Comments on: It’s Okay to Work at the Kitchen Table

By: Stephanie Cockerl

Stephanie Cockerl — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:29:59 +0000

I enjoy being flexible. Its gives me the opportunity to care for my Nana. I don’t have a kitchen table so I use my Nana’s. Otherwise, I’m at either of my desks (including a lapdesk).

By: Karl

Karl — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:34:50 +0000

I don’t have my own business but work from home most of the time (90%) and probably 4 or 5 years ago really started to make use of the space and time this gives me. There are times in the day when I work better than others, times when I never work well and times when I have to do other things. Putting parts of your life into make believe boxes leads to lack of flexibility, rigid mindset and a lack of creativity.

I also find that if you let them mix like milk and water the intensity of both is reduced, stress lowers and you enjoy both more.

Much of what we do today revolves around thinking and communicating. The thinking part we can do anywhere, the communicating part we can almost do anywhere.

By: Brie

Brie — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:35:14 +0000

I love working from home and the fact the I can get up at 6am and start work if I want too, or I can spend the mornings doing anything else that might strike my interest. My schedule is fluid and in my control and the only thing that matters to my boss is that my work gets done. If that happens at the kitchen table, the couch, or my home office, it doesn’t make a difference. In short, I love my job!

By: Katherine Salt

Katherine Salt — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:24:44 +0000

It is so reassuring to see I am not the only one that feels like this, I do what I do because I enjoy it and it gives me flexiblity. When you are surrounded by people who work in an office environment you often get told you work too hard or you should take a break. I work evenings, Sundays in fact when I need to but I don’t think that makes me a workaholic. It makes work sound like a dirty word. I will soon be off to Buenos Aires for a couple of months.. if that’s what being a workaholic means I’m all for it :o)

By: Andrew Wetzel (@CircleReader)

Andrew Wetzel (@CircleReader) — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:08:52 +0000

This same question of “why was it so necessary to separate the different parts of my life?” was one of the major motivations for our family to choose to homeschool our children. Why should raising your kids, of all things, be outsourced? Why should learning be restricted to the conventional, disconnected places?

So far, though, my work has been much more conventional than “kitchen table.” I’m looking forward to changing that, and leading a more integrated life, in 2011.

By: Ange

Ange — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:57:44 +0000

There’s a line between business and home life?! The only way I separate the two is by using an exercise book to keep track of the work tasks I squeeze in between washing and cooking, and how long I spend on them. That way I can keep track of the hours I work to a) not get too carried away and b) make sure I can get paid my hourly rate (though sometimes a bit of a waiting game!).

As for working at the kitchen table – I work on any flat surface in the house that’s got space, though I do have a ‘work studio’.

By: Jo

Jo — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:48:25 +0000

Being able to choose the location of where you work helps inspire creativity – and productivity – which is important as an entrepreneur or in running your own web business. Creativity is less important in a traditional workplace, which is why cube farm layouts are so popular and you have little control over your working environment. Defined boundaries can definitely help maintain a working schedule but I think you need flexibility to nurture that creative side too.

By: Massachusetts Real Estate Careers

Massachusetts Real Estate Careers — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:26:26 +0000

The kitchen table, the car, the local starbucks…. with technology it is now easy to work from almost anywhere.

By: Greg Faherty

Greg Faherty — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:57:13 +0000

AMEN. I had the opportunity to do quite a bit of freelance work this summer from my ‘home studio’ and while I ended up working more hours every week both my wife and my kids felt like I was around much, much more. The ability to get up and put a few hours in before the rest of the family was up and then have a nice lunch with them or go for a walk was amazing.

I find it more than a little ironic that during a time when my monthly income was far from guaranteed (my projects were week to week at best) and when technically I should have been far more stressed out I was the calmest I have been in years. It was the happiest summer I have spent in a very long time.