WAHM

Though I long to be a SAHM, I'm at WAHM. I have a traditional job (not one of those "Stay at home earning $5000 a day after you pay us $10000" type jobs) - but what I do can usually be accomplished via phone or email so that's why my company allows me and others like me to work from home. Plus, they no longer have to lease office space for us so it saves them money. When I tell people that I work from home, the first thing they say is, "You're so lucky! I wish I could work from home!"

Yes, I'm lucky to be able to work from home but it's not as fun and easy as you think. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home:

Advantages:

• The #1 advantage: commute time. You can wake up, roll out of bed, walk a few feet to the computer and BAM! You're at work!
• Flexibility. Drop off the kids at school? No problem. Pick them up after school? No problem. Take a nap? No problem.
• Getting work done. Now this depends on your work ethic, but I get a lot more work done working at home vs. in an office. Why? No one popping in your cubicle every 5 minutes.
• Invisibility. No need to fake working because no one can see you taking a nap on the couch.

Disadvantages:

• Some people don't understand the concept of working at home. You get phone calls from that certain someone (read, HUSBAND) who thinks he can call you during the day so you can look for a receipt, a phone number, or just some random piece of information that he left in a pair of pants sitting in the hamper. The conversation usually starts like this.... "riiiiiiiing" (this is the office line ringing mind you)... "Hey, what are you doing?" "Uh, WORKING." "Hey can you look for (insert random, unimportant issue here)? I think I left it in (my pants, the dresser, the bathroom, the car, the garage, the junk drawer, somewhere in the house)." If I actually worked in an office, I doubt I'd get calls like this.
• NO HUMAN CONTACT. You guys who get to go out to lunch with coworkers, I envy you. I miss that. I miss the potlucks. Birthday cakes. Candy bowl. Gossiping about the office chick who dresses like a slut (wait, I didn't do that... maybe that means they were talking about me! Those no good gossiping b!%$#-es!)
• Maintaining the illusion of working in an office without letting customers know you work from home. So picture being on the phone with a customer or on a conference call when in the background is "Diiiiiiiiiiiing-Dong!" Or the home phone ringing and the answering machine going off "We aren't home right now, but....." Or (and I don't have this problem but my other teammates do) "BARK BARK! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUFF RUFF!"
• You can't shut work off. Those of you who work in an office can shut your computer off and go home for the day, if something comes up, you usually say, "Eh, I'll deal with it when I get back to the office." Me? It's so easy to shoot off that email at 10 PM on a Saturday night. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of bed to take care of something because if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to sleep because I KNOW I can knock it off my list if I just run downstairs to the computer.
• Flexibility. This is an advantage AND disadvantage. Why? Guess who takes the kids to their dentist appointments, doctor appointments, picks up the kids, drops off the kids... make bank deposits... etc. etc. etc.

I'm very disciplined when it comes to working at home. Contrary to what most people think, the TV is NEVER on during the day and I actually get up at 6 AM every morning to shower, dress, fix my hair and makeup before I work. And I don't take naps during the workday... anymore. HEY, I was pregnant and I took them during my lunch hour!