Working from Home, How I Love Thee!

I was back in my old office for work this past week and holy culture shock. I’ve been working from home for almost 3 years now, far removed from the daily buzz of an office. One thing is very clear, I never want to go back to that life. When we first embarked on the goal of taking back our time & simplifying our lives, working from home (WFH) wasn’t one of the ways we thought we’d do it. It wasn’t until J got a WFH job completely by accident that it occurred to us as an option. Once he did, I started looking for one too and the rest is history.

We’re incredibly lucky our company has such a strong WFH culture. We work for a huge company and the last measure had over 50% of staff WFH. It gives people a ton of flexibility while saving the company buckets of money on office space, a win-win!

I know WFH isn’t for everyone – here’s a partial list of why it’s for me.

• No commuting – this saves a ton of time and money. My commute takes one minute, basically logging into work for the day. My commute is equally short at the end of the day, I just close my laptop and walk away. No traffic to contend with and since I don’t get dressed up to WFH, I can just roll right into whatever leisure activity I had planned. Yoga, laps at the pool, a relaxing paddle, whatever I want. Not commuting gave us so much time back.
• No separate clothes – I haven’t bought an item of work clothing in over 3 years (or any clothing really), talk about saving $$. Plus I get to wear whatever I’m most comfortable in all day every day.
• No time spent on hair & makeup – going to the office last week, I spent 30 minutes each day flat ironing my hair (it was still a frizzy disaster) and putting on makeup that just made my face feel gross all day. I’m not used to wearing it anymore and to think that used to be my everyday! Time & money saved!
• No cubical! I really despise sitting in a cubical all day in a sea of cubes under artificial lighting. It’s pretty depressing. This is my work setup now, way better.

• My own bathroom! For a building full of “professionals” the bathrooms at work were disgusting despite a list of etiquette tips taped to the back of each stall door.
• Proximity to the kitchen – when I worked in the office I packed my lunch every day but coming from the hotel last week I couldn’t do that. With back-to-back calls all day it’s hard to make it to cafeteria to grab something quick. WFH I make things on Sunday that we can just grab quickly. I’m really bitchy when I’m hungry so this is best for everyone.
• Peaceful mornings – my office morning: get up, shower, scarf some coffee & breakfast, do my hair and makeup, put on presentable clothes, commute, and walk to my desk. My WFH morning: walk my dogs, drink coffee in my hammock while listening to birds and palms rustle, walk upstairs and login. Enough said!
• Saving money! WFH I’m not spending money on so many things I used to:  clothes, makeup, hair color, gas, wear & tear on my car, coffees at the on-site Starbucks, lunches at the cafeteria or out, etc. WFH saves so much money & hassle.
• Temperature – why is it when buildings turn on the AC they feel the need to make it as cold as possible. I was freezing the whole time I was there.

And here’s the thing. When I wasn’t in meetings specifically scheduled for the people who came on-site, everyone sat in their respective cubicles on the phone with people who weren’t there or with headphones on listening to music. I can just do that from my house. I’m on the phone all day and almost no one is at that office or any office for that matter.

I absolutely see the value in face time with your co-workers but it doesn’t need to be all day every day. A couple face to face team building events a year would likely do the trick.

Either way – this island girl isn’t going back to an office!

Stay warm friends!