What I do love about working from home

One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog is to get my thoughts out and organize them. I suppose I could do that in an old fashioned diary, but something about the fact of writing publicly--even if no one is reading (yet?)--keeps me much more accountable.

So after I wrote yesterday's post, "I work from home, and I don't love it", I have been thinking about a lot of the reasons I do really appreciate working from home, a counterpoint to myself.



1. Work/life balance. This is the most obvious one, right? No commute--instead of sitting in traffic or on the train, I get that extra time back with my kids. If someone needs to be home for whatever reason (plumber, contractor, FedEx package, sick kid), my husband and I don't have to juggle schedules to cover. I'm here, and I can easily answer the door. And I can blog! Which I could never do if I were in the office. Of course, the flip side of this is that I have to work hard to maintain appropriate boundaries, but it's great that those boundaries can be flexed if need be.

2. Money. If I were in the office every day, I would have commuting costs. I would have to wear a suit or at least nicer clothes, which means dry cleaning bills and general clothing budget. I would need to pay to keep the kids at daycare longer and later. I would probably be convinced to buy lunch out every once in a while, whereas now I just raid the fridge or pantry. By staying at home, I keep my daily costs low.

3. Privacy. I don't know about everyone else's workplace, but competition for offices is pretty steep where I work. As companies aim to drive down costs, cubicle farms are the norms even for higher levels of the organization. Since I work at home, I don't need to duck into a conference room to have a private conversation. When I was still breastfeeding, I didn't need to schedule my breaks to use the Mother's Room. I could pump right at my desk! Perfect!

So there you go. Some of these points may seem obvious--if you are in the office all day and wishing you could work at home some more--but, as familiarity breeds contempt, sometimes it's helpful to have that reminder to be thankful for what we have, rather than focusing on what we are missing.