Sanity-Saving Ways to Work From Home With Your Significant Other

OK. So you and your significant other are lucky enough to work from home. Whether you’re a freelance writer, an employee of a company who allows you to work from your home office or some other type of lucky stiff who gets to make money from home, chances are you’ve run into one or more of these scenarios. When both your and your spouse’s work from home dough depends on deadlines, it’s important to have a game plan ahead of time to avoid some common home office co-habitation pitfalls.

1. Try to have your working spaces as far away as possible

This may not always be possible, but do the best you can. Having to walk upstairs or to the back of the house may curb your overwhelming desire to “tell him this one thing really quickly.” Another benefit of this is you don’t have to listen to him or her on the phone or worse, listen to their “muse music” as well.

2. Set specific work hours and resist the urge for “home talk”

Having your significant other under the same roof may tempt you to ask him or her to take care of a household chore when the rest of the working world is slaving away in their cubicles. Nip this in the bud by setting the same or similar work hours as those cubicle dwellers and stick to that schedule come hell or high water. Take it a step further and bar any contact with each other that isn’t directly related to work matters. That way, no one will be tempted to ask what’s for dinner or to remind the other person that the lawn needs to be mowed.

3. If you hear the other person milling around the house, don’t leave your office

So he’s in the kitchen getting a mid-morning snack. Don’t suddenly conclude that you’re famished as well or that your coffee mug all of a sudden needs a refill. Not only will that break your concentration, but it will almost certainly lend itself to a “home talk” session (see #2). Your bagel or coffee refill can wait a few minutes until he’s back to work.

4. Don’t “check up” (re: spy) on the other person via social media outlets

She Tweets that she got an email from a client complaining about the copy she sent over. Of course you should be supportive, but unless it’s a dire emergency as opposed to “run-of-the-mill” client interaction, wait until after the workday to lend a sympathetic ear. The best way to resist this temptation is to either not sign onto these social media sites at all (gasp!) during your work hours or to have separate logins…one professional and one personal maybe- and don’t add him or her. It’s less harsh than it sounds, trust us.

5. If you MUST procrastinate or take an extended break…and take it out of the house

We all have those days. Whether it’s because there isn’t a cloud to be seen in the blue sky or you’re just having an “off” day and the words aren’t sounding so hot, don’t stick around and be the serpent with the apple. Instead, go for a walk and enjoy that blue sky or head out to a coffee house with a book to allow your significant other the opportunity to capitalize on the productivity they might be experiencing…which you shouldn’t know about…if you’ve been keeping your distance as we suggested.

It doesn’t matter if you are a copywriter and he’s a fiction author or he’s a tech writer and you’re the SEO master. Both of you are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy the freedom of a work from home career. Live it up, but don’t become too relaxed or else the only thing that may get done around there is nothing.