I got fired three days after my husband and I bought our house. Joy of joys. Anyway, I’ve been working part-time for friends who started a resume company - we currently have contracts with two major job search websites and we are absolutely rocking in terms of business. So they asked me if I wanted to go full-time and work from home. I’d be making a little less than my previous salary, but when you take out the cost of gas, lunches out, and various other expenses, I’ll come out close to even.
I guess I don’t have to tell you what my answer was.
Since the husband and I are hoping to start a family in September, things work out perfectly. When the kidlet arrives in 2006, hopefully, we’ll put him or her in daycare part-time so I can have some time alone at home to work.
However, I’m a lazy person. I admit this. I’m working on getting a schedule together for myself - I plan to get up and work out first thing, then follow some sort of schedule every day for myself. I can pretty much do my work any time of the day, but I would prefer to get it done during the day to spend my evenings with the husband.
I need tips from people who’ve done it - or even SAHMs - you guys work hard during the day, too. We just moved into our house, so it’s really nice to know that I can stay home and get the house in order. And while I’m extremely independent and liberal and I never thought I’d want this, I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to be a SAHM of sorts.
So - any tips? Any ways to help myself stay motivated? Thanks!
If at all possible, have a room in your house as your dedicated “office.” If you don’t have a spare room for this purpose, take part of an existing room and make that your “office.” Keep any distractions (TV, radio, whatever) out of your office. Force yourself to do all of your work in your office, and minimize non-work activities in your office area.
I only work from home on rare occasions (about once a month tops), mainly because I struggle with distractions. If I had a dedicated home office, I think I’d be a bit more productive on my work-from-home days.
I’ve worked from home for years. I have a home office with a door that closes, which is The #1 Priority. I have my own phone line for my office, and I only go in it to work. I’m pretty focused and disciplined. I don’t hang out with the family during the day, as much as I love them.
I tell my family that they should treat communication with me as if I’m at an office in New York. Come and ask me about something, or make an announcement to me only if you would call me on the phone in NYC to tell me or ask me about it.
When my children were young it was hard for them to realize they were not able to come see me when I was working from home. I bought a pirate flag and put it outside my door to indicate to them that Mom was not ‘at home’ to them.
There is something I’d like to change about my habits in working from home. My husband has been at home raising our children for years. He gets them off to school in the morning and feeds the dog. Meanwhile, I wake up, drink my coffee, and start to work right away. Many days I am still in my pajamas at 3 PM. This is a very common practice among those of us who work out of our houses. I’d suggest you groove the habit of getting dressed first thing in the morning. I’ve been known to change out of one pair of pajamas into another at midday. They’re nice pajamas. But still!
Many of my clients work from home as well, and we are all used to hearing each other’s dogs barking in the background on conference calls. People used to fake that they were in the office, but now it is well-accepted to work out of a home office. Everyone I work with - co-workers and clients - knows that the mailman comes at 1:30 and my dog barks at the door. That’s when a mute button on your phone is useful.
I have a T-mobile hotspot account if I want a change of scenery and want to work at Borders or a Starbucks for a few hours. Sometimes it is just good to get out where all those other people in the world are, rather than your own house. Otherwise, you might feel like a lighthouse keeper.
My husband works from home, but he gets up, showered, and dressed most mornings as if he were going to work.
One thing I’ve noticed he often does is go out for coffee. Yes, it’s an unnecessary expense and trouble, putting himself into traffic those mornings. But I think it gives him a business-like starting point. Once he gets coffee, he comes home and gets to work.
I’ve been working at home for the past 18 months and love it. The only difficulty I encounter is the kids schedule for off days. I’ve found that downloding the school calendar helps I this regard so that I can plan activities for them that doesn’t disturb my work. Unlike some of the other poster here, I do keep my TV on, but leave it on talkshows like CNN, Court TV and the like. The kids understand not to disturb me at work. I take breaks and lunch as if I were at work (My wfe works for me and takes the phones during those periods) doing the shipping, picking up stuff from the warehouse and the like. I do have dedicated office phones, and a real offiice desk.
[QUOTE=CBCDI’d suggest you groove the habit of getting dressed first thing in the morning. I’ve been known to change out of one pair of pajamas into another at midday. They’re nice pajamas. But still!
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I think this is important. It will get you into “work mode” even if you just throw on a pair of ratty jeans. Brush your hair, dust on a little makeup, and bang bang away.
Then when you’re done, you can change into your jammies and get out of “work mode.”
I also work from home, and have since January last year. I agree with showering and changing early in the morning, or at least changing into something other than your pajamas, though I should hardly talk 'cause I do lots of work in my jammies. A list/schedule is also a great thing because if you make one and stick to it, you see concrete progress instead of just doing things as they occur to you.
One other thing to remember is to keep your work/personal life balanced: have a separate office like everyone else said, but when you’re done working, stop working. In other words, make sure you keep your work time and family time separate. Working at home is fabulous, but when you work at home, since you’re home, that work often has a nasty habit of appearing in your hands while you’re in the living room, chatting with your SO, or enjoying down time.
And learn how to say no if you haven’t already. There are a lot of people who think that jobs where you can work at home aren’t “real” jobs. In other words, because you don’t leave the house and work 9 'til 5, some people might think that “it’s not like your working” and ask you to do favors. (I got that so much when I started my company - it made me want to rip someone’s head off.) Make sure people know you are working and that your job is important to you.
One thing that helped one of my friends who did medical transcription from home was to keep a timecard, just like when she worked outside the home. It helped her transition into work mode, plus it helped keep her from spending her entire afternoon/evening saying, “I’ll go in there and get back to work in a minute.” She allotted herself a certain amount of time for lunch/breaks, and if she was late getting back to work, she had a little jar she had to drop a dollar into.
It also helps to make your work space a pleasant place to be. Decorate it like you would your office or cubicle if working outside the home. Put up a pretty calender and some family photos and maybe a nice plant. If it’s cold and gray and sterile, you’ll find umpteen billion excuses to stay out in the rest of the house where it’s bright and happy and fun instead of getting in there and getting to work.
The office is already set up - that was one of the first things I did, actually! We have a finished portion of the basement that’s perfect for an office - so I set up a desk, office chair, printer, and computer space there. My sweet husband did put a TV down here, thinking I’d happily want it, but I think we’re going to move it into the guest bedroom. I don’t need the temptation to turn on SoapNet during the day and watch Another World every day.
Tomorrow starts the test - I’ve had my mom here for a week, and the husband was off work today, but he starts back tomorrow. So me being alone will be a major test. I plan to get up and get dressed every single day. I thought about following Flylady’s stuff, but to be honest - I hate Flylady. So I’ll set my own ground rules.
So far, my husband has been great - he’s left me alone to work. It’s the CATS who are driving me insane - if I shut the door to the basement, they scratch at it, if I open it, they come down and want to lay on my desk, or want to lay across my lap. We’re going to have to work on that - it’ll be hard to make a cat understand the difference between me working and me just playing on the computer, but hopefully, we can get it straight in a week or so.
Thanks for all of the advice! I’m getting slammed with work, so I’ve definitely been busy - that alone will keep me pretty motivated!
I forgot to mention - I do love this idea. I think I’m going to hang my old vintage posters down here to decorate, and keep some pics down here. We need to repaint this room, but that won’t be for a few months, so I can hang a few pretty pictures.
And overlyverbose, I’m hoping that won’t happen, but I’m not putting it past anyone. Luckily, all we have here is my husband’s family, and they both work all day. My mother-in-law works at the high school two blocks away, so I think the most she’ll ask of me is to come up and have lunch with her at the cafe that the culinary tech students have two days a week. But that’s a good point - I will have to remember that when my friends realize that I’m working from home now.
I would also suggest not letting your play area fall into your work area. So keep it as professional as possible, answer the phone (if you have a second line) in a professional manner, and when the day is done, turn off your computer and go “home.”
You’re still at work. You just have a much shorter commute.
One way to address this common challenge is to have a ‘Work’ version of your computer desktop, and a ‘Not-work’ version of your desktop. Make it hard for you to accidentally wander to SDMB while you’re at work. In Windows XP I have different user accounts set up for myself. The ‘Work’ version does NOT have an easy way to play Bejeweled 2.
Nifty time-tracking software: TraxTime. I downloaded the trial version and quickly paid for it. Worth every penny and more! I used to tally my time on a legal pad, but no more. They are also very responsive with support and suggestions, and (I think) you get free upgrades.