Work at Home Moms - Phoenix,AZ

Wish I could answer you but instead I offer you a warning: Beware of getting pitched on here to sell products by others who do so.

I am an Operations Analyst for a Fortune 500 company. I've been there almost 12 years and spent 8 years in the office before I became full time WAH. If we still lived in the state my company is based at I wouldn't be full time WAH, I would have to go into the office some days. Since I moved and am remote I'm home full time. My point is that full time WAH jobs in corporate america are not easy to come by. Many employers (mine included) are getting better and allowing some WAH, but usually you have to put in your time at the office first. The best thing you could do is ask your current company what options they have for telecommuting. You never know, they might offer you something from home at least part time.

Also - WAH is very isolating and can be a career killer. I was on a fast track till we moved away from corporate (dh got a promotion). Now I am completely dead-ended. I'm ok with that, I like working at home and have flexible hours, but if advancement was important to me this wouldn't have worked out. It's also extremely isolating. The first few months it's great, work in your pjs, throw in a load of laundry here and there, but after a while you begin to feel like a cave dweller who never sees sunlight, lol. It's also hard to 'turn off' work when you WAH. It's always there, right around the corner, just one more call, one more email, one more file, etc etc. So easy to just pop in when the kids are eating their snack, or getting ready for bed - which is a bad idea because your family time should be just that, family time.

I worked at home for 2 years. I supported a VP with reports, customer service, admin support, etc. think expanded virtual assistant + computer analyst.

The idea that you can "work" at home and be able to "stay home" with your kids is a fallacy. The 2 are mutually exclusive.

"Work" at home is still "work". You can't earn a decent living and play with your kids at the same time. You can't have a boss and deadlines and set hours and think that you can NOT have a child care plan in place.

Now, if you are a good child care provider and enjoy doing that, you can watch other kids. Then you will be earning money while you play with your (and other) kids. But then you have to decide licensing, liability, supplies etc and decide if that is a route you want to go.

You have to ask yourself -
1. how many hours a week can I dedicate to a job WITHOUT interruptions from my kids.
2. Do those hours vary, or can I structure my workday?
3. How much money do I HAVE to earn to make my budget work? ie- childcare for when you are working etc.

I don't know how many kids you have, what their ages are or how much money you want to make. So, it's hard to guage options for you.

Good Luck

I can do about half my work from home but I don't. I have what I need where I need it here and no one moves it. I do use this ability for occasional sickness or snow days but that is it. I am paid to work, not mess around at home.

I also agree with Wickenparkgirl work at home to stay home with your kids is a fallacy. I track my time on a snow day. I start work at six, the kids get up at eight, so I get two hours there. Eight to nine, breakfast, gather stuff so they can go outside back to work. Fifteen minutes later someone got wet, dig up more gloves. Back to work, thirty minutes later, I'm hungry. Anyway to make a long story short "working" from six to four when I give up in frustration I worked for six hours. That is not a full work day, ya know?

I am a senior-level business data analyst for a large global firm. I have been with this company for 13 years. For the first 7 years, I worked in the office every day. Six years ago, I negotiated 3x per week at home. Most of the people I interact with at work do at least one day a week at home and many work at home FT. The 3x per week schedule is a nice balance for me - my kids can come straight home from school on those days, have play dates, etc. and on the other two days, they go to an excellent after-school program that gives them a chance to do structured activities.

The easiest thing would be for you to negotiate a work at home arrangement with your current employer, if at all possible. If that's not possible, most ____@____.com corporate jobs are heavy on data and analytics or are all about processing things via computer. Most large firms have many people working from home - look into the larger employers in your area to see what opportunities are available.

Working at home is WORK. We run our company from home and there is no way I could do a quality, professional job and have children underfoot. Our daughter is 17 and I could not be doing this job efficiently if she was not as old as she is. She is also on the board and paid employee.

Some companies will allow you to telecommute but you must first prove that you do have self discipline, self motivation and will work... no one will pay you to "work" at home and stay with your children.

If companies do allow working at home, most require that you have your children in childcare so that you are actually working if you are on the time clock for a corporation. No company needs a rep on the phone where customers, clients can hear children or pets in the background. It must be a professional environment.

Yes, we do work from home. We own the company so we put in a lot more hours than a lot of people do because this is our baby and we are growing it successfully and to do that it takes a huge committment of finances and time. We are here 24/7 tweaking business, negotiating, dealing with overseas importers, etc. It never stops but it is very rewarding because we built it from the ground up and it is successful.

I run the financial aspects of the company with Quickbooks and manage Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll (only hubby, myself and daughter), all reports that are due to the IRS on monthly and quarterly basis, manage all travel arrangements, work with transportation companies to negotiate the best rates to get our materials from production to the customer. We are in the raw materials industry and do not deal directly with consumers.

This question is asked often on mamapedia. Beware because now that you have asked the question, many MLM/direct sales will be hitting you up to recruit you for their team. If that is your thing, go for it and read all the fine print.

Babysitting at home enables you to work from home.

Good luck to you.

I work at home and have a 14 month old son who stays home with me. I do accounts payable for a company where the entire company works from home in satellite offices. There are more and more companies like this popping up so keep your eyes peeled. I got this job through yahoo jobs or monster (can't remember). It is a salaried job not commission or anything like that - watch out for those. Anyway, it is not all fun and games to work with a baby here. It is really hard. I have my mom come help me one day a week and I also usually work nights after the kids are in bed to catch up. I can't leave the house to take him on an outing because I have to be here to answer phones. Basically, what I am saying is, what you are looking for is not impossible, but be prepared to work hard. It isn't easy at all. Good luck!

ETA: I work 40 hours a week.

Well I'm in the minority here and am very fortunate. In the fact that I work at home - 40 a week - salary - and I also care for my 2 year old son and my 8 year old when she gets out of school. The company has allowed me to do this because when my 8 year old was consistently sick due to a low immune system and other issues, I couldn't have her in day care. She has luckily outgrown that but has several other issues still. My company is aware that I work and that I work around my kids. My 2 year old has a 10X12 play area in the same area that I am so I can watch him constantly. He is well entertained and all his needs are met. I also have the ability to work later into the day if need be in order to get my full 8 hours in. It's done on an honor policy. I have proven to them that I am reliable and am able to get the job done to their liking. Is it easy? NO it isn't because I am doing 2 jobs at once. It does get hectic. I deal with customers online through emails with an occasional phone call. They are all aware that I work from home with kids and haven't had a problem. I provide a professional environment to the best of my ability however. But what I have going is not common. Like I said, I got very lucky and am very fortunate to be able to do this. I have been working at home now for almost 9 years. With today's gas prices, I'm glad I do.

I work from home as a full time program manager. I've worked from home before I was a Mom and many of my coworkers do as well because my company finds paying our phone line is a lot cheaper than office space. However, you can't be home with the kids with my job. It is still 9-5 type of hours and I am expected to be on calls with clients and have deadlines to meet. Sure, if my son is sick, he is home with me and folks are forgiving to hear him in the background but he goes to pre-school / after care normally and up until he was 2, I had a sitter come to our home every day to play with him/watch him while I was working in my home office. Working from home does not necessarily mean flexibility in your work. To be able to work from home and have your kids with you, you would need to find something that does not expect you to work specific hours, or require you to be on the phone with customers. You need something that you could do at anytime...like freelance writing, data entry etc. As long as you make your deadlines and get your work done, they probably won't care if you ended up doing all this work while your kids are in bed. A friend of mine did freelance writing for a bit in between two full time positions. She was assigned a few tasks and told when to deliver it. She was paid by the piece vs paid by an hour.

I run an in-home licensed child care. I am open to families 45-50 hrs/wk and spend another 10-15 hrs/wk (easily) doing prep, cleaning, shopping, etc). I don't make a ton...but enough to afford to continue and there are lots of expenses you can write-off on taxes...and I am here for my children...which is my biggest benefit. It is a ton of work, but I can't imagine doing anything different right now. I plan to return to my previous career as an elementary teacher when both of my children are school-age.

I work at home (30 hr a week, Mon-Thu), Business Analyst and there's no way I could do my job and watch kids at the same time.
I've been doing this for 10 years now, the rest of my 25 yr career was spent in cubicle land in an office.
I was a Cobol programmer for 15 years (I have a BS in Information Systems Mgmt) before my job was off-shored.
I've got to gather data, make/post my reports (lots of spread sheets), call in to conference calls every day.
It's just like being in an office but I don't have to commute to get there and I can work in my pajamas if I feel like it.
You've got to prove yourself for a long time before anyone will trust you to work from home and there are still too many managers who don't believe any work gets done unless they can watch you doing it.
I don't even know how I'd apply for the job I have - I kind of fell into it.
At this point we hire people from other departments, so open positions are not advertised.

I am a graphic designer with a home-based business. Before my son was born I worked more than full time hours. After he was born I worked during his naps, after he went to bed, and even while he slept against me in a Baby Bjorn--much less than full time design work, but still enough to keep clients and earn money. When he was around two years old, we started him at a daycare center, first two days a week, then three days a week, which he is still doing now. I work full-time hours on those three days, and still do work at night when needed. It's been a great balance of being able to spend lots of time with him and still keeping my business going.

I've worked from home for 5 years - prior to that I consulted from home for 2 years - and was in office/cubes for about 5 years prior to that. My current job is CRM Manager and I manage databases.

We are hiring for a couple f/t wfh positions...I'm happy to send to you through PM if you are interested.

Thanks.

I have worked from home for 11 years now as a freelance public relations writer. I worked full-time before kids and currently work 12 hours a week. I will expand my hours quite a bit when our youngest starts first grade (kindergarten is only a little more than three hours).

A friend of mine, also a mother of twins, went back to work full-time this past summer after being home with them for 5 years. She typically has to go into the office 5 days a week but sometimes can work from home if she has to. Her husband works from home almost 100% and they have the twins in day care now, before they start kindergarten this fall. Because he may be at home, but he is WORKING. He is in his office down in the basement and cannot be constantly watching over the boys and taking care of them if he is to get any work done. Sometimes he has to travel for his job, sometimes she will take a work-from-home day, whether he is there or not, but either way, the boys must be in day care if they are to get anything productive accomplished. So I guess it depends on the nature of the job itself, but for them, working at home is no different than being in the office - they aren't just doing some tasks here and there and then playing with the kids all day.

I have a friend that works from home. She's not a mom but she works for bank of America as a relationship manager she's full time 40 hours a week. I know a dad that works from home. He works for citigroup in the collections department.

I do online customer service and freelance writing. I work anywhere from 20-25 hours a week. I could not do any job from home that required me to be on a phone. It just wouldn't work with our house.

If you do a search, you'll find that this topic comes up pretty often and there are lots of good responses for it.