Working from home: do, don’t or maybe?

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First let me make something clear. If you expect this article to be about the benefits of working from home, stop reading. This ain’t THAT type of post. Nope. I am going to tell you a true story, my story and you can help me draw a few conclusions about what stays and what needs to go/change.

Home….. schooling

I have been teaching online for 2 years now. Teaching online? Yeap. I use Skype and teach people English. I am in Greece and my learners are in France. That is my morning job, so it is only inevitable that I work from home. In the afternoons, I work as a freelance teacher and my students come to my home. So, again I am at home. Now let’s do the math.

Morning online teaching 9-2:30: 5,5 hours

Afternoon teaching at home 4-9: 5 hours

Does this look appealing? Are you jealous? Well, don’t be. What this actually means is that I am at home all day, working. When I am not working I am kinda working.

Kinda working activities: blogging, reading blog posts, social media-ing, preparing for lessons, material designing.

So, in my free time at home, once again,  I am in front of the computer. You want more? I work out at home as well. I have a stationary bike in my room, so that’s where my gym is!! Yeap.

I do not need to go to the supermarket cause someone else does. I do not need to go into town to pay bills cause someone else does.

So, what about weekends? Well, on the weekends, I go out a bit (nothing cray cray people. Just a meal or a drink).

Now, time to make a list:

Benefits of working from home 

  • It’s convenient
  • You save money

Disadvantages of working from home

  • Well, if you work all day, like me, you will probably end up with vitamin D deficiency (that’s cause you never see the sun).
  • At some point you will become one with your chair.

The action plan-Things I am now changing

I want to work out more which is why I am cutting down on my kinda work related activities and am running to my bike a bit more.

I will continue my hobby which is painting and do more chores that have to be done outside the house, like paying a bill!! No online bill paying folks.

Working from home has it advantages, but there are disadvantages as well. So lovelies, do you work from home? How do you manage?

coffee

Talk soon xxx

23 thoughts on “Working from home: do, don’t or maybe?”

  3. Thanks for sharing your story. It’s my dream to work from home (or rather not be chained to a office desk). I do normally reserve Sunday as my day to work. I do find that I am most productive and less distracted either out of the house like a coffee shop or when I’m unplugged and working free hand. I play pandora on my tv a little bit out of the way so I’m not playing dj and distracting myself. Then write/ organize. Good luck on the changes you want to make.

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    • Thanks Dia!! For me, every day is like your Sunday. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining but working from home has its disadvantages as well!

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  4. I also find that working from home I end up working a lot of evenings and weekends because stuff comes up with the kids and I can’t get all my work done. I wouldn’t change it! But it is exhausting for sure and not as easy and fun-filled as people like to think.

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  5. I do not envy people who work from home, cause that’s what I did few years ago. Even if I wanted to, I could not go out because I had people looking me up from work in remote office. I’d rather go work in an office setting or have my own flexible hours to work from home. You have laid it out so perfectly. Work from home is not always as much fun as it seems.

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  6. I, too, work from home. While I completely love it! I am finding myself in a slump-I don’t leave my house, I wear lounge wear while working, I am becoming one with my chair. I need to start taking my hour lunch and getting out of the house rather than cleaning, doing laundry, sitting on the couch, etc. It’s not as grand as most people may think.

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  11. I’ve been working from home for 2 months now and I love it. I can totally see your points, but I make a point to get out of the house every day for something. Running errands, riding my bike, walking the dog or going to the dog park. I always felt trapped in my office counting down the minutes, now I feel as if there isn’t enough time in the day let alone time to be wished away.

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  12. With my job as a social media manager, I could work from home but don’t. I wish I could work from home like 2 days a week and go in the office three days a week for a nice balance.

    xoxo, Jenny

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  13. I have been working in office since I took my degree and I envy you that you can stay at home while still having a career. There’s a lot to thank for and I say you are a lucky one.

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  14. I would love to work at home. I feel like I do right now sort of…I’m in grad school but only have class twice a week, and I’m not working. (Blogging is my work). I occasionally babysit, but for the most part, I feel like I’m “Working” from home. For the most part, I love it but sometimes I feel like I need to get the heck out of the house…I feel like I’m not doing anything with my life, which is probably because my income isn’t very high. If it was higher, I’m sure I would feel more assured. Great post and insight!

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  15. This is such an interesting post. Although I blog and a do some freelance stuff, I actually hate working from home! I need to be outside of my house/around people. It’s really interesting to read your take on it!

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  16. I love working from home!
    However I know what you mean. Living with my partner has helped me to balance my kinda work-related activities. In some ways I think we never quite turn off – I might see something on Facebook and think I have to bookmark it because it would be a great idea for a future lesson. However I think it’s good to plan things into the schedule that aren’t work-related and to have some me-time.
    As for exercise, I used to walk for 30 minutes to the train station, get a train, then walk for a further 15 minutes to work. Then I did the same journey to get home. I don’t have to do that now. I too have an exercise bike and a running machine. It would be so easy to say “I’ve got a lot on today and I don’t have time for exercise”. However this was an option that I didn’t have when I physically had to walk to work. Therefore I block out the time in my diary so it’s already scheduled into my day. If it’s in the diary, it gets done!

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  17. Wow, you teach a lot of hours, Joanna; how’s your voice at the end of the week???? I work 60:40 at home teaching to adults & in a private language school & although I’m naturally a homebird I do enjoy getting out of the house & working in another environment; especially teaching a group in a classroom as opposed to a single student at my kitchen table……a very different dynamic! As I live alone I have few distractions which can mean I forget to get up & move around sometimes……for this reason I have a mini stepper next to my desk to remind me to use it!!!!

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  18. Started working from home about two months ago and I’m still figuring it all out. I have to put real pants on even if I’m working in the house. And I have to have some sort of outing once a day. I try to find coupons that make a coffee somewhere 99cents or something for a free “fill in the blank” and I set aside a monthly budget of cash that I can spend to work from local coffee shops or cafes. Glad to know I’m not alone in the struggle to balance working “from home”.

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