I'm with you oklouise. If you work from home regularly you already have everything in the poll sorted out. It's separating out work/personal time that I find the challenge.

I work from home a lot.i have my own desk but it's in the living room

My challenges are social interaction, exercise and I need a bigger desk. I now go for a 20 minute HIIT walk/run routine around the local park as soon as I get up as I had slowly started putting on weight. I try to get away from the desk at least once per hour. Sometimes I sit on a fitball.

My desk is too small and cluttered having 2 screens, a desk lamp and the spread of paperwork I'm working on. I should have got a bigger desk. But the room also has a couple of filing cabinets, printer, bookshelves, and doubles as a spare bedroom with a pullout sofa bed so space was limited. That said, it is good to have a separate room that can be shut off from the rest of the house. That way, you don't have to pack-up your paperwork and files etc each day. When entering and/or leaving the room, you get that mental break that defines your work zone from the rest of your life. I reckon it's always good practice to shut the door when you are finished for the day!

The positives though are many. It's a stress-free environment, I can wear what I like, I can have the window open for fresh air and I can look out into the street and see the sky. I'm also more focussed now as there are no constant interruptions. I don't miss the office banter that much but some days I can go without speaking to anyone! I have to make an effort to touch-base with colleagues by phone or email. I find I now have more interaction with some of the neighbours as they know I'm home all day now.

To sum up, I love working from home and don't find it a challenge at all.

Lack of face-to-face interaction is my biggest challenge. Can't imagine working from home for weeks straight. One day is enough for me.

I worked from home when my Joeys were little and the biggest problem I had was convincing people I really was working. It seemed to be the general opinion that as I was home all day I had hours of time to help out with volunteer projects, child minding and such.

olldroo..i think that's a problem for anyone at home, including stay at home parents and retired people as there's an assumptions that if you're at home you have nothing to do all day so you must be keen to have visitors who never leave or last minute requests for child minding and emergency everything..

True oklouise, that is why I moved house, to really live my life. I just wish people wouldn't get so rude when you say no though and worse, demand explanations. Definitely the me-me generation, don't organise their own life and time, just expect others to fill the gap. I never had this luxury, it was sink or swim for me.

I think I'm getting a very cranky old lady :), but I'm having a wonderful life now thoroughly enjoying making my new home "mine", joining like minded groups of old people who just want freedom to make their own decisions and have fun.

Do you still have your mum?

well done to you and like minded people and my lovely mum died many years ago but she was able to do what you're doing and made a life for herself

Sorry, I thought you were caring for her, must have muddled you with someone else.

it was kind of you to ask but that was my Mother in law and she has a different story

I tried working from home a few times but end up getting no work done at all. Kids coming in and asking for something every 5 minutes lol. Would be fine if I didn't have kids.

oklouise - I do remember your MIL's story, just had the wrong person. You have certainly had your hands full too.

thanks olldroo, but not more than many others

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debanger - are you STILL having problems commenting here?? Have you contacted Houzz Service. i feel your frustration.

ironic how things change and so quickly too, looks like so many people will be forced to work from home now so maybe this quiz should morph into identifying issues and problems and looking at strategies to deal with them. Dealing with isolation will be a major issue, while many are happy to have the peace and quiet, others need the stimultion around them.

If this goes for months and months with no end in sight though, will our mental attitude change, will we really cope. We are in unchartered waters here so I don't think anyone can safely assume.

Working from home I love. Having said this, there are a few 'rules' that make it better.

A healthy breakfast with coffee over the Herald crossword lol!

As my work space is the dining room and adjacent verandah (for painting!), I have made the bedroom a haven for getting away from it all! A very comfy armchair near the window for reading is a great extra to having a comfortable uncluttered bedroom.

Four thirty comes with a quick jog around the park followed by a Shiraz at 5!

So far house bound is ok!

So working from home yesterday (currently in a townhouse awaiting build commencement) & was treated to the view of a male neighbour masturbating in his shower - the bathroom glass frosting didnt hide a thing. My kids saw it too. So I dropped a ‘please install a blind’ note in his letterbox. YUK............!!

Does that come under social distancing I wonder??

Wasnt distant enough, thats for sure...

I’m able to literally shut the door on distracting home chores for a good couple of hours while I do some serious work. I love the solitude of working from home most of the time but will admit there are days I sorely miss the buzzing atmosphere of an office environment with colleagues to interact with and general office noise.

I love that I don’t have to commute. I don’t like the lack of people interaction or my noisy neighbours who have parties during the day....

Getting distracted by the dog and cat who want to sit on my lap. Also I get really cold at my desk - not conducive for productivity.

I work from home on a regular basis , my biggest struggle is the home schooling part. My kids are almost 5 & 6 , both clever kids however it's very hard to focus when you're trying to homeschool two young kids with their online work that requires constant supervision & guidance.

I'm not allowed to work from home. That's my major issue.

I've been working from home for many, many years, but it took me until a little over a year ago to finally refurnish my office to be efficient and comfortable, after years of putting up with major inconveniences. Then hubby decided to sell the house and move! The house we are buying had built-in's in the office that looked great but were totally unsuitable for my needs. Hubby was quite upset when I made it a condition of the purchase that the seller rip all the built-ins out and make good to create an empty space. I then set about drawing a scaled plan of the room and scaled models of all my office furniture and arranging it on the plan. Works okay. Nowhere near as great as the office I am leaving behind - primarily because it lacks the lovely sunny corner in which I placed a favourite comfortable reading chair. And one credenza has to live inside the built-in wardrobe with the bookcase that was above it fixed on the wall above my desk. But it will work reasonably well overall. I do, however, need to buy a good office chair. I dumped mine in the move after making do with a hard pillow to compensate for the broken back and seat height adjusters!

My major challenge, for many years, has been a weak local internet connection. Hopefully that will not be a problem in our new home. It was a bad spot, but NBN was connected recently so fingers crossed it's all good now.

Suitable lighting and keeping warm have been my biggest challenges

Noisy children (my own!)

Knowing what office chair to buy

I have been doing work from home since last few months. The biggest challenge for me was to create a working environment and work comfortably. Earlier I used to work sitting on a normal chair but because of that I started getting physical challenges like back pain. So I decided to order ergonomic chair and office desk from Value Office furniture to work comfortably. Now I am working comfortably without getting any kind of back pain.