Curse of the home worker

The are many advantages to working from home but it is not so straight-forward as one might think, especially if you have a wife that works part-time as well as being a mum. Being at home frequently can make you become a household 'resource' despite the fact that it is your place of work.

Little things start to slip in. "Are you going to be in if I get the groceries delivered?". Of course once the groceries are delivered at the very least the fridge and freezer stuff needs to be put away.

"If I put a laundry load on can you hang it out?". Invariably it will rain and I will have to bring it in and then the sun will come out and I'll be expected to hang it back out and of course it's not two sheets, it's about 100 pairs of kids socks and knickers.

"Can you put the dinner in the oven at .... ?", which of course becomes "and turn it over/serve it up if I'm running late".

Arguments about doing the washing up have advanced with technology to arguing about who loads/unloads the dishwasher.

Then of course there is the ad-hoc school drop off/pick ups, trip to doctors, nipping out to pick up some urgent groceries, the watching the kids whilst "I pop out quickly" or "go to my exercise classes". 

When they get in from work there is also the air of "I've been busy/at work all day and you've been at home so it's  my turn for a break whilst you help out". 

Maybe I sound like a dinosaur but as the major source of income to the household I think my work at least deserve some consideration. Rant over. Still love her.

Size Matters

I think an important gauge in a relationship is the size of the things that annoy you or cause arguments. My wife is lazy very efficient/economical. Like Lewis Hamilton, if she can shave of a few seconds here and there through out the day she will. For example, we recently installed fitted wardrobes in our bedroom that have sliding doors. The doors alone cost around £300. My wife saves time by constantly leaving the doors open. Had I factored this in then as well as saving time we could have saved £300.

Another example is her keys, again she saves time by placing them at the first convenient place upon entry to our home. The place varies subject to what is most convenient at that particular moment. This does however seem to cause an issue the next day when she is late for work and cannot find them consequently spending five minutes running around the house cursing,  frantically looking for them.

Similarly, our kitchen has limited cupboard space. The best way around this limitation is to stack/organise items within the cupboard. My wife found this cost her valuable seconds and has found it far more efficient to grab an item and then when replacing it put it to the front of the cupboard and push everything else back. The challenge is further compounded by the fact that when doing the weekly shopping my wife purchases pretty much the same things each week saving valuable time by not checking what we already have. (It's not been unheard of to find four large boxes of All Bran taking up half a shelf). However, this seems to cost me time due to the fact that every time I open a cupboard, any cupboard, several items fall out and I then struggle to fit them back in the cupboard.

Of course my wife is not really lazy. She has a part-time job, looks after our kids, does the housework, etc, etc. So I guess my point is that if little things like these are my biggest gripes then I guess we're doing ok.

Compromised or Compromise?

Uni-on [noun]

1. the act of uniting two or more things.
2. the state of being united.
3. a number of persons joined or associated together for some common purpose

Knowing one's limitations

I'm not particularly talking about mental, physical or emotional limitations, I guess I mean the ties that bind us. If I take a quick look in the mirror I see a dad, a husband, a business partner, home owner, all of the above and more.

These roles all have responsibilities and it is these responsibilities that limit a lot of what I now can and cannot do. An important thing to remember is that I chose these, not just willingly but went out of my way to achieve. 

As a dad I want to be there for my children, help raise them, watch them grow, share as much time as I can with them. As a husband I want to be as much as a soul mate to my wife as she it to me, share our lives together and provide for the family. As a businessman I have made commitments to our clients and more importantly my business partner who is also my brother. As a home owner I have major financial obligations that must be met. This is truly a mixed bag but perhaps two of the most obvious limitations come down to time and money. Both and considerable challenges, not entirely impossible, just almost.

Although this is a personal journey, as I highlighted earlier, I would like my entire family to learn the life less ordinary. This however means that I have to consider their obligations and responsibilities. Just looking at the time constraint alone poses many challenges. My wife works and only has limited holidays. Due to this she is also unable to make all the school runs so I have to handle these.

The kids have school and their education is important as well as the social life it also provides them. We are constrained as to when they can and cannot have time off as well as needing to fulfil their homework obligations. There is also their hobbies and the after school clubs and activities to factor in. They should not in anyway have to suffer as a consequence of my choices.

In terms of the business I do have an ace up my sleeve. Being in IT means that I can pretty much work from anywhere I have a laptop and an internet connection and being self-employed affords me some flexibility in choosing when I do the bulk of my work.

The choice of being a home owner brings financial obligations, which is why both my wife and I have to work. The house is also in need of much work which my wife, as the home-maker, is understandably keen to progress. With this in mind the financial challenge is a major obstacle. If as I said at the outset the life less ordinary activities are to be in addition to, not instead of, my current lifestyle then it means the associated expenses will be in addition, unless of course I choose to start making sacrifices (not the children I might add).

Given the above, finances are perhaps the first obstacle to tackle. The kids do have a lot of time off in holidays across the year, and I do have a good degree of flexibility in when and where I work. My wife does not have as much holiday allowance as the kids but if she did not have to work then we could make use of these advantages. However, I am by no means the first to spot this type of opportunity. 


I frequently see adverts for cheap flights 'just £15 per person each way" and immediately I think of spontaneous trips away to foreign destinations. This is of course short lived when I try to book said flights for the family. As anyone else who has tried to book these will know these are for mid-week off-peak times which anyone who works or has family cannot make. Any parent who has ever tried to book a family holiday knows full well the price difference between holidays outside of school holidays and during school holidays. Yep the £15 per person suddenly becomes something more like £300 per person.


Time and money are without a doubt going to be big challenges, but perhaps not the biggest ....