Home Is Where the Office Is

"I'm so jealous! You get to work in yoga pants." Or, "I'd love to be able to work from home and spend more time with my kids." Here's the thing: working from home can have a lot of benefits. For employees, it can provide flexibility and improve the work-life continuum (or as I like to define it, the balance of love-to's and have-to's ), and for employers, it can reduce overhead costs, increase productivity, expand the pool of potential employees, and reduce employee turnover. Without the proper guidelines, however, what should be one of your company's greatest assets can become a major liability. Here are the 5 Steps to making telecommuting or working from home work for you and your boss: 1. Enclosed Office Space While many experts recommend setting up a dedicated work space, I'll go one step further and say it's most beneficial to set up an office space that has a door that you can close to remove yourself from your person...

As we home officers know, there are so many advantages to working from home. For one, you're always home, so the issues of scheduling the cable guy, the plumber, signing for that critical package - no problem! On the other hand, you're always home. It can become way too easy to become a hermit, and so I, like many others who work from home, have made a commitment to leave the house for an hour at least 3 workdays a week. Stumped on ideas of what to do? - Join a local gym and do a 30-minute workout - Schedule lunch with a friend or neighbor - Take the dog for a walk - Get that oil change - finally! - Run that errand you've been putting off forever - Pick up the birthday gift(s) for any upcoming birthday parties - Do your weekly grocery run (remember to make a list! Or even a meal plan !) - Go to the local park and read on a park bench for awhile - Indulge in a hobby: visit that craft store/tea room/art gallery/bookstore/Apple store/arcade - whatever - ...

I'm so thrilled that today's guest blogger agreed to impart her organisational wisdom here today! (Yes, that's an "s" in organisation). Helen Butler, of Australian-based Clutter Rescue, has been one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter (Follow her @ClutterRescue ), with her practical and easy tips on how to get your home, office and life in order. Enjoy! When you’re juggling children, work, friends, partner, and life in general things can get busy!   Finding time to keep your office paperwork under control can often be the last thing on your mind! But what if there was something that promises to reduce the time in your office, to get done what you need and still have time for all the fun things in life? No I don’t have a magic wand - but I do have the 4 F’s! The 4 F’s will help you decide what to do with each piece of paper that comes into your home or office.   The key to complete success when using the 4 F’s is to: 1.       All...

I'm so thrilled to have Tami B. as this Wednesday's guest blogger. We've known each other since elementary school, and it's so fun to be able to learn from this side of her life - the professional home officer side.  She was smart, witty and organized then, and she's even more so now! Enjoy!  Wife, Mother, Home Officer From the time my son was born and my daughter was 16-months-old until they were 3 and 4, I worked part-time from home with them at home with me. That was one of the most challenging – and exhausting – things I ever tried to do. I often think of that time as the “Dark Years,” as I finished up a great many work “days” in a dark house at 2am. When the opportunity came up for me to start working full time, I knew it was time to get the kiddos in preschool. Leaving them each day was hard, but I was also a little giddy at the thought of getting to work in a quiet house. During the day! I was working on two separate projects,...