4 Ways to Keep Family and Work Separate at Home

This is a Guest Post by Ella Davidson of Coupons.org. If you would like to Guest Post for WAHI, please visit the Guest Posting page.

People who work at home have advantages over those who work on site or in real offices. Some of these advantages include; having freedom to schedule your own working hours, not having to deal with overbearing supervisors and even an advantage of having to set your own income levels. But working at home can also conflict with family life, and therein lays the problem. The challenge for ?work at home? people is how to navigate this problem so that you can put in your work shift while at the same time be able to have quality time with your spouse and kids. Below are 4 ways that will help you to keep family and work separate at home.

Have a Home Office

One of the best ways to create a barrier between work and family at home is to find a space and create an office. This can be a space in your bedroom, garage, laundry, yard or any other place you can work from, but please keep away from the kitchen table. The idea here is to create a professional environment that will help you to concentrate on your work. You should keep the following tips in mind as regards your home office;

? Ensure that it is isolated from other distractions, especially your kids who can accidentally ruin your work with their sticky fingers.

? Use that office to keep and file all work-related activities.

? Keep any form of home entertainment away from that space.

? If you can afford it, enlist the services of a virtual assistant to handle calls or record messages if noise is a challenge.

? You can have a mobile office if finding a permanent space is a challenge.

Have Regular Working Hours

As stated above, having the freedom to choose your own working hours is one of the virtues of working at home. But this freedom needs to be exercised with caution so that your family life is not affected negatively. It is imperative that you set regular and strict working hours that will enable you to not only accomplish your work but also to have quality time for rest and more importantly for your family. The following guidelines will help you in setting working hours;

? Choose the most appropriate time to work; this can be early mornings, late afternoons or evenings.

? You should also have a timetable such that you factor in breaks and other relaxation periods.

? You should also keep track of your time and stick to a pre-determined schedule.

? Be realistic, please do not set aside ten working hours a day when more often than not you will not be able to last that long.

? Ensure that you set aside time for your family.

Educate your Family

One big challenge that many ?work at home? people face is letting their loved ones know that you actually have a job because many people take work at home jobs lightly. You should make it your homework to train your family that what you do is a real job and that it is valuable to them. If you do this, your family will respect what you do and as a bonus they can even chip in to assist ? that is if they have the expertise. You should especially ensure that you educate and gain the support of your spouse as he/she can assist in other chores while you work. The following are two merits of educating your family about your work at home job;

? It will help when it comes to planning family activities like picnics, vacations and house shores.

? It will help to create a boundary between work and home ?no matter how minimal- since your family will respect what you do and give you time to do it.

Build a partnership

Another way in which you can keep family and work separate if you work at home is by forming a working partnership with someone who does the same or similar job as you. The point here is that if you work with others it will help create a ?work atmosphere? unlike if you work alone. Your partner(s) will act as an assurance to family that you are really working and they will behave accordingly. Working in partnerships also helps to keep you away from distractions that can derail you from your schedule.

On the same point you can also separate work and family by working away from your home. The fact that it is a ?work at home? does not mean you have to work at home literally. You can work at another isolated and secluded place like a park, a library or a caf?.

About the Author: This post was written by Coupons.org?s Ella Davidson. Coupons is a couponing site that strives to provide consumers with the necessary coupons and couponing information to shop smartly and frugally.

Source: http://workingathomeinternet.com/WP/2012/02/13/4-ways-to-keep-family-and-work-separate-at-home/

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