Are you wondering whether work-at-home life could work for you?
It may feel daunting striking out on your own, or asking for flexible work from your employer that gives you at least some time working at home rather than the office.
You may worry that you’ll miss your co-workers or about the practical aspects of doing your job at home.
But there are some amazing perks that come from working from home, especially if you are a parent!
Here are 11 great perks of working from home, just in case you’re on the fence!
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Saving money on childcare
If you hope to get work done at home, then of course you need the kids to be out of the house, or at least distracted for some of the day.
But being a work-at-home parent presents lots more opportunities for you to save money on childcare.
You could cut your child’s daycare hours, because you will be saving time on commuting and could do more work in the evenings instead.
There are also plenty of ways to work from home while you have a child with you. Yes, really! I’ve been doing it for years, and there are some great examples of how to distract a toddler so you can work on this post.
If your child is at primary school, then working from home can mean you don’t need to spend money on after-school clubs or childminders to fill in the gaps for you.
Ditching a 9-5 day gives you way more opportunities to cut back on the childcare costs!
No annoying commute
Of course some commutes are easier than others. You may only be driving 20 minutes to the next town every day.
But if you’re unlucky enough to need to commute into the city, on trains that often let you down on timings, then you may face hours to get to and from an office every day.
Even if you have a short road trip to the office, traffic can add an hour to a journey too.
But when your commute simply involves walking from your bedroom to your desk, you save a ton of time and stress every single day!
At one time I was occasionally travelling into Canary Wharf in London for work, which would take about an hour and 40 minutes each way. It wasn’t a great way to spend such a huge chunk of time, and I couldn’t read a book because the tube was inevitably so cramped it was impossible to hold anything up to read.
That commute can also add up to a huge expense too! According to this BBC story the average commuter spend s fifth of their salary on their rail season ticket.
You can keep on top of housework
In between doing work tasks you can get household chores done too.
Being at home gives you the flexibility to do the odd job here and there, such as getting the slow cooker on in the morning or putting a load of washing on.
I tend to do small 10-minute bursts of housework throughout the day to keep on top of everything. It definitely helps me keep the house tidy, and means I can just relax in the evenings without any chores to do.
Flexibility to collect kids from school or childcare
My eldest daughter started school this year and being able to drop her off and collect her pretty much every day has been lovely.
I also have the flexibility to be able to attend daytime events and performances at the school when these come up.
More time with your family
Not having to travel to an office and being able to work to your own schedule gives you way more time to spend with your family.
While working for yourself may bring an added pressure of needing to put the hours in so you can earn, you get to choose when you do that work.
I love being able to see my kids every single day. Had I accepted a job for my last employer that would have involved full-time work in London, I would rarely have been home for bedtime.
Saving money on food and drinks
Working away from home means there’s way more temptation to buy a sandwich and drink from a cafe.
You may also spend more time socialising immediately after work with colleagues if you get the chance to pop for a drink in the pub.
Working from home means you just eat what’s in the house, preventing you from buying that expensive lunchtime takeaway!
Setting your own working hours
If 9-5 just isn’t your style, then working from home gives you a chance to set your own working hours.
Early birds can set their alarms for 5am and get a couple of hours of work in before the rest of the family is up. Or night owls may do their best work late in the evening.
If you want to spend time doing something with your family in the week, then working from home means you can have the option to make up that time at the weekend.
Custom your working environment
Some offices are amazing, but most of the ones I’ve worked at are pretty dreary places!
Working from home means you can create your own little office haven.
Choose a comfortable chair and desk, with artwork to make your office a pleasant place to be.
Wear whatever you want
Hate wearing work clothes? Working from home means you can wear whatever you want.
Even if you need to smarten up for the odd Zoom call, you can switch back to comfier clothes afterwards.
No office distractions
Gossip by the water cooler can be fun, but it can also be pretty distracting!
There are lots of things in an office that may prevent you from getting on and doing as much work as you want.
Being at home cuts back on unnecessary meetings, means you’re less likely to be interrupted by colleagues when you’re in the middle of something and gives you more focus to get on with what you need to do.
Create your own schedule
Working at home, especially if you are working for yourself, gives you an opportunity to create your own working schedule.
If you want to spend Mondays with your kids doing something fun, then you just make up the time for work on another day.
You take control of your own diary and you can say yes to way more things that make you happy.
