Working From Home

Whenever new mums and dads would tell me they were working from home I used to laugh. Having tried it on a couple of occasions I knew that it was next to impossible to get anything done with a newborn in the house. Their sleeps are often too short and when they’re awake they want and need and demand your full attention.

As the kids have grown older however, I’ve had the chance to work from home quite a bit and for the most part I have to say I’ve really enjoyed it.

There are pros and cons of working from home but overall I found it allowed me to be more involved in my kids’ lives. Unfortunately, schools have a habit of scheduling everything at the worst time of the day, usually bang in the middle of the afternoon which means you miss out on a lot. Working from home gave me more flexibility to attend these events and to generally spend more time with them. Obviously many jobs don’t give you the choice, but if you have the chance to do it I think it’s worth doing, even if it’s just for a little while.

Here are some of the pros and cons of working from home:

Pros:

Your commute time is now bonus time. The shortest commute I had to work was 14-minutes door to door but more often than not it was much longer than that. Getting that time back was awesome.

You eat better and spend less money buying your lunches.

You spend less on work clothes, transport costs, parking, coffees etc.

There’s less stress because you’re not relying on public transport or getting stuck in traffic.

Easier to manage school holiday demands and to care for sick kids.

“Working from home” doesn’t have to mean in your home. Parks, cafes and the backyard all offer a handy change of scenery.

Save on after-school childcare costs.

Spend more time with family.

Easier to fit exercise into your day.

There are pros and cons of working from home but overall I found it allowed me to be more involved in my kids’ lives.

Cons:

Lack of social interaction. This can be balanced by the increase in school chat and through the use of Facetime and Skype etc.

Hard to switch off from work when your computer is so near at hand.

Harder to collaborate, which can lead to your ideas becoming a bit insular.