Work from Home Mom :: The Pros and Cons

Work from home they said. It will be easy they said.  Some days are blissfully perfect and filled with Teams calls, work emails, and a couple of loads of laundry washing.  Other days, I can barely take a moment to run to the bathroom and get a cup of coffee because I am being pulled in eighteen different directions.  Working from home has its advantages and disadvantages, if you are wanting to switch to fully working from home, here are some of my pros and cons.

Pros:

Casual Work Attire I am not even sure I should call it work attire. I live in athleisure clothes 90% of the time. My office slacks have been donated and replaced with at least 15 pairs of black leggings.

My dog As an animal lover, I am a much happier worker with my pup by my side or in my lap.

Cleaning Lunch Breaks As someone who is learning to live and function with high anxiety, I have learned that clutter triggers that. A few days a week, I spend my lunch hour getting my house a little bit cleaner.

No traffic This one doesn’t take much explaining, I get two hours of my day back to me. At 5 pm, I am home AND off of work.

A full kitchen For breakfast and lunch, I have access to a full kitchen which means I eat out MUCH less and typically eat healthier.  I also can sometimes throw dinner in the oven at 4:30p so we can eat at a decent time.

Cons:

I never see my co-workers I miss my morning coffee gatherings in the break room, hearing about my friend’s kids and how much they have grown.

Working with Kids I can no longer leave to get work done. If my kids are off of school, they are here IN MY SPACE constantly. This is when I feel pulled in entirely too many directions.

The pressure of getting “house” things done There appears to be a misconception because I work from home I have all the time in the world to do all of the household chores. Spoiler alert: I do NOT, I am still working!

Sometimes I miss the outside world Not a whole lot… but every now and then I just feel like I never see anyone but my little family.  As an extrovert, I have learned that I HAVE to schedule friend lunches and visits throughout the week to take care of my mental health.

There are GREAT things about working from home but it is absolutely not all sunshine and roses.  In my opinion, it takes a special skill to be able to focus on your job when you are at home, and let’s be honest, there is always a project that needs to be done. As moms, we are used to wearing all kinds of hats, Working from Home is just a new hat for some of us these days.