The Freedom Of Blogging

Before having the children I was a Nanny for many years, it was a job I absolutely loved and I enjoyed going into work every day. I would rarely have days off sick as I enjoyed being there and it was a job with lots of freedom.

The parents of most of my charges commuted daily into work, the last job I had for around 6 years starting when the baby was just 6 months old. Both parents worked in London so would need to leave the house at 7.15/7.30am, now for me to get to this job I would need to drive for 45 minutes meaning I HAD to leave my house by 6.30am, getting up at 6am. Due to the fact they worked in London they wouldn’t get home until around 7pm each evening (sometimes later if there were tube problems), meaning by the time I had handed over, talked about our day, what the children had done and said goodbye to them all I wouldn’t get home until around 8pm ish. I didn’t mind though as although tired by that time I loved the children, my job and the freedom of Nannying.

I continued in this job for a while after Emmy was born, returning when she was 12 weeks old – taking her with me 2 days a week while Mother-in-Law looked after her for the other 2 days I worked (I did 4 day week). It worked for us all for a while but as she got older it grew harder as I was being paid to care for the 2 children and not my own so I had to make sure I looked after their needs first. After a year my boss gave up work and together we started a Nanny/Babysitting agency, it was hard work getting it up and running and due to having a small baby I just couldn’t dedicate the time and energy needed on my part to attend meetings with the Nanny’s and Babysitters to interview them, to talk with clients without a baby needing my attention. I lasted a year before calling it a day. I was glad we tried but it wasn’t for me.

By then I was blogging in my free time, it was a way to share Emmy’s milestones with family we didn’t see all that often and a way of sharing the craft activities we did at home, those I always did with the children while Nannying – our favourites from the early days were Cornflour Play and Pasta Play, and later on Shaving Foam Bath Paints. I used to get paid to play as a Nanny……see it really was a dream job.

Now I love my blogging job almost as much as I loved my Nanny job; it is so varied. Every day can be completely different. I can speak with lots of different people in one day – usually via email but sometimes via telephone call, skype or via my social media channels.

I answer messages from PRs, SEO’s, fellow blogging friends, and other bloggers. I also have messages from those entering my competitions and may have come across a problem, those with questions about something they have read on here and very often those wanting advice on setting up a blog and wanting help with it. I am happy to answer all the questions I receive, and I try my hardest to answer all my emails.

Of course, answering all of these things is very time-consuming, and that’s without writing the actual posts, taking the pictures, making the crafts or attending the events and days out. Thankfully, with the aid of my smartphone – which I admit is never very far from me, my tablet, and a trusty laptop, I can blog and answer emails, etc., from anywhere I choose.

Generally, I will blog on my laptop from the comfort of my sofa in the evenings once the children are in bed however, now that Harry is in school 2 full days a week, I have the freedom to move around a little and to get work done in the daytime. I have found I am more productive when sitting at the desk in the front room (I hate doing this in the evenings though), I like it to be very quiet so have the TV off and silence my phone if I can so I don’t get distracted.

When Harry started school I had great plans of heading into town and working from one of the coffee shops we have there. I haven’t actually done this too many times as by the time I am loaded up with both children’s school bags, lunch boxes, coats and drinks bottles I really don’t fancy carrying my laptop bag and
laptop around with me too – having only one car I walk the school run with the children daily.

So while my ideal blogging place would be Annie’s coffee shop where they make the most delicious homemade cakes, with plenty of frothy coffee on tap and free WiFi, an extremely friendly and comfortable place where I have the choice of tables or comfy sofa’s to choose from and then could stay long enough to enjoy some of the amazing food for lunch, sadly I have found myself doing this only a few times.

Photo Credit: Annie’s Coffee Shop

I have recently found another place I can work happily and be rather productive, the pub. No I am not heading there after dropping the kids to school for a cheeky G&T, it was on a weekend during the daytime. We decided to head out for a family lunch on a sunny Saturday, sitting in the garden and having a lovely family meal. The pub over looks part of Epping Forest and we had taken our dog Barney with us, after finishing Paul took the children and the dog for a long walk through the forest while I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee and the free WiFi to catch up on some work.

Enjoying the freedom of blogging – working in the pub garden overlooking the forest

I had been away the previous weekend with the children so they had missed spending time with Daddy, and he missed them too, so this was a great opportunity for me to enjoy an hours peace and quiet, something a SAHM/WAHM never seems to have any of especially in the school holidays – don’t get me wrong – I love my children dearly but they are very full on and me time just never happens. I am very glad I have the ability to take my work with me and to grab a little quiet time in a different place from time to time – at home I tend to run around filling the dishwasher and doing the washing, running the hoover around and answering the door, so while I want to be productive it doesn’t always happen. As long as I have my laptop/tablet and phone I can work anywhere – Thank goodness for WiFi and 4G!

Do you work from home? Do you also find it hard to concentrate on the task in hand without doing a few housework jobs too?