Anyone else here work from home, I start in January.

[texanwitch]

I will work from home 3 days a week, my goal is to work myself all the way out to the country.

Sure hope everything works out.

[NewWaveChick1981]

1. I worked from home for a little over a year.

There were a lot of great things about it, but there were some drawbacks too.

Good things:

*Commute was from upstairs to downstairs.
*I could wear whatever I wanted or not wear what I didn't want.
*Commuting costs were zero.
*I could do household things while I was working (i.e. laundry, tend to the dogs, etc.).

Bad things:

*Job duties intruded into my personal time. Because I was at home, my employer thought it was OK to contact me anytime day or night. :(
*Feelings of isolation. Not seeing coworkers on a daily basis was rough.
*My husband is a freelance graphic artist, and his office is upstairs. My office was downstairs. He tended to ignore the boundaries of "this is work, that is home", and it got really annoying at times.

My current job is away from home, and I like the job itself much better. :)

[texanwitch]

4. Many thanks for the post.

I am alone most of the time, my housemates jobs require travel so I have the house to myself most of the time.

I work graveyard so there never many people around.

I am good at getting the work done, so I think this will work.

My Aunt lives in the country and I would love to move out with her, but making a living had been a problem.

If I only need to go to work 2 days a week, I can drive back to town and stay at my house.

This will work, I sure will try to make it work.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. I work from home.

I can't really find any downside, except that I feel as though I always have to check my emails.

I love the commute, up to my office from my bedroom.
I love the dress code, most often pajamas.
I love the flexibility, as long as the work gets done, the hours don't matter as much.
I love what I do.

[TommyO]

6. It's an even shorter commute for me

From the "owner's bedroom" to my office, less than fifteen feet as the cat romps (OK, throw a few tail chases in there and it gets longer).

Pajamas, or in my case, my favorite sweats from L.L. Bean

The hardest part of the day is the long walk down to the cafeteria!

[flvegan]

3. I work from home, and working nekkid RULES!!!!!!11!

Sorry. I just didn't have anything good to add after the other posters.

Oh, except that when I'm agitated, it's nice to be able to go hug a dog and let the blood pressure be naturally lowered.

[TommyO]

5. texanwitch, I think you'll love it!

When fuel prices started going up a few years ago, my manager who was vehemently anti telecommuting (except when he did it himself) started letting us work from home one day a week. We have since started working from home two days a week, and they are honestly the most productive days of the week, both work-wise and home-wise. The best thing to do is discipline yourself to work your stated hours (unless of course you're one of those salaried people like most of us telecommuters who have a job to do, damn the hours). Make sure you take time for lunch - if your company has a 30-minute lunch, take it, if it's an hour, take it!

Make sure you keep in touch with your co-workers, we use email and instant-messaging to do this, and make frequent use of it.

[texanwitch]

10. Thanks for the info TommyO.

I have been wanting to do this for a year but talking the powers that be into it took awhile.

I have 6 months to give it a good try.

My homeoffice is a little room in the back, so when I shut the door that means I am working.

My aunt is getting to the point that she really needs someone to stay with her so this has to work out.

[TommyO]

11. The dedicated space will work well

Mine is both my personal office as well as my home office, and the biggest distraction are the three feline visitors that want to see what I'm doing - closed door is not an option!

[texanwitch]

12. I am sure that my furry friends will be in the room with me.

I have a cat that always has to check out what going on behind a closed door.

She may not stay but she has to find out what is happening.

[mike_c]

7. I work at home about half the time....

My hours are pretty flexible as long as the work gets done, and I'm much more productive at home than I am in my office/lab, where I'm often interrupted continuously. Plus my home office is much more comfortable and easy to work in tha my university office.

[texanwitch]

13. I can usually finish my work in less then 8 hours so this will give me more time off.

Now I just have finish the other half of the home office, paint the walls and put up the bookselves.

[Connonym]

8. I've been doing it for 8+ years

There are a lot of upsides as others have stated. The biggest downsides are the feeling that you're always at work, the lack of social interaction and friends and relatives thinking that because you're at home you're always available to talk on the phone for an hour or have people drop by. I often feel like my work isn't taken as seriously.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I've a free-lancer based out of my home for 13 years

The hard part is feeling isolated, so I spend part of every day at a coffee shop that has Wi-Fi.

[graywarrior]

14. 1/2 there, and 1/2 at home.

Working toward freelance...all at home.

[texanwitch]

16. Hope you make it graywarrior.

I know I will enjoy working from home, my old truck will like it.

Now if Santa would just bring me a new truck, I have been good all year.

[graywarrior]

19. I hope you get a truck. I'd like one too.

A Toyota.

[Redstone]

15. I don't "work from home," but my office is in my house. Some rules:

1) Dress for work. For the first few years, I wore a tie every day, even if I wasn't going anywhere. If you dress sloppy, your work will be sloppy.

2) No, you're NOT going to put some laundry in the washing machine, or run to the store to pick up some milk because your spouse asks you to. You're WORKING.

3) NOBODY (not even pets) goes into your office, or uses your work computer.

These rules have served me well for 14 years.

Redstone

[texanwitch]

17. Thanks Redstone.

That's a lot of sound advice.

With the price of gas, and the distance to work I will save a lot of money.

Seems like a lot of us work at home.

[Redstone]

18. But you need to change your terminology. Repeat after me:

Don't EVER say: "I work from home."

ALWAYS say: "My office is in my house."

There's a big difference there, not only in your own perception of the situation, but in others' perception as well.

Redstone

[texanwitch]

21. Will do.

"My office is in my house"

[SeattleGirl]

20. Your rules are a lot like mine, Redstone.

In addition to yours, I also NEVER answer the home phone when I'm working during the day. I have a personal cell phone, and anyone who needed to get hold of me during work hours calls me on the cell (though I hardly get any calls, as family and friends know I'm working).

[Redstone]

22. Excellent additional rule.

The home phone number doesn't even ring in my inner office...only in the outer office, and I'm not about to walk out there to answer it. All calls on that line during the day go to the answering machine.

Redstone

[Jean Louise Finch]

23. I did it for about 6 months

and now I work at home one day a week. I had a really hard time with it when it was full time. I'm an extrovert (that is, I get my energy from being around other people) and felt really isolated. When my partner would get home at the end of the day, I would want to chatter non-stop and go out on the town, and he was really tired from being in the office all day. I also really didn't like my job, which obviously didn't help things...and I was living in a new city where I didn't know anyone other than my partner. It was actually the toughest six months I've been through.

I think the suggestions from posters above are really good -- the more you can treat it like a separate office, the better.

Jean Louise