Working from home full time: the negatives?

[steve garro]

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During my busiest periods, I found I had to force myself to leave my apartment, otherwise I started feeling like I was in prison.

Other downsides: Your neighbors will think you're a drug dealer. You'll hear your neighbors have knock-down drag out arguments that end with you calling the cops.

Hilarious!
All that & more.
You do get to hang out with your dog allot, which is good.
- Garro.

[Jaq]

Also, you're going to notice that expenses for quite a few items go up; all things we take for granted when working out of an office. Most homes, with two working stiffs and a couple of kids, lay dormant all day. Once you're at home, floors & carpets get walked (or paced) upon. Furniture gets dirtier faster; so do light switches & stair rails & door knobs. Toilet-paper use goes up. Water use. Electricity. Printer paper, ink, toner. Office supplies - that crap's expensive. Things like coffee and snacks that used to be provided by the office now come out of your pocket. Let's face it: office coffee can be good, but usually it's so awful you don't want a second cup. Now you get to drink your way through your favorite Starbucks blend all day, every day. If weight's an issue, be mindful of being around a full kitchen with great food all day. "One more banana chip can't hurt" is a damned dirty lie.

None of that's bad, mind you. Just stuff to be aware of, along with everyone else's sound advice.

[steve garro]

Also, you're going to notice that expenses for quite a few items go up; all things we take for granted when working out of an office. Most homes, with two working stiffs and a couple of kids, lay dormant all day. Once you're at home, floors & carpets get walked (or paced) upon. Furniture gets dirtier faster; so do light switches & stair rails & door knobs. Toilet-paper use goes up. Water use. Electricity. Printer paper, ink, toner. Office supplies - that crap's expensive. Things like coffee and snacks that used to be provided by the office now come out of your pocket. Let's face it: office coffee can be good, but usually it's so awful you don't want a second cup. Now you get to drink your way through your favorite Starbucks blend all day, every day. If weight's an issue, be mindful of being around a full kitchen with great food all day. "One more banana chip can't hurt" is a damned dirty lie.



None of that's bad, mind you. Just stuff to be aware of, along with everyone else's sound advice.

Coffee, as well as most of the tangible items you mention become tax write-offs - coffee is a write off as an office expense, as does all the music your require for "ambience"
Check out the book "422 tax deductions" which is in itself a tax deduction, as it points out.

You write off a % of your heat, gas, water, vehicle repairs, executive lunches, all snacks, all office supplies, some shipping..........it's a big game and you have to play it 100% or not at all.
- Garro.

[dhoff]

I will never again work any other way. Had the dedicated space, the office near home, all of the rest. Now I sit on the floor of my living room, I work on a lap top and the tour is playing in the background.

How I manage is that I have committed to when each and every task will be complete and I honor my word even if only to myself. Everything is in my calendar or it doesn't get done.

And I do it all

Sometimes I take off in the middle of the day to go for a ride, sometimes I watch a movie. But at the end of the day, I have completed my day's work. Sometimes the end of the day is 2am.

This wouldn't work if I were living in a house full of others, but it works for me now.

[Vlad Luskin]

Q: Working from home full time: the negatives?
A: The working part.

[echelon_john]

I've actually had two different people ask me in the last few months if I was in the witness protection program. "You're always at home..."

[monadnocky]

I've actually had two different people ask me in the last few months if I was in the witness protection program. "You're always at home..."

well are you?

[Jaq]

Coffee, as well as most of the tangible items you mention become tax write-offs - coffee is a write off as an office expense, as does all the music your require for "ambience"
Check out the book "422 tax deductions" which is in itself a tax deduction, as it points out.

You write off a % of your heat, gas, water, vehicle repairs, executive lunches, all snacks, all office supplies, some shipping..........it's a big game and you have to play it 100% or not at all.
- Garro.

Oh, absolutely. I think the biggest issue is simply in remembering to play the game to the fullest extent possible and then some. As my accountant once said "an honest tax return is a great start," by which he meant take advantage of every last write-off one can. The biggest down-side is the extra hours spent figuring it all out.

Thus reason #45,135,252 for marrying a wonderful woman.

[steve garro]

Oh, absolutely. I think the biggest issue is simply in remembering to play the game to the fullest extent possible and then some. As my accountant once said "an honest tax return is a great start," by which he meant take advantage of every last write-off one can. The biggest down-side is the extra hours spent figuring it all out.

Thus reason #45,135,252 for marrying a wonderful woman.

I do it all myself - I save and categorize receipts as received - my tax prep is just 20min of adding columns.
- Garro.

[Mike Mcdermid]

I do it all myself - I save and categorize receipts as received - my tax prep is just 20min of adding columns.
- Garro.

I'm told there's software to add columns up....don't quote me though computers are for browsing the internet.

[fortyfour]

I've been working at home and for myself for over 10 years. The first things that comes to mind to me are best put in 3 words: discipline, focus and time. Management of those 3 points are critical. Having your own space dedicated to the task is important or is/was important for me. I have my own studio space and I've purposely set that aside from my shop space. There is no phone or internet connection out at the shop. So when I'm there, I'm really focused. I take breaks throughout the day to come back up to the studio to check in on email, see if clients have gotten back to me or provided feedback on design projects that are on going.

Being a designer first, I don't ever really, truly "put the work away". It just doesn't happen. But that's me - I'm always thinking about this stuff. And if I'm not, it's ever present as I am surrounded by it. I love what I do and have a passion for it. I actually want life and work to be one continuous flow but know that there is a line of separation between the two that I decide where it is placed (and it's my responsibility too). Time has slowed for me since I went to work for myself - I no longer watch the clock for when it's time to go home. I'm more focused, and the work speaks better to this because of that focused time. It becomes an act of balancing work with life. I also knew early on in life that I kind of didn't like work for the sake of work. Work needed to be an extension of what I was passionate about. I prefer to work smart in concentrated bursts that overlap with other projects. This overlapping flow allows each project to drive one another and really helps the reality of working in a complete vacuum. I also knew strait out that I was going to be socially deprived so I needed to make time for that as well and find ways to be inspired and find inspiration. The social aspect has always been a challenge for me so when I do get out, I end up talking people's ear off...

When I'm jamming it's ok sometimes to work longer hours. But you also have to balance that with MAKING time for yourself and family too. So that means not answering a phone or putting it all down to get some time to yourself for a ride. I try and not abuse that. I'm happiest anyway where I hit the trail for about 1-2 hours and then I'm back refreshed. The weekends I reserve for the epics and long adventures. Having a wife and friend like my Lynn helps too. She gets it and is supportive in all that I do and is always quick to point out when I may need to take a step back.

Working for yourself or from home isn't for everyone, but if you can find a way to make it work and stay focused & be disciplined, I feel as though it's a bit more natural and not so contrived like "work".

[Brandon White]

I've worked from home for 4 1/2 years now. If I was to receive a 50% salary increase elsewhere but meant working in a "standard office environment", I'd decline it. The perks far outweigh the negatives for me. I'm expected to get my work assigned to me completed - that's it. I can pretty much hold the hours I want and have to be available by phone or email. I run web development teams and projects and we are relatively small group (10 web guys, 50 employees) in a relatively HUGE company. Most of my colleagues live within 20 minutes of me and I'm very good friends with 5 or so of them. We meet weekly to "work" at a coffee shop and touch base on new technology and stuff like that. Most of the talk is all normal fun, but we get to have fun conversations about childish things while we work adult jobs.

For the first year, I didn't have an office. Tough sometimes, but it worked. For the following 2 years, I had a dedicated office. That worked out well. For the last year and a half, I've had an on again/off again office depending on who's visiting. I've been able to see my son a lot. I've been able to see my wife a lot (she works from home mostly). I've been able to hang out w/ my dog/dogs a lot. I enjoy working from home.

I've also work approximately 6 or so weeks in France, a week here and there in Ohio, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, etc. One year, I spent 3 months in Brazil - but I usually only spend 1 - 2 months there. It works if you can manage it and you have to be good at time management and focusing.

[defspace]

I don't have anything productive to add, so I'll just leave this here:

[Jaq]

I do it all myself - I save and categorize receipts as received - my tax prep is just 20min of adding columns.
- Garro.

Tch, tch. You could pay your significant other to do it for you, then write off that salary.

[bcm119]

Thanks for all of your thoughtful replies. Some great points and a lot to think about.

[dhoff]

Thanks for all of your thoughtful replies. Some great points and a lot to think about.

bcm, look, it's simple. If you can manage your time, and keep yourself on track there is no negative. Tips and techniques will be figured out over time to make it easier, but IF you have the focus and commitment working from home will give you tremendous freedom and opportunity.

-doug

[Tom]

I do have to add that the one drawback I feel is the guilt when Karen heads into the office for her normal 12 hour days. On the other hand it makes the logistics great - I work until she calls to tell me she's heading home, then I get dinner.

[steve garro]

Tch, tch. You could pay your significant other to do it for you, then write off that salary.

My wife would say "That's what we pay our accountant for" and go for a bike ride on her tax write-off demo bike......
He's a tax write-off, you know.
- Garro.

[-HvA-]

I freelance and work from home, and even though it has it's ups and downs (mostly due to the freelance part), you couldn't pay enough to ever work in an office again.

Advantages:
- No office bitching, no gossip, no complaining.
- My time is productive.
- No commuting.
- My own kitchen and my own bathroom. Primo quality tp.
- Get to play with the dogs and cat.
- Pants are ALWAYS optional.
- I can fart, eat Indian food, never be stingy on garlic.
- Flexible schedule.
- Shoulder rubs when my girlfriend gets home early and I'm working late.
- I can call it quits for the day (or work in the evening) and do something fun with my girlfriend when she gets home early.
- If it's a shit day and I know I'm not going to get anything done anyway, I can just take that day off.

I've never had any productivity issues, I don't need peer pressure to get things done.

[th_boone]

I work from home most all year, only gone when traveling for work elsewhere (I am in sales). Sure, there are distractions at home, mainly my wife works from home too. Today, for instance, she is in her office and me in mine. It can get very distracting, as we often ask each other questions, etc.

The main distraction these days is that all work is on the internet/computer. The internet is highly distracting. "Oh, let me just check my email" "Oh, let me just check V-Salon".

Oh, wait, I just did that. Damn it.

But seriously, I find it very challenging and have looked into getting an office away from home just for this reason. I do know some people who work from home that will fully shower and change clothes each morning. Then, walk outside, do a lap around their house and walk back in to start work. Maybe you find some tricks to keep your focus.