One of the biggest challenges freelance writers face is finding a functional balance between work and family. When you work from home, and particularly when your income is results-based, it is easy to work yourself to the bone. While this may be at the expense of your own health and well-being, it also can be at the expense of your quality time with your family. Finding a healthy balance between work and family inevitably involves finding a balance between your income and expenses too. After all, if you don’t work enough, you won’t be able to pay your bills and meet your financial goals.

Review Your Budget

As a first step to finding a balance between work and family, consider reviewing your budget. Whether you need to update an outdated budget or prepare a budget for the first time, this step can help you to determine what level of income you need to make ends meet, meet your savings goals and have a little left over for fun and entertainment. Without taking this step, you will not know exactly how much you need to work each day and when you can comfortably relax and call it a day.

Working Smarter

After reviewing your budget, you will have a firm income goal that you need to meet. You can narrow this goal down to determine how much money you need to earn on a weekly or even a daily basis. If you have a fluctuating work schedule where you work more on certain days of the week, this can help you to better balance your work schedule. However, your ideal goal may be to achieve a certain level of income while also maximizing your time away from the computer. The key to doing this is to work smarter. You can try to work more efficiently by improving time management skills, but you will enjoy the best results when you work smarter and select the best freelance writing assignments.

Finding Better Assignments

So, what are the better assignments that you should be working for? At first glance, you may believe that these assignments are those with a higher rate of compensation. However, the best assignments are actually those that allow you to earn more money in less time. Therefore, as you review the assignments available to you, read the details of the assignment carefully. Try to estimate how much time the assignment would take you to complete, and only take on assignments that offer adequate compensation for the efforts required. Ideally, you will work to gradually increase your compensation rate so that you can ultimately work less without sacrificing your income.

As a freelance writer, you want to earn as much money as possible, but nobody wants to work every waking minute of the day. You want to spend time with your family and friends, and you want to enjoy your life fully. After all, one of the benefits of freelance writing is a flexible work schedule, and you want to maximize that benefit as much as possible. Keep these tips in mind as you strive to achieve a healthy balance between work and family.