Scotmum is proud to support working mums and is keen to bring you a different, inspirational mum on a regular basis so that you can see how they manage to attain that elusive work/life balance. This week, Scotmum interviews Zara Russell, 30 from Yeovil, Somerset. Zara lives with her partner Mark and their two daughters, Gracie, 4, and Faith, 2.
What is your profession and how many hours per week do you work?
I am a Graphic designer and I currently work around 25 hours a week for a promotions company. On top of that I also fit in a few hours a day on my new business venture cutezie-poo designs, running it via the website www.cutezie-poo.com. Until I launched the site on 11th July 2009 I was devoting my time to creating designs and building the website, now I mainly complete orders and look into ways of getting my name out there to keep the orders coming in!
Could you describe a typical day in your life?
A typical day recently due to the summer holidays, would involve me getting the girls up, dressed and fed first thing and then sitting down at the laptop with a cup of tea to check emails and see what work I have for the day. I work in the front room so I am right beside my girls as they play with their barbies, dollies, colouring in etc. They are now at an age where they can play together (most of the time!) and I can usually get on with some work while overseeing what they are doing!
In between work there's the usual housework jobs to get on with aswell, loading and unloading the washing machine of clothes worn for 10 mins before they got dirty or wet, hoovering up the constant crumbs my children produce (where do they all come from!?), wiping away sticky finger prints and the never ending pile of washing up! I also seem to clear the floor of toys 2-3 times a day because they always insist on getting too many things out at once! and there is always a little voice asking for a drink or food (I always get requests for lunch straight after breakfast!), and a cat wanting to be fed! Faith is potty training, she is doing very well but there is the odd accident to clear up and the potty to empty when she gets it right!
Around midday-1pm I'll sort some lunch out for myself and the girls, usually something simple like a sandwich or cheese on toast! Then the girls decide on what toy or activity they would like to do for the afternoon, they'll often bring a toy down from the bedroom that they haven't played with for a long time. Gracie loves role play and they regularly play a game where Faith is a dog called buster and gracie has to look after her - so cute and funny to watch.
I 'll fit in work when I can throughout the day, it all depends on work load and urgency and how my girls are behaving as to how much I get done! Late afternoon, I'll stop any work I'm doing and with the girls 'help' we'll pack away toys and have a tidy round before tea! with the toys away the girls will often sit and watch some TV while I make a start on cooking tea. We eat tea together as a family around 6pm every evening.
After tea Mark will usually bath the girls while i find myself yet again hoovering and washing up! - how can two children constantly make so much mess! The girls are both bad sleepers and don't go to bed till 8-9pm, I have learnt there is no use getting them to bed till they are tired and ready - as they dont go to sleep and take forever to settle - it's so frustrating! As my parents live so close the girls like to go and see them in the evening before bed, and it gives me a chance to get totally away from the laptop and housework for a little while and have an adult conversation - if I can, Gracie is such a chatterbox!
On a good night the girls will be asleep by 9pm, I stay with them until they are fast asleep, I enjoy cuddling them in bed and often wish I could fall asleep with them - sometimes I do! but if I know I have a lot / urgent work on I will motivate myself to stay awake! It's normally around 10pm that I am finally childfree! I head down stairs and grab a drink (if we have something nice in) and settle myself with the laptop on the sofa! If I'm lucky i'll watch a DVD or the TV while I work - always makes working easier - a drink and something other than cbeebies or nick jr on the telly! (if i'm unlucky i'll have to watch Mark play football on his playstation - deadly boring!) My bedtime is around 1am!
What do you feel are the pros and cons of being a working mother?
The drawbacks are that I have found working from home as an employee very restricting at times, I have felt like a prisoner in my own home, unable to be in charge of my schedule as often jobs will come in without warning and suddenly be urgent! People around you (or maybe its just people around me!) assume working from home means you sit on your bum all day drinking tea! If only! I find people think i don't have a real job! The reality is that you probably work harder than people who go out to work! - when you're at work you can skive, at home you fill your day with work AND housework duties! Working from home with young children can be very stressful, you can feel like you are never away from your work! I am always feeling guilty that work gets in the way of me spending time with my children, but it is essential for me to work to contribute my half to our bills.
The advantages are that I am able to be at home with my children - the most important reason for working at home for me! (when they are playing up that may also be a drawback though!)
There no need to do your hair and dress up every day! If you don't need to go out and fancy a day of jogging bottoms and your favourite comfy jumper then its not a problem! I also find that when you feel ill, it can be easier to get work done from home, ideal if you are your own boss and have to keep things running. - Also if you are your own boss you can plan your life to fit with your work. I do enjoy working from home a lot - you need to be very self motivated, if you aren't it probably wont work for you.
Why did you decide to branch out and work for yourself?
I decided to start cutezie-poo designs and launch my site www.cutezie-poo.com as everyone always said there was potential to sell the personalised gifts i had been creating for my girls. I enjoy having personal projects to do and get great satifaction from achieving things - so to develop and launch my own site selling items I have designed was right up my street! It's taken along time to get my designs together to present to a wider audience and I have done everything myself, including the website. I am running cutezie-poo as a part time business at the moment and I'm really enjoying it - I hope people will get enjoyment from the personalised keepsakes and gifts I can offer!
What are your childcare arrangements?
This September Gracie is starting primary school and Faith is starting playschool, so it will mean tooing and froing throughout the day, but it will also mean I will get some much needed childfree time during the day to get work done, and then I hopefully wont have to fit so much in with the girls around me and I might even beable move my bedtime forward! I'm hoping the girls' bedtimes will also come forward with school and playschool to wear them out!
Prior to this I had Gracie at home till she was nearly three, then I managed to get her into the local playschool which is so lovely. That was two mornings a week, which is what Faith will start off doing, then for the year before school she would go three sessions a week and with the Government funding I was also able to put her into a wonderful nursery two afternoons a week - we couldn't afford to put her into childcare any more than this and I would always have Faith home with me even with Gracie occupied with fun activities! It was really tough at times, I was working from home before having gracie, I worked right up until the day before I gave birth and returned to work after 6 months, so I am looking forward to trying to get some work done child free again - and maybe the house will stay tdy for longer than a couple of minutes!
What would be your top tip for working mums in order to cope with the demands of their day to day lives?
Go with the flow! there are going to be great days when you can get loads done and other days when your children drive you mad and you achieve nothing! I do stress about completing jobs and I hate to let people down, i'm my own worst critic and probably expect too much of myself at times. Plan out what you need to achieve in priority, this really helps and stops you from feeling like your getting nowhere fast!
