It’s been a while since I posted here, but I’m glad to be back with this list of FAQs that I’ve heard time and again since starting to freelance from home.

Have you been out in the sun much this week?
Has the weather been good? I did open the window in my office because it felt a bit stuffy, but I’ve been focusing on proofs this week so haven’t really been out of the house. I’ve had the cardi on the back of my chair on and off the same amount as usual. And don’t suggest I work in the garden. The sun glares off my laptop screen, papers go all over the place in the slightest breeze, and our garden chairs make my back ache.

Don’t you get lonely?
No, I’ve got Facebook, Twitter and Skype. I spend several hours each week on all of them (a bit less on Twitter), and put the radio on when I go downstairs for lunch. I go to the gym most days and have a good chat with my friends there, or meet friends for a walk round the block, but when I’m working, I’m concentrating. And although I left an office job where I was managing a team, since we moved to a small village and I’ve worked from home, I’ve realized I actually enjoy my own company quite a lot.

I bet you like working in your pyjamas, no?
No! I get dressed every day before I start work. It might only be in gym kit/comfy stuff, and it doesn’t involve shoes, make-up or blow-drying my hair, but I’m a professional, and feel a bit slobby in my PJs so it helps me focus if I’m in actual clothes.

Do you have to be really disciplined?
Yes! I have bills to pay! If I wasn’t disciplined, I would miss deadlines. I wouldn’t get offered new work. I wouldn’t earn any money. I wouldn’t be able to eat. And I love eating!

Do you fancy coffee on Wednesday?
Yes, I do. I always fancy coffee (and cake). But next Wednesday I’ll get up, do my usual social media for three organisations, go to my regular gym class, come home for a project meeting, then get on with the project. Then it will be time for a quick lunch, after which I’ll do more project work (remember the deadlines), and do another project call when my colleague in San Francisco gets to her desk at 4.30pm my time. So not much time for coffee, I’m afraid. Let’s book something for next month and I’ll plan around it.

Don’t you miss working in an office?
Sometimes I miss the social side of it. But on the whole, I save myself three hours of commuting time every day (and the related costs), I’m more productive with not having to go to meetings every couple of hours, and I always hated office politics. My waistline has probably benefited from eating fewer birthday cakes, I don’t have to listen to others’ conversations with banks/letting agents/parents, and I’m sure there are fewer germs circulating round my house than are in the average office aircon system.

What do you do if you have an IT problem?
I have no hesitation in asking my husband for help. If he can’t sort it out, I’ll Google or ask friends on Facebook. I’ve only ever needed to pay for IT help once in eight years, and that was to get the inside of my PC cleaned. (Thanks to Rob from Rascom for that. TOTALLY recommended – see photos.)

How many hours a week do you work?
Probably more than most office workers, if you count actual hours worked rather than hours out of the house. As I’ve said, working from home alone is, in my experience, way more productive than working in an office, so I get a lot done, in fewer hours than it would take someone working in house. I aim for 5–6 billable hours each day, but of course that varies. When I have to, I work late in the evenings and at weekends, and sometimes I take a few hours out to get my hair done. But I didn’t go freelance to work less – I did it for a different way of life.

I bet you love the flexibility, don’t you?
Yes, I do. That’s the whole point of freelancing. I can choose the projects I take on, the clients I work for, and where I focus my time. It allows me to do the bread-and-butter project management and editing jobs, but also to pursue projects of my own, like the ELT Freelancers’ Awaydays, ELT Teacher 2 Writer, and my role on the MaWSIG committee. I’m really proud of my contributions to all of those, and if it means I can get round the supermarket at the point in the week when it’s quietest, even better.

Does the fridge talk to you?
No. I’ve tuned it out so I can’t hear its calls any more. The same goes for the biscuit tin. I shut my door, get on with my work, and ignore them. It’s the only way.

I could go on, but I’ve just noticed that the sun is shining and it’s Friday afternoon. One more short report to write and a Skype call, then I’ll log off. Freelancers, eh!

What other questions do you get asked? What’s the funniest one you’ve heard?

If, like me, you grew up in the UK in the 70s, you’ll probably remember being encouraged to “switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead” by the kids’ TV show, Why Don’t You … ?

I’m certainly not saying that my work is boring, but I do think it’s good to get out and do something different from your day-to-day every now and then. I’ve always been an advocate of making time in the day to go for a walk, swim or gym class, but what about literally taking your eyes away from the screen to focus them elsewhere for a whole day. That’s what I did last Wednesday …

I meet my great friend Liz every few months for a mid-week catch-up, usually over a hurried lunch because one of us got stuck in traffic on the way or because we have to leave sharply to get home for a Skype call / school pick-up. About six months ago, Liz suggested we next caught up for a whole day at a craft school rather than in the pub. At a clay sculpting workshop. Erm, ok, yes, sign me up and let me know how much I owe you. And that was the last I thought about until last weekend when she sent me the reminder email telling me to bring an apron and some ideas. Gulp!

Being pretty organised about my diary, I had remembered to avoid scheduling any calls or meetings for the day I’d be out, and didn’t have any problems moving work round to fit, which was a relief. I’d given the key people I’m working with plenty of notice that I wouldn’t be contactable for the day, and set off, determined to enjoy a full day away from all things ELT, editing and social media-related. I wasn’t sure I’d manage not to check in, tweet or download my inbox, but certainly had every intention of not doing so.

I needn’t have worried. It turns out that having hands covered in clay is the best way of avoiding checking your phone! And trying to work out what to do with a large lump of clay focuses the mind and leaves very little room for worrying whether you’ve got any Basecamp messages or missed Skype calls to respond to.

And so we spent a peaceful day with Beatrice Hoffmann and six others at the Ardington School of Crafts, shaping, bonding, digging and flicking. Once I’d been told firmly that the idea I’d gone in with was pottery, not sculpture, and had to do a complete re-think, we were off. There was no discussion of anything work-related, and even though I found out that the lady making a whale’s tail next to me was a dentist, no one even asked me if I worked. Liz and I sat in the school’s garden at lunchtime and caught up on personal stuff, and I can report that I didn’t check my phone once during the day, even though I did use it to take some photos. I did have to stop myself a couple of times, but I was enjoying being away from it all so much, I avoided the temptation. Only when I’d got home and had supper did I check in, and guess what – I didn’t have a single email in my inbox that required any action. Plan ahead, and there’s absolutely no reason why you can’t take a day out.

So, what’s the point of this post, other than to share my snaps? Excuses for not taking time out often include not having enough time, feeling guilty, or thinking it feels selfish. However …

• taking some time away from your work to do something completely different can be refreshing. As you might go for a walk to mull something over, a change in perspective can help you think more clearly when you come back to your desk.
• learning a new skill or trying something you’ve never done before could help you find a new direction or hobby. (Clay sculpting was fun for a day, but I won’t be pursuing it further.)
• arranging a day away from your desk doesn’t have to leave you panicking about when you’ll catch up with work. Plan far enough in advance to give clients notice that you’ll be unavailable and put your out of office message on your email and voicemail.
• if you’re freelance, a day away from your desk is likely to mean a day without income, and if you’re doing a paid activity, and possibly also need to pay for childcare, etc, this is a consideration. But the benefits should outweigh the costs, and there are plenty of activities that don’t cost anything. A simple day of walking would be a great tonic.

Liz has suggested I choose our next activity. Almost a week on and I’m thinking that a day at a spa might be a relaxing thing to do. But then again, I’ve always wanted to know how to ice a cake without lumps and bumps …

Have you got any recommendations for ways to take time out, or how to manage fitting a new activity in with work?

In case you’re wondering, here’s the finished article (with reference photo just in case!). Just waiting for it to come back from firing in Beatrice’s kiln before I find a home for it in my office, as a reminder that time out isn’t time wasted.

I’ve worked from home for almost eight years. For the first seven and a half of those years I had a quiet existence most days between about 7.30am and 5pm, doing my editorial and project management work, interrupted once a week when the cleaning lady appeared. Then one day my husband came home and told me his company was closing his office and he’d be working from home in future. Much as I love him, I’m pretty sure my face fell. (And he’s read and approved this before I’ve posted it!)

We’ve been working under the same roof now for long enough to have got into a bit of a groove. There has definitely been a period of adjustment, and I still miss the peace and quiet of my solitary working days, but I think we’re getting there. I thought I’d have a look at some of the differences between us and see if I could share some tips for anyone else who might find themselves in a similar situation.

Noise 
This has been the biggest issue for me. I like to work in total silence. No radio, no classical music, no ambient noise. Certainly not someone else’s phone calls, particularly when they come in several times and hour and are heralded by this ringtone. (Him: “It’s a classic.”) And not every ping of a text message, inbox update or calendar reminder.

To address this issue, and to enable him to keep his job in sales and, if I’m totally honest, to save him from hours of my Skype discussions, we try to do the following as far as possible:

• Keep both our doors shut
• Put phones on mute, leaving just the vibrate on
• Keep voices down

When I was planning this post, I asked others on the White Ink Facebook page and Twitter for their workspace-sharing tips. Other noise-related suggestions that came in (names have been left out to protect the relationships involved, but thank you if you contributed!) were to “coordinate so you try to avoid working on a tricky job that needs your full attention when your other half has a conference call”, “make sure he knows not to do the hoovering outside my office when I’m on Skype”, “wear headsets” and “put other half in a soundproof bubble”. Not always easy to do, but in our house we do usually have a quick chat at the start of the day that might include mentioning times of planned calls, just as a bit of a warning to each other in case quiet/noisy jobs can be timed to fit in.

Space 
When we were house-hunting, just as I was setting up as a freelancer, we had strict criteria for our property search: three bedrooms – one for us, and one for each of my grown-up stepsons in case they were both at home at the same time – plus an office for me. Now we have two bedrooms and two offices. His is supposed to be ‘quick release’ in case of several guests – a desk that is made of trestle legs and a worktop balanced on them so it can be put down and moved without much effort, and easy-carry storage boxes for keeping stuff in, so they can be shoved into my office to make way for the futon. In six months we’ve had to do this once, and it worked fine. Far more important is the need to have our own day-to-day workspaces.

It is going to work out for the best if you can have your own rooms, or at least work in different parts of the house even if you can’t set up permanent workstations. A closed door says ‘do not disturb’. The preferred setup seems to be for one person to be upstairs and the other one downstairs. If one of you is a “keyboard-thumper” it might be best for them to be on the ground floor.

I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to have to work in the same room, let alone at the same desk. I did speak to one freelancer recently who told me she likes to take her laptop into the room where her partner is working because she likes to be close to him. Let’s just say that wouldn’t work for me.

Tips from others who do share a room include having separate desks if possible, particularly if your other half is a “violent writer” who shakes the desk; not using a round table because two laptops don’t fit that shape very well; going into another room for phone calls, and “pretending the other one isn’t there – no eye contact, no friendly chat, no cat videos”. No cat videos?!!

Lunchtime
When we started working from home together, he was ready for lunch at midday. I like to hang on until 12.30, if not 1pm. So we started doing our own thing when we were ready, and have generally carried on like that, not meeting up much for lunch. I like to use the time away from my desk to sit in the kitchen, listen to the radio and catch up on Twitter; he’s more likely to put the TV on in the living room. We’ll occasionally make a date and go to our local cafe for lunch on a Friday but invariably one of us has to get back for a meeting.

Others seem to enjoy meeting up for lunch to catch up, and deciding early in the morning who’s on lunch duty is one freelancer’s tip.

What happens about tea and coffee in the morning and afternoon? If I want a cuppa, I’ll offer him one, and vice versa, but we don’t automatically make the other a drink. If you’re the person closest to the kitchen, do you do the tea-making, or do you use it as a chance to get some steps in if you’re the one further away? (The same question to the person closest to the printer – do you deliver printouts to your partner, or let them come and pick them up? We have two printers!)

Hours 
Much as it’s important to respect each other’s space, it’s a good idea to agree on the working hours you’ll keep and define when the end of the workday will be. I’m a flexible freelancer so often start working at 7.30am, take a break to go to a gym class, then come back and work through until about 5 or 6pm. He is bound to central European office hours, so can’t just nip out. The key thing is that we have both generally finished work for the day by about 6pm and then do our best to shut work out. If you don’t disturb each other during working hours, whatever those are, you will have a productive day.

Being able to switch off from work is easier to do if you keep your work stuff out of living areas. Having two offices, we don’t have much of an issue with this (unless you look in our garage, which is more like his company storeroom. The less said about that, the better.), but if one of you works at the kitchen table during the day, it’s a good idea to clear work away in the evening so you’re not tempted back to it, and so you can keep a clear work/home separation.

Other tips that were offered during the planning stage of this post, and from my own experience, include the following …

• If your partner is having a bad day, show some empathy. It’ll be your turn next.
• If you’re the one having a bad day, consider going out to give the other one some peace and quiet.
• Communicate via email if you want to ask the other person something so they can answer when they’re ready, rather than shouting up the stairs and disturbing them.
• If one of you is a hot body, but the other someone who feels the cold, get a heater for the cold one’s room. It will save you both battling over the thermostat.
• Have a night out separately each week so you don’t get totally sick of each other.
• If it’s not working out, or for a change of scene/company, consider booking into a co-working space for a while.

Can you offer any other tips? Add them in the Comments.