I am loosing my job at the end of the year and I am still deciding what I am going to do. I am still crunching #'s to see if I can stay home. I looks right now that it will be tight but we could do it. I can collect unemployment for a while and I will get severance for 3 months which will be nice. With Ava being our last I am really thinking that I want to be home with her. It is just such a big income loss.

Does anyone work from home? I was also thinking of just working PT so I can be home for the kids before and after school.

Any suggestions?

I work from home, and it's tough. Really tough. I have two kids--Riley's in preschool 3x a week just in the morning. But Jeremy's 2.5 and needs my attention all the time, so the only time I can work is in the evening when the kids are in bed. I find that I cannot work during nap/rest time since I need time to recharge. I probably work 20-25 hours per week.

I guess it depends on what you want to do. I found a lot of helpful information on wahm.com/forum. They have many different categories if you need guidance. I write/edit, which is what I did before I stayed at home.

I do enjoy the flexibility, as I can work from home whenever I have time. But it's hard because I miss having time to myself. I'm constantly finding that if I didn't work, I'm not bringing in money. The guilt is ever-present. But I'm home with the kids, and that's what's most important. Good luck.

I work two part time jobs that are based at home. One is for a research company, doing phone surveys. It's easy work with flexible hours. But the pay isn't great and because of the type of work (talking on the phone where I need quiet), I can do it only when someone else (DH) is around to keep an eye on the kids or when the kids are in bed. So I work 20 hours a week, evenings and weekends. It's hard. I enjoy the work while I'm doing it but it frequently pops up as an inconvenience to our normal life schedule. I was able to pick my schedule but it still gets in the way.

The second pt job is as a relocation consultant, assisting expat families whose companies are moving them to my city from other countries. I really enjoy this and for the most part, it's very flexible. Almost always during the day and I can schedule the meetings to fit around my kids' school hours. It's a decent income but not consistent so it's not something I can rely on. But I love it and hope to continue doing this for a long time. I'm afraid though as our economy tanks, there will be fewer relocations and therefore, less work for me.

In addition to the wahm forum Darcy suggested, check out workplacelikehome.com. It's a similar site and I think there's lots of overlap but some unique info from one to the other. Those sites can give you ideas about the type of work you might like and what to expect from specific companies.

I can work from home, but it's much much easier for me to work in the office. It's hard to get anything done at home, especially since Owen is no longer napping. I still take stuff home and work in the evenings, but I spend more time at the office now, especially since Owen is in preschool.

I'm a very occasional freelance writer/editor and I work from home when I do work. It's nearly impossible to get things done during the day for me. Brendan's only in school six hours a week, but to catch someone on the phone then or to arrange for a in-person interview is hard. Most of the time, my interviews are in-person and I have to arrange for babysitting, and even then, it's arranged around my kids' schedules. My actual writing always happens at night, unless Scott takes the kids out of the house on the weekend. The work itself isn't hard, but I find that unless I have a 2-3 hour block of uninterrupted time, I can't really accomplish much writing (which requires thinking, which I can't do when I'm fixing snacks and overseeing homework!).

I'm contemplating picking up my work pace once Brendan's in kindergarten. I think the kids' 8-2 schedule would give me the time I need, if I can keep other distractions (housework and errands) to a minimum.