[Collaborative post]
Work from home? I do and I have done for about 2.5 years - it is great as it is so flexible, I can start as early as I need to, work late if I want to and I am still there to pick my son up from school and meet the girls when they get home.
Previously I had spent 16 years working in a busy newsroom, you do get used to the hustle and bustle and the noise and that is one of the things I miss the most. Having a desk was another thing I was missing, I had always worked at a bank of desks separated by office partitions, I loved the fact that I could pin things up around me and just have my own space to get my head down and have that little bit of privacy.
Working from home, from our small flat - it can be hard to set your mind into work mode. I was often working from the sofa with a laptop but I have since upgraded to the dining table where I have a PC with two screens.
I use one computer for any Photoshop work or graphic designing the other is for my VA and blogging work. I do share the computer with all of my children, the girls are both at high school so their homework is set online and my son uses it for his Mathletics work.
I try and keep clutter to a minimum, easier said than done with us all sharing. I have a metal wire holder for any paper work and a pot for pens and stationary. It is not ideal but we don't have the space for me to have an actual desk.
We have forfeited having a dining table so, as I love to decorate things I upcycled the table with some lovely mineral paint in a soft grey and midnight blue and the table top has sticky back plastic with a Moroccan tile design. Since doing this everything seems so much smarter and I feel a lot more motivated to sit down there and get on with things.
Here's a before, during and after shot.
I am a big fan of pretty stationary, again it is difficult to keep as it tends to get pinched by the kids but I find having a few pens to make notes and a nice note book is all I really need.
I think my best advice to working from home is to try and focus and give time slots to each task - for example between 8am-9am I might work on someone's social media account, for the next hour I might focus on writing content and after that graphics as these tend to take longer. I also try and allocate some time to work on my own blog but this is often left to the evenings.
Would you consider trying to work from home or do you work from home? I would love to hear your tips.