8 Tips for Finding Work and Life Balance

Get ‘Smart’ About Your Email System

Similar to the phone system above, this will help you do work on work time, then fully check out when you’re at home. Plus, watching a personal email from your hubby pop into your work inbox in the middle of a big meeting can be a bit distracting, so this is simply a wise practice in general. It also means your colleagues don’t have the right to bother you at your personal email address when they need something while you’re at home.

Get it done: For starters, try your best not to send personal emails from your work email–or vice versa. If you’re at a job where you can’t open your personal mail in a browser, at least create a “smart” mail box system within your work email, suggests Stephanie Vozza, author of The Five-Minute Mom’s Club: 105 Tips to Make a Mom’s Life Easier. ”Filter emails based on keywords or the ‘from,’” she said. “That way, you can compile your personal emails that you get from school or daycare into a separate, individual folder.” Of course, many moms have jobs where it’s necessary to check email “after hours.” If this is the case, designate a half hour each night as “back-to-work” time. Make it after dinner and bedtime for the kids, and try to stick to only a half hour as much as possible.