Tales of working from home

I work from home. I've been in this outrageously lucky place for nearly three years now, and I love it. People with whom I work (who I think are happy with my output) say almost weekly, "I don't know how you do it." And I murmur to myself: I don't know how you do it, what with the getting ready and the commuting and the dropping off and picking up. To me those hours at the beginning and end of each day are time-wasting misery (and I've done it!). But just as often as I feel self-satisfied, I think to myself, how the heck DO I do it? or, today, I'm NOT doing it.

No, working from home isn't a piece of cake. I'm often less efficient in the middle of the day, when the kids start to hang from my every appendage, and whine, and beg for another toaster waffle (ummm... Everett... I think a person has a natural daily limit of five waffles?).

Generally, I cope by using TV judiciously (when I'm on the phone, and for an hour or so in the mid-to-late afternoon when I'm trying to finish just one more thing), by continually moving the toys out of my office and back to the boys' room, by keeping a somewhat-organized drawer full of 'projects' that can be pulled out at the first sign of cabin fever, by running up and down the stairs and in and out of the house a lot. (It's definitely easier when the weather turns nice!) I've been toying with the idea of once again hiring a part-time babysitter, lately, as my husband's work has kept him away more.

I'd love to know, for those others of you who work from home, how do you do it? Any great coping mechanisms? Do you have help, and how much of the time? Do you, too, sometimes dream of just being able to go out for a long sitdown lunch like a "normal" person?

Comments

[Cheryl]

I work from home also (part-time) and find, like most work situations, it has its definite plusses and minuses. I have a 19 month old and rarely try to attempt getting any work done when she is around. I find it frustrating for both of us to have my attention divided that way. So, my daughter hangs with her uncle ( we do pay him) every morning for about 3 hours while I work. Its an amazing situation and we are all really fortunate that it has worked out this way. In the afternoons, I'm in mama-mode and luckily have extremely family friendly co-workers who will schedule conference calls, etc. around my availability. My position is with a university, so deadlines can sometimes be an issues, but for the most part I don't have too much trouble keeping on top of my workload. The downsides...I definitely feel stuck in the house sometimes and pine for the dynamic environment that comes from working side by side with creative people. I know I am limiting my opportunities for new assignments / advancements because I'm not on campus as well. I also miss those lunches...but, all in all it is a good situation for our family and one that feels (most of the time) like the best of both worlds.

[Melissa]

I work full time out of the home and boy do I miss my baby! Although I enjoy my work and wouldn't want to quit I am often jealous of the time my stay-at-home husband spends with our daughter. Of course there are lots of days when the moment I walk in the house he hands her to me with a loud "Here! She's yours!" lol.

If I could swing a work-from-home position I would do it in a heartbeat. I guess the grass is always greener in situations like these but I do hope you all will, right now, go give your child(ren) a kiss and a hug simply because you can.

[Betsy]

I'm bringing nearly 3 years of working from home to a close this month - I've accepted a new job that is local (I'd been working for my employer from back when I lived in ATL).

Though I've sent my kids to daycare half-time, I've had a workday that ran 5:30 to 1:30, and naptime aside, I've been with the kids for the afternoons and evenings. I really have had the 'best' of both worlds -minimal distractions while I work, and a workday that's been over at 1:30. It's been great.

That said, I can't wait to get out of the house. I'll carpool with my husband and kids in the mornings, and I'm looking forward with great anticipation to the hour or so I'll be on a bus or MAX at the end of the day, just me and my iPod and book or my knitting. With no one having any expectations of me. With a nursling and a drama-king nearly three-year-old, that seems like treasure indeed right now.

I'm sure there will be times I will pine for the chance to work from home and wonder if I was crazy for giving it up, but the simple fact is my job has been boring for the entire time I've been telecommuting - and my prospects for advancing/making it more exciting/etc. have been nil. That's a function of my employer, though, which has been really supportive in the form of my boss, but less so on a corporate level.

Bottom line: I work in communications, and I miss PEOPLE. Sitting in a corner of my guest room interfacing only with a computer and a cell phone each day has become untenable. Maybe later in my life, but no more for now.

I think I'm just more proof that what is right for some isn't right for everyone.

[jenn]

i've just started to work from home again now that my daughter is almost a year old. the flexibility inherent has its pros and cons.

right now i am mostly working in the evenings when her dad is able to be with her (he thankfully gets off work at 4 pm), as i found trying to work with her around was next to impossible, and cramming work into naptimes was too erratic. split-shift parenting isn't the greatest arrangement, but it's what we can swing right now; until i know whether the book i'm working on is going to sell or not, i can't afford to make the jump to any kind of pricey childcare arrangement. we had hoped for my husband to get a 10am-2pm break with a split shift so i could work during the day, saving us some semblance of family time in the evenings, but no luck.

i used to have an office in downtown portland, and man, some days i do miss those max train rides, ipod headphones in place and magazine in hand. right now, though, i'm just happy to be able to parent and work without completely feeling like my head is going to explode from the balancing act. talk to me again in a few months, and it may be a different story!

[Amy]

Hi I am new to this site and your's is the first thing I read and it hit home in a big way.

I have 2 children, a 4yr old girl and a nearly 2 year old boy...we have had our own business since the beginning of the very month my daughter was born.

I think that it is just a constant balancing act. We always make an area where we work that the children can be in and even copy what we do..but even this fails sometimes and they want us.

I've often felt guilty that I am saying a lot, "mommy is working...you need to let mommy work." but things get blown out of perspective. As a child I would have given anything to be around my parents as much as my children are around me. We give them more attention than I've ever seen children get, ever...yet it's funny in the middle of it all how I feel like a bad mom, sometimes for not being more "there"...

It's so funny, though how many times you do need to clear your space of toys...and I think we are learning great focusing skills that will be with us forever, I mean after the 10th time of being interrupted from one step of the job...and being able to get back to it...that's a great skill.

We use TV, too...when we really need to get down to work. Sometimes I worry about it, but mostly they watch just their own movies. Still, it's more than I ever watched, I think.

We tried daycare once and it was horrid. My daughter got sick there every week and we got less work done than ever and PAID for this?! It didn't work out.

I think an in house babysitter would be the only other thing we would do...in fact, I really want to start doing something like that.

[Sadie Rose]

I work from home, too. Personally, I can't imagine it any other way, though I can relate to many of the "cons" that people have already listed. I suppose the primary drawback for me is the lack of human interaction, especially on really "busy" days wherein I can't leave the computer for 9 hours or so.

I do often get a kick out of thinking about what the corporate voice on the other end of the phone would think if he/she could see me at the moment we are talking....often still in my pajamas (shh!), feeding my babe, lost in a combined mess of office/home stuff.

But, working from home provides a priceless flexibility that I couldn't give up. I also can't get much work done when my 2.5 y/o is around, but I can get a bit done if needed. Movies as an emergency resort, for sure.

I was doing a nanny share with a few other uMs, where Asher would go to another house 3 days a week from 8:30 to 1:30. That was when I would bust out the most important work. Also, I am ableto work from coffee shops a lot, and so if I get an in-house sitter, I take off for a while, which is really nice. Finally, as I posted a few days ago on this site, my son is now going to be spending more time at his dad's, which will make it easier for me to work more.

[Mrs. Flinger]

I recently wrote about my working-from-home experience. On one hand, I'm grateful and thankful for the chance to be around during the day, I also crave the quiet productive-environment of an office. I'm currently on "maternity leave" and have tentative plans to return working from home once the baby is a few months old but I honestly don't know how I'll do with two, especially an infant. (Or, maybe, especially a toddler. She demands more attention than a baby does!) I'm contemplating having someone come to our home a few hours a day, or a few days a week for about ten hours a week or so, just to give me a chance to be close if something goes arry but entertain the kiddos so I can focus. It's tough, though, finding the balance.

[Nicki]

It's a balancing act that works...most of the time. My husband and I both work part-time in the office, splitting the rest of our time at home with our daughter. Our jobs require some hours of work from home and being"on-call" during business hours. What doesn't work well is scheduled calls or meetings, but I can sneak e-mails, etc. in during naps, quiet play times, evenings, and weekends. I've had to ask friends for help, hit the coffee shops, or just use the "my daughter is sick at home with me today" card when I've absolutely needed to work. I definitely miss out on the good projects and the needed face time that keeps relationships going at work, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The balance of home and office makes it work for our family, at least for now.

[Miranda]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We're moving to Beaverton in a couple months and I will be working from home. We plan to send our kids, 2 and 4 to preschool full time but I'm going to miss lunches with colleages and all those gossips I'd have heard about if I were at the office. I can go to our Portland office if I want some social interaction but my entire team will still be remote. Even if the kids are going to preschool, I'm turning the commute time to more quality time with the kids. Right now our schedule is aweful. I don't get home until 6:30 and have to make dinner, feed the kids, bath them and send them off to bed by 9. Can't wait to say bye-bye to these crazy days. Hope we'll make some new friends soon.

[Cynthia]

I have been working part time in my home (in addition to another part time office job) for about 3 years. I recently made the decision to move my home business to a nearby location outside the home because I couldn't get enough work done without stressing out the whole family. I was continually popping into my home workspace for a few minutes here and there, and then working like a maniac from 9pm-midnight. It had been easier when my daughter was an infant, but now at 4, she is a bit more demanding and there is more fun stuff to do together. I have a creative schedule that balances my own business, 3 mornings of preschool, 20 hours in the office, and two kid-friendly workspaces. I've been bringing my daughter to my office job since she was 6 weeks old and I made a point of having kid space in my new studio as well. Special toys stay in each space and are rediscovered anew each week. Also lots of snacks! It is great to spend time with my daughter each day, and I do get some adult work interaction as well.

[olivia]

Last June, I switched from working FT in an office to working FT remotely, part of that time is working at home or at cafes with the girls. I have interrupted on business calls with loud, loud voices: "MAMA! WHERE IS MY HELLO KITTY STAPLER?!?!?" (Philly) or "MAMA!! I AM SO THIRSTY!!" (Tati). Wow. I think I need to employ tricks like limited screen time (either computer games or a few scenes from favorite movies) in order to prevent interruption when I have scheduled calls. I'm happy to take other recommendations as well for instances where I have phone commitments and the girls happen to be home.

Otherwise, though, I look forward to doing school early pick-ups at least one day a week, while just cramming in work-time during the time the girls are in school. From my experience, working from home is harder than working outside the home, but the flexibility can mean you can save money and finagle ways to spend more time with the kids.