Do You Know What To Expect When You Work From Home Full-Time?
Though some of these misconceptions are true to a certain extent, the truth is it's not that simple. Many people who experienced work-from-home situations during this unfortunate pandemic are finding out that it's not as great as they thought it is. To help you fully grasp what it’s like to work from the comforts of your own home, here’s a list of what you can expect if you do it full-time.
Working From Home Doesn’t Always Mean More Time For Yourself
One of the important things that you need to expect when you work from home full-time is that it won’t always mean you will have more time to yourself. Yes, there won’t be anymore commuting time and you also won’t have to wake up too early to prepare to go to work. But the supposed extra time that you get that will most likely go to other things.
You Have to Deal with Many Distractions
Distractions will be one of the biggest things that will eat up a lot of your time when you’re working from home. They can come in many forms like your smartphone device, your TV, your bed or couch, your kids or pets (if you have them), and even the people you live in the house with like your siblings or parents. Without the formal setting of an office or even just the thought that a boss or supervisor might be watching will make you susceptible to these distractions.
When I started working from home, one of my biggest distraction has been my mobile phone. Since I know I’m not being monitored, I usually spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos or playing video games. I always say that I’d play or watch them for a few minutes before I start working, but that’s never really followed.
I usually end up being distracted for a couple of hours before I realized that I already wasted too much time. My bed was also a distraction because it was very inviting every time I see it. It usually makes me want to take a short break and sleep a little, which can be hard when you’re trying to concentrate on your work.
You will need strong self-control and discipline to avoid many of these distractions when you’re at the comfort of your home. It took me a few months before I was able to control myself from being lured by these distractions.
Household Chores and Errands
I mentioned earlier that the people you live with can also be a distraction. Well, it’s going to be in the form of doing household chores or running errands. It’s not uncommon for your family to think that you will have a lot of free time in your hands when you’re working from home.
They will expect that you will have more time to help around the house or run errands for them. Even if you don’t live with someone, chores and errands are still something that you will have to worry about. That’s going to be more of a problem since you don’t have someone who can help you out.
I was lucky when I started working from home full-time since we had a maid. But when my wife and I decided to move to a smaller home, we had to let go of the maid, which means the household chores and errands falls to us. It was a struggle at first, because it was a huge adjustment, especially for me.
Luckily, my wife was very patient with me when it comes to chores. She did most of the laundry and cleaning, while I did most of the cooking and running errands. But we do help each other out when it's needed, so the chores are not exclusive to one or the other.
There Isn’t Any Concept of Time-In and Time-Out
Another thing that will take up your time is your work itself. Because you are already working from your home, the concept of time-in and time-out gets thrown out the window. Many bosses, supervisors, and clients won’t hesitate to send emails, text messages, or make calls for inquiries or other things during the wee hours of the night. Even if you already have an arranged schedule, this is not usually followed.
This is something that was an eye-opener for me, especially if my client lives in a different time-zone. The arrangement was usually for me to work on the tasks during my time-zone and just have a common schedule for us to chat and discuss things. This is not usually followed, and I often found myself adjusting to my client’s time, making me work more hours than I should.
This issue is also one of the things that my wife complained about a lot when she had to work-from-home for a couple of months because of the pandemic. She’s always receiving text messages and calls until 8 in the evening, something that she rarely gets when she was working in the office. Even if she used to do overtime work, it stops once she clocks out of the office unless it’s an emergency.
So don’t expect to have more time for yourself when you are working from home. Even if you are disciplined enough to not get distracted and just focus on your task, there are still many scenarios where you will work more. You basically become on-call when you are working from home since the boundary between the office and your home is already gone.
Your Expense Doesn’t Automatically Decrease When You’re Working From Home
Another important thing that you need to expect when you start working-from-home full-time is that your expenses will not automatically decrease. Just because you're not spending money on gas or commuting, or buying lunch food doesn’t mean you already have additional money to spend or save. It will still require proper budgeting, and it’s even more important compared to when you had a day job.
One of the expenses that will likely increase when you start working from home full-time is food. This is because you will have easier access to food compared to when you’re working in an office. Chips, cookies, chocolates, crackers, and other snacks will be your regular companion when working home.
This is something that I’ve noticed when I started working online full-time. The snacks we have at home that usually takes me a week or so to consume is already gone in just 3-5 days. This increased our grocery bill a bit.
But aside from the snacks, there was also an increase in take-out or delivery food, especially after we let our maid go. Cooking our food was a big adjustment as well, especially when it comes to my lunch. The preparation time, as well as the washing of dishes after eating, can take time and sometimes I just eat easy-to-cook food so it doesn’t eat up too much time.
But when I’m feeling lazy to cook, I just buy food or have one delivered. It’s easy to think that expenses will decrease once you start working home. But you will need to budget your money properly to achieve that.
There are many things you will need to factor in your budgeting, like buying food outside. If you live in an area where there are many carinderia (food stalls), then you can easily buy cheap food to eat. Otherwise, you’d settle for fast-food restaurants since they’re the cheapest and readily available restaurant you can get food from.
Expect To Gain Weight When You Work-From-Home Full-Time
Unless you’re going to be good at managing your time and still find a way to exercise regularly, expect to gain some weight. This is because when you’re mostly going to be sitting down in front of your computer for 8-10 hours a day. Unlike in the office where you will likely going to different areas, in your home you’ll just stay in your mini-office.
You also have easy access to food, as you can easily get your hands on different snacks to munch on while working. If you live alone or only with your partner/spouse, then doing the household chores can be your exercise. But if you have someone else to do that for you, then expect to gain extra pounds, especially if you’ll constantly snack while you work.
This is one of the things that I’m still struggling with, even to this day. Most of the time, I’m just too tired to find a way to exercise to cut down some weight. My wife constantly tells me that I should exercise, even if its just 5-10 minutes a day.
The best that I can do for my weight problems is to just do some stretching and cut down on the carbs that I’m eating. But that’s negated by my snacking. So don’t be like me, find a way to include exercise in your daily schedule since it will help loosen up those muscles that become stiff from just sitting down and staring at the computer for 8-10 hours a day (sometimes even more).
Final Thoughts
Working from home might seem like a great idea, especially if you think about the many benefits that you will gain. However, it’s also important to remember that there are many misconceptions as to what you can expect when you work from home full-time. Many of your expectations like more time, save money, and so on, will not easily be met.
I hope that this blog post helps you get a grasp on what you should expect when you start working from home full-time. If you think this blog would benefit someone you know, please share this post to them. In case you have any questions or want to share some insights, please feel free to comment below. I’d love to hear your feedback on this post so I can provide you with better content in the future.
تعليقات
إرسال تعليق