Telecommuting

Lesson 4: Outside the Office

Handling housework

Housework is an issue in any household, but it becomes particularly difficult when one or more family members works from home. Often, there is an expectation that the telecommuter has all the time in the world to work and conquer all the housework, and as you will see that is simply not true.

The key to handling housework in any situation, not just telecommuting, is good communication and organization. Here are some tips:

Take inventory
Go through your house and write down the answer to these three questions: What needs to be done? How often? What is the time commitment involved? Once you establish a housework inventory, from everyday chores like doing the dishes to once a year chores like cleaning the carpets, it’s time to create a schedule. You can make it a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule with all the chores that need to be done at any given time. This will give you a good sense of how much work actually needs to be done and how much time will be involved in doing it.

Have a family meeting
Once you figure out your housework inventory, you’ll need to sit down with the entire family and divvy up the work. You can even put together a sign-up sheet to be completed on a weekly basis so each person doesn’t have to do the same chores every day. This way, everyone will know what’s expected of them and there will be no surprises.

Don’t pick up the slack
If one or more family members is not pulling his/her weight, don’t just do the work for them. But don’t nag either. Simply refer to the housework inventory and gently remind them to keep up their end of the bargain.

Don’t be a perfectionist
Don’t expect every family member to do the work as well as you would. So what if a dust bunny gets left behind sometimes? The last thing your family needs is to be reprimanded after they’ve put in so much teamwork making the housework go smoothly. Just take it easy, let things go and appreciate that your family is willing to help.

Prepare weekly meals
Surely, you’ve heard this advice before. Prepare large quantities of dinner and freeze the extra so that you’ll always have an extra meal in the freezer when you need it. It saves time, money and work.

Read The Work At Home Balancing Act, Chapter 5, “Dividing and Conquering the Household Load” for more information.

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