Thoughts on working from home

I've been working from home for almost exactly two years now, so it seemed like a good time to step back and reflect on what the experience has been like so far.  Before, I worked for a local council, and the job was mostly office-based.  Despite being in a good team of people that I got on with (for the most part!), the job itself was very stressful in a lot of ways.  I was seriously looking at some form of self-employment, when suddenly my current post came up, and I managed to nab it. 

During the long days at the office, I used to think that working from home would be the most blissful thing ever.  The reality is that, as with most things, there are positives and negatives.  Firstly, the positives:

1) Saving money (and calories).  I was really bad at bringing packed lunches, and work had a canteen and a dreaded vending machine, so I paid out quite a lot on food.  A trip to the vending machine for a Diet Coke and a bar of chocolate was often the highlight of my day, so that was a really tough habit to kick.  Actually, I never did kick it until I left.  I also used to have half an hour's commute each way every day, so between food and petrol, I've saved roughly £125 a month. Not bad.

2) Saving waste.  As I am now buying a lot less pre-packaged food, I have cut down a lot on the amount of plastic waste I was generating.  Cans can be recycled, of course, but it's just better not to buy them in the first place.  This is a major positive, and I would not go back to my old ways again. 

3) Mornings are so much less stressful.  I can get up at 8.45am, make a coffee, and still be at my desk by 9am!  It's not ideal, but it can be done. 

4) Working hours are as flexible as I want.  Having said that, I tend to stick to 9-5 or thereabouts, firstly because I need to be available to my team at the office (this is because I am employed, but I work remotely - I am not free-lance).  Secondly, I don't want to fall into bad habits and have work start to eat into my evenings and weekends.  It is much better to keep to regular hours, and then have my free time clearly defined. 

And the negatives:

1) The isolation.  This is the main drawback of home-based work, and it's a big one.  Even if, like me, you are not the most extrovert person in the world, being on your own all day is tough. Mentally, this has been the biggest adjustment - even after two years, I still haven't completely gotten used to it. I still miss the office banter, and the moral support when things go wrong.

2) The quiet.  At the office, I used to enjoy the background buzz.  Somehow, having the radio or a CD on is not the same, and for me it is too distracting.  So I end up working in silence, which I don't like very much. 

3) Sneaky bad habits.  In a lot of ways, I've ended up switching previous bad habits for new ones.  For example, I usually take a full hour for my lunch break, but often I spend a lot of that time making something to eat because I haven't prepared anything, or having a shower because I didn't get round to it first thing.  Good time management is still an issue!

4) Managing expectations.  Like I said, I thought working from home, away from the office grind, would be a nirvana-like existence.  It isn't.  I also expected I'd start to do things I thought I had no time for, like going out for nice walks during the day, or going to the gym first thing in the morning, or... any number of things.  These mostly haven't happened.  I've had to accept that if I want to do these things, I have to plan for them, and manage my time more efficiently (see No 3).  They do not happen automatically. 

Luckily, I've got a couple of weeks off work coming up, so I'm going to use the time to adjust some of the negatives a bit, and make my day-to-day experience better.  Not because working from home is bad, far from it, but it has definitely been a much bigger transition than I'd imagined.

Do you work from home?  If so, how do you find it?