Road to WAHM

*WAHM = Working At Home Mom

As I said previously, I’m a type who plans everything. I have to say that my big decision had been considered since the day I got married. In 2014, I wrote about ‘Entrepreneurship & Working From Home’. That was when I started doing freelance illustration and accepting ‘art’ commission. I decided to explore some business and works that can be done from home with reliable internet connection and good reputation online. “Better start early and take some time to learn and prepare,” I thought. So I did. I learned how to draw for money, to deal with difficult customers, to meet the deadlines no matter how bored and tired I am. I tried to do business with a partner ending up with such awful experience but it taught me a lot of lessons. Little by little I built my own online store and figured out how it should work. I created my products, experimented with the packaging, branding, and marketing. I tried a lot of things while I had my full time job and income. It was exhausting, but I’m so glad I did.

When I told my friends that I was going to resign so I can be with my family, most of them said more or less the same thing, “You’re so lucky that you can work from home with your talent and business.” In fact, I have to say that I’m lucky that I prepared for it :)

So the day has come. I have pretty smooth transition. I adapt quickly with my husband’s Jakarta working hours (wake up at 04:30 AM, depart to work 05:30 AM at the latest, and spend 1.5 – 3 hours to get back home). I think less and less each day about my days in Balikpapan. I have my new home office that I set up last month (will tell you about this more and later). I have my new to do list. I set my own schedule and follow the tips and tricks to be productive at home. So far, I can handle the distraction; BuzzFeed, YouTube, novels waiting to be finished, taking nap, etc.

Basically, I’m good with the WAH of WAHM.

The tricky thing is actually the M of WAHM. I’m a daughter of Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) which always sets the bar extremely high when it comes to housekeeping. I’m used to a very clean and super neat house with everything on its own spot and a mother that knows how to do it all. Now all of a sudden, after 9 years of living on my own in a small room where no one bothers, I have a two story house with a little garden, a husband, and a house maid accompanying my mom-in-law who’s got cancer. I know what I aim for but most of the time I don’t know how. I know I don’t want withered plants in my garden, but how should I handle the pest? I know I want spotless floors, but how exactly should I mop the whole house instead of a single room? How should I know if whether my maid is doing too little or too much? And so on.

My first official week at home was spent to organize and reorganize things. The wardrobe, all shelves and cabinets, the kitchen set, the garden, etc. I did my best to set a place for everything based on its category. With the help of my mom and her assistant, we cleaned the house and she showed me how she does it at my parents’ house. We went for monthly grocery shopping and I had to shift my shopping sense of quantity for a family instead of single person. I also have to keep reminding myself that now we only have single fixed source of income so mathematically we need to adjust the expense budget.

I’m sorting things out, anyway. Last month, I was still doing things with Petrel, seeing seismic anomalies, or doing statistics on Probability of Success of a method on Microsoft Excel. I hate to admit that all my life, I’ve been approaching every problem with table, unexceptionally my own time management, family expense notes and house chores. I now have a dedicated folder called “HOME” full of Excel files :’))) Some people find it funny, some people find it scary. I don’t know yet if it works but so far it’s been a useful guide :p I could even find enough time to update my portfolio (which a major thing on my to-do-list!).

So yeah, this is my 2nd official weeks at home and finally I can check another stuff on the to-do-list: post about all of this on the blog!

I’m on the bumpy road to WAHM but I’m ready to ride! :D