Mandy’s always looking out for tips on how to make working from home work out for both of us and she found a great article with some tips for making it work.
For me, the most important things are:
- Having a routine with a clear separation between work and home,
- Having a set space in the house that is “the office” and
- Taking breaks, especially getting out of “the office” for lunch
If you work from home, what works for you?
10:30 am
Those three points are pretty much the top of my list - until recently I was working from the sofa and not getting much done, but I now have a space cleared out specially in my office, with monitor cable and real keyboard to attach to my laptop, as well as a proper desk and office chair.
Once I have a proper place to work in point 1 because less important for me, but point 3 even more so - I know how much I want to get done in a day and make sure I get that done, but need to have breaks or my brain explodes. Taking brain breaks in the office (hello - that’s what I’m doing now) is much easier than the normally permanent brain break location that is my flat.
I’m working from home tomorrow morning…
6:32 pm
Agreed. It’s completely amazing how nice it is to have an “office” - a place in your house where you do work which is separate from the other places in your house where you cook/have fun/relax. My happiness factor about working from home increased 100-fold when we got an office.
I like the no-pajama rule, but I can’t say I always follow it… Isn’t that half the fun of working from home? Some days you can just work in your pajamas. Not being a morning person, I also very much enjoy the first-hour of waking up and getting my coffee/breakfast/news fix before I start working.
I’m officially one month and counting working from home and quite pleased with it so far, but I think it’s been easier because I’m not working 40+ hour weeks. Of course, so far my favorite thing about working from home is the lack of a commute - I hate traffic.
8:48 pm
I can’t say I’m a stickler for the no-pajama rule either. If I’ll be on Skype that day, I try to look presentable from the waist up, but most days, I’m not going crazy.
That said, the days I don’t “get ready for work” tend to be the days where work and home life blur together too much for my liking.
And yes, the lack of commute is *awesome*.