Budget Around Personal Time When You Work from Home

by BillT
(Cleveland, OH USA)

Work from home businesses, like a craft business, where you do not have assigned hours to work can be challenging and rewarding. There are two key things to doing this, dedicated workspace and time management.

Although I live alone, I still move to my desk in a separate room when I am doing work. This puts me into the mindset of focusing.

I use a laptop, and often I will take it into the living room with the television on when I am doing personal tasks. But when I am working, I am at my desk. This is even more important if you have people living with you. They need to know what you are doing when you are in a certain space.

The other is time management. But in reverse. Plan when you are going to do non work things. I like to read the morning paper, have coffee, catch some morning news, go to the gym, etc. I plan these things and other chores, then build my work time around them. So in my mind personal things still come first. In reality I am putting in way more hours on my business than I used to.

I fill my time when I don't have personal commitments with business. I find this approach better than building a set work schedule.