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Himself and I both work from home.  Well, Himself works from home and I work for myself but when I’m not at the clinic there’s an extraordinary amount of admin that needs to be done and this is primarily done from home.

A lot of people think that this is living the dream, and indeed in many ways it is.  But working from home is hard to do because there is nobody there keeping an eye on you, clearing their throats when your productivity is low, gently (or not so gently) nudging you to tell you that maybe you’ve spent a bit too much time surfing the internet.  It takes a while to find a routine, to find discipline in the sudden freedom that you have – and believe me when you’ve worked in law for years, when you’ve had to log every minute of your day, that freedom is almost too much.

As our situation is in flux right now, I thought I would share a few tips that have helped us over the last few years, before everything is different and I forget them. So just in case you’re about to find yourself self-employed or working from home, read on!

1.  Find yourself a space to work. This is the number one priority for working from home.  Try to find yourself a dedicated space to work, even if it’s just a small desk in the corner of your living room, and make that work space as beautiful and as inspirational (and as tidy) as you can.  Doubling the dining table up as an office just doesn’t work.  It means that your job is right there in your face all the time.  We ended up turning the spare bedroom into an office for Himself (he has several computers etc and needs the space) and I’ve taken a small cupboard bedroom for my desk and yoga mat.  It means when we have guests we have to book them into a nearby hotel but it’s all about priorities!

2. Set yourself working hours. There is a tendency when working for yourself or from home to start checking emails immediately upon getting up and carrying on from there.  Set yourself reasonable working hours and stick to them, otherwise your job will take over your whole life.  What these hours will be are dependent on a) what you do and b) what hours you are at your brightest (I’m an afternoon person, Himself is a morning person).  It will be hit and miss to start with while your work them out but once you’ve got them, stick to them!

3. Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast. Don’t be tempted to work in your pyjamas.  It’ll be lunchtime before you get showered and you’ll feel horrible for it.  Act exactly as you would if you had to go in to an office.

4. Turn off wi-fi. Have certain set hours during your working day when you turn off your wi-fi.  This way you can’t be distracted by social media and incoming emails.  How many hours you have offline will again depend upon what you do, Himself needs to check his emails far more often than I do, but do try to take that time offline, especially when you need to get your head down on a big project.

5. Twitter is your office mates. Conversely you will never need social media so much as when you work at home alone!  You’ll be surprised how much you miss the office banter (even though when you were in the office you hated it so) and it’s easy to become isolated.  Pick your Twitter and Facebook friends carefully and check in with them a few times a day.  It sounds crazy but it can keep you sane!

A final point for any couple who, like us, both work from home.  Learn to leave each other alone! Don’t be tempted to bother each other with household minutae during those hours reserved for work.  Remember, you’re meant to be behaving as though you’d gone into the office.  Ask yourself, would you phone them at work for this question or leave it until they got home?

Any other tips from my fellow home-workers?

On New Year’s Eve I had a bit of a clean sweep.  I emptied all the bins (well, Himself did. Bin emptying is a boy’s job), changed the sheets, cleared the bookshelves of books to go to charity (I have a Kindle now, books are so last year ) and started the great wardrobe clearout.  I also unfollowed a bunch of people on Twitter and Facebook and cleared out my Google Reader.

As with so many things, once you make space new stuff comes flooding in.  No sooner had a cleared out my Reader than I came across a whole bunch of new and exciting blogs to read (my time will never be my own, I’ve come to terms with this now!) and I thought I’d share a few of my favourites with you.

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1. Louise Gale – Louise is a Brit living in the States and her website is just so beautiful you can’t not want to read it.  She’s on an adventure in Australia right now and she’s also the author of the Big Dream, Small Wonder workbook and planner of which I am a proud owner.  I cannot recommend this bargain enough!

2. A Forest of Stories – Sara’s blog is full of beautiful writing, snippets of wisdom and all sorts of goodies.  She’s on a mission to make money mindfully and explains here her intentions for 2012.

3. And Then She Saved – I’ve mentioned Anna’s awesome blog before, but if you want to save money or pay off debt you could do a lot worse than read this blog.  Here’s what it’s all about.

4. Catherine Just – who takes the most beautiful photographs.

5. Marc and Angel Hack Life – now you all know how much I love lists.  Well this blog is list after beautiful list full of amazing things to think about.  Here’s one of my favourites: 30 things to stop doing to yourself.

What blogs are you reading right now?

You may remember, readers, last December when I took part in Reverb10 – a journal prompt each day of the month to reflect on the year gone by.  This year Reverb has taken on a more DIY feel. There is no formal set of prompts but, instead, there are ideas for prompts all over the internet. Debbie is doing some lovely ones, but this week I’m stealing five prompts from Catherine.

Let’s go.

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1. Where did 2011 begin?

Curled up at home with Himself, drinking Prosecco on our big purple sofa.  I had a cold (I always have a cold at New Year) and we were nervously excited at the grand opening of the clinic in just ten short days. Nearly a year on it’s hard to believe the clinic has only been open a year – it seems like I’ve been doing this forever, in a good way. All of the New Year’s Eves Himself and I have been together (and this coming one will be the sixth), have been spent together alone in quiet contemplation.  To be honest I wouldn’t have it any other way.

2. Who did you meet?

Oh so many amazing people! In Sydney I met Stella for one wonderful night of Yin Yoga in the rain.  In Melbourne I had lunch with Kerry and Nadine and had the second best day ever up a mountain with Svasti.  The best day ever was spent on the Neighbours tour where I met Nell Feeney (aka Queen of the Bogans).

I finally met my cousin’s little miracle baby in Melbourne as well; Alex is now 2, proudly calls himself ‘Agus’ and fell head over heels for Himself.

I also met a unimaginable number of fabulous clients without whom my business would not and could not have been the success it has been.

I didn’t meet Dave Grohl.  Again.

3. What books did you read?

I started the year by reading the Narnia books back to back in practically one sitting and I’m finishing up the year with Stephen King’s latest 11.22.63 (if the words’ Derry’ and ‘1958′ mean anything to you, then you absolutely have to read this book – also that link contains spoilers). In between I re-read the Baghavad Gita, the Upanishads, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Rig Veda.  Himself and I read The Time Traveller’s Wife along with a lot of other bloggers. I finally got around to reading Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box (he’s Mr King’s son in case you didn’t know) and wasn’t remotely disappointed and Maupin Armistead’s Tales of the City and was terribly disappointed.  I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the plane home from Australia and didn’t really get what the fuss was about and I read a couple of books about cats.  According to my Goodreads profile I have read 45 books in 2011, which is 5 less than last year but 10 more than 2009.  I judge my health by the number of books I read, the more I read the better I’m feeling so that’ll do pig.

4.  When did you struggle?

That said, I struggled with my health this year.  Really struggled.  The tension headaches drove me to distraction through a lot of this year, I’ve had tonsilitis three times and I cannot tell you how exhausted I’ve been.  There is a downside to your business taking off so well – still, I’m better prepared for the onwards and upwards in 2012!  I struggled with giving up wheat and eating meat. I struggled my way through Pilates Teacher Training, knowing in the back of my head that I’d bitten off a little bit more than I could chew this time (still, I did it so can’t complain).  I really struggled upon my return from Australia, it took me months to get back into the swing of things and stop missing everyone so very badly.  Yeah, this year’s been tough – but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?!

5. What did you discover?

I discovered that flying 12,000 miles is always totally worth it and I mustn’t leave it 6 years before I do it again.  I discovered that cups of tea and pieces of cake and a lot of love will get you through pretty much anything.  I discovered that I’m a bloody good businesswoman, with much better people skills than I give myself credit for.  I discovered that the BWY think I’m worthy of teaching teachers. I discovered that my health is still not great and I really need to accept that more and stop comparing myself to people who’s health is good.  I discovered I don’t have to be bad with money and I discovered my own path and the best way of walking it.

It’s been a big year.