Prior to moving I worked retail for 5 years, and in a carry out before that. I was in my second year of college when we found out I was preggers with our first. I tried to continue school, but the financial burden added on to the fact I was mostly absent as the main parent, led to me choosing to just work retail. I can do a variety of things but I don’t have anything to show for it, if that makes sense?
I’m willing to experiment with just about anything that I can from home I just can never tell just from the job description what would ACTUALLY work well with kiddos and what won’t. That’s what this is mainly about.
Yes, everything you mentioned makes sense to me. Just so you know where I was coming from with my comment, I have been a U.S.Government employee since March 1984, in the U.S.Navy, U.S. Post Office, and now the U.S. Department of Transportation. Along the way, I got divorced and raised my kids all by myself as my ex-wife never showed up in court. So yes I understand what you are going through. My kids range in age from 28 to 32. My kids turned out fine, yes I had to enroll them into daycare and regular school along with college too. I turned down the government hand-outs too. I’d do it all over again (raising my kids) if I was 30 years younger. Here check out this website called…Flexjobs.com it is for working at home jobs, also type into your search bar any Major company’s names, and when you bring up their website, look for jobs type in remote in the jobs search bar. Also, use Ziprecruiter.com, as they have remote jobs of various kinds listed. Pass all of this info on to your friends who may need a job. Pay it Forward. Good Luck.
WFH doesn’t have to be just customer service, although there is a lot of it out there. If you are a fast typist, why not try transcription? That is a job you can stop doing for a few minutes when you need to. There is also chatting, which is a little more rigid, but at least if your baby is crying, no one will hear it but you. I’ve listed some links I’ve used for years below that will give you some places to start looking. Good luck to you.
I used to do some work through Rev, but the audio is often so unclear that I can’t type anything. I’ve tried to look into audio programs that might clean things up but I haven’t found anything that would help, even in the Rev forums. I thought about looking into special equipment or something as well but since the problem is usually the file itself better equipment or a foot pedal wouldn’t really help. The only reason it matters is because if I get graded poorly too many times on my files then I won’t be able to do transcripts anymore ?
I have found a few places that include chatting or emailing online in the customer service vein, but they still include being able to accept calls. I wasn’t sure if I could just communicate to the company that I just can’t accept calls??? I feel like that would be kinda silly since it says in the posting what the expectations of the position are, ya know???
Thanks for the resources and tips! I’m looking into them now!
Even if I don’t get much luck right now, I’m hoping that in the next few months our nursing schedule will have some larger gaps and then I’ll at least have a firm starting ground to start running with.
I only have one and she is back in school. Here’s a thought for you- how are you at writing? Writing can be done in chunks of time and breaks can be taken. Start your own blog about being a Navy wife, life in the Navy, or any topic that you’re interested in.
Write blog posts for others. Start a virtual assistant business- I went through Gina Horkey’s Fully Booked Virtual Assistant Course and it’s great. They show you how you can make good money but work full-time. I know, it sounds funky but it’s legit, I promise.
Sarah Titus dot com is a good site to look at. One of her courses is about designing items such as: sayings, coloring pages, etc BUT digitally and starting a Shopify store- you design ONE time and continually sell.
I’m okay at writing but I’ll admit it’s been a long time since I’ve even needed it. Most of my skills are in tactile efforts, usually car or building related but I don’t know if I’d be willing to say I’m good at it??? To be frank, everything I know or have learned in the last 6 years has been due to necessity. So I can change my own brakes, struts and shocks, oil, ect but only because I’ve always been too broke to take my car to a shop to have it done. I’ve done subfloor repair, built shelves and storage, drywall and paneling, ect but that was because I couldn’t afford to move out of my Mom’s if I didn’t take advantage of a handyman special on a trailer.
My experience in retail has taught me a lot of soft skills but lol I can’t use any of them in the most common work from home positions (customer service) right now.
I am still considering taking advantage of the fact that my youngest is so small to maybe learn something at home. Taking a writing course or maybe getting a certificate in something online to make a side income. For now, I’m learning how to touch type to get better at my transcription efforts (Because something is better than nothing and not all the audios are terrible).
I mainly just wanted a better mental image of what wrangling kiddos at home was like or have strategies on hand to maximize the time I carve out for something.
