Half a Year Spent Working from Home

Today is six months since I left my day job. I have been working from home with no other employment, solely self employed for six months. It feels like it has gone so fast – faster than I expected.

We spent most of that time surrounded by building work and it’s only now that the work is finished and the weather is nicer than I can sit and reflect on the last six months – and tell you how it’s gone.

Well, it’s gone fine. A lot better than I thought it would. As a family we haven’t had to cut back or watch what we spend – we’ve just carried on as normal. We’ve never spent excessively anyway – having learnt our lesson when we got into debt at a young age and spent years getting out of it. Instead we buy the necessities, treats every so often and have enough money for days out and to replace things if they break. I’d say we have a comfortable life and it’s been just as comfortable with me working from home – with me at home all the time to enjoy it too!

Being self employed is stressful at times. The way blogging works you don’t always have guaranteed income but, as most contracts take a while to pay it does mean that I tend to have invoices waiting to be paid for the following month – money that I know I will be paid. Having that safety net definitely eases the stress and means we’re not worried about the bills or food that month. Some months have been quieter than others but I think that’s the same with any job where you don’t get a guaranteed wage each month – it will vary depending on how busy you are or the time of year.

The hardest thing for me since leaving my day job is knowing when to switch off and walk away. I find that, although I am striving for a better work/life balance, I am always working. I work when Little Man is at nursery in the mornings, I do emails and admin whilst he’s eating lunch and then we pick LP up from school, play and relax for the afternoon and then as soon as the children are in bed I’m working again. I’m hoping I can get a better balance and actually carve out some official working hours in the next few months. I put my out of office on for a week in April when we were in Mallorca and it was lovely – I think I need to do that more.

But, really, being self employed and being able to work from home, around the children is amazing. I can’t knock it. Yes, there are tax returns, business expenses and paperwork but we can go on an adventure at a moment’s notice and I don’t have to wear a work uniform anymore – I actually have space in my wardrobe again.

I can’t believe it has been six months already but I am really loving working from home – and so are the rest of the family. It fits into our lives so well and I haven’t regretted the decision to leave my day job at all since I walked through those doors for the last time. It was the end of an era but this new stage of our lives is working out well – and I couldn’t be happier!