It has been about six weeks since I started working from home. Not trying to make anyone totally jealous, but I LOVE my home office. I have a great set up in front of the window and the view can’t be beat (see the picture on the left with that handsome dog enjoying the deck!)
But is it everything I thought it would be? And how true are those WAHULs? (Working From Home Urban Legends). Let me give you my take on the top three:
You schedule will be totally flexible:
This one might be true for some WAH folks, but not for me. I work for a software company and I do training, implementation and assist with Sales demonstrations. I have days where my calendar is booked solid from 800 am to 400pm with meetings and trainings. Not to mention that I never know when a Sales rep is going to have a question or need me to hop on a call. This requires being near a phone and a dual screen computer set up, so no, I am not “working from home” while I spend the afternoon at Costco. If anything, I am finding I actually do MORE work than I ever did from the office. It is amazing how efficient you become when you aren’t spending an hour of your day immersed in office gossip or listening to one of your co-workers love life problems!
You Will Save A Ton of Money:
Yes, and also no. Although I do get dressed every morning to take Kody out for a walk, I basically put on my gym clothes and live in them all day. In fact, instead of buying new clothes, I am taking garbage bags full of clothes to Goodwill. So yes on that one. Yes on gas and maintenance on my truck, as well as Starbucks. Making a pot of Starbucks is much cheaper than by the cup. But there are some “not so muchs”. My air conditioning bill is going to be sky high and paper products! I am buying toilet paper and paper towels at a rate that I never imagined, so all in all, it probably evens out.
Your stress level will drop:
This is one is no myth! Not driving three hours per day in traffic has brought back the quality of life I had before I started commuting. Of course, I am not retired, so the job still has it days when I want to go in the backyard and chop something down. What makes it better, is when my lunch hour rolls around, I can actually walk out and do just that! The best thing is every day is bring your dog and cat to work day. Somehow looking at Kato sleeping on my office couch or having Kody come in right after a difficult meeting and put his paws on my lap for a head rub, makes a lot of the stress just go away.
And that’s when I remember why I worked so hard to make this happen!
But is it everything I thought it would be? And how true are those WAHULs? (Working From Home Urban Legends). Let me give you my take on the top three:
You schedule will be totally flexible:
This one might be true for some WAH folks, but not for me. I work for a software company and I do training, implementation and assist with Sales demonstrations. I have days where my calendar is booked solid from 800 am to 400pm with meetings and trainings. Not to mention that I never know when a Sales rep is going to have a question or need me to hop on a call. This requires being near a phone and a dual screen computer set up, so no, I am not “working from home” while I spend the afternoon at Costco. If anything, I am finding I actually do MORE work than I ever did from the office. It is amazing how efficient you become when you aren’t spending an hour of your day immersed in office gossip or listening to one of your co-workers love life problems!
You Will Save A Ton of Money:
Yes, and also no. Although I do get dressed every morning to take Kody out for a walk, I basically put on my gym clothes and live in them all day. In fact, instead of buying new clothes, I am taking garbage bags full of clothes to Goodwill. So yes on that one. Yes on gas and maintenance on my truck, as well as Starbucks. Making a pot of Starbucks is much cheaper than by the cup. But there are some “not so muchs”. My air conditioning bill is going to be sky high and paper products! I am buying toilet paper and paper towels at a rate that I never imagined, so all in all, it probably evens out.
Your stress level will drop:
This is one is no myth! Not driving three hours per day in traffic has brought back the quality of life I had before I started commuting. Of course, I am not retired, so the job still has it days when I want to go in the backyard and chop something down. What makes it better, is when my lunch hour rolls around, I can actually walk out and do just that! The best thing is every day is bring your dog and cat to work day. Somehow looking at Kato sleeping on my office couch or having Kody come in right after a difficult meeting and put his paws on my lap for a head rub, makes a lot of the stress just go away.
And that’s when I remember why I worked so hard to make this happen!
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