Working from Home When You Already Work at Home

Working from home…when you work at home

After school, I work from home, even though I already work at home. I just don’t work in my home office. 

When the kids return from school, I ditch my office in our walk-out basement, grab my tablet or my laptop, and I relocate so that I can be around the kids and still be at work. I save my work on Microsoft’s cloud service, SkyDrive, and move to MommaSaid’s “satellite offices,” often located at the kitchen table, on the couch, or, weather permitting, on the deck.  

This working from home while working at home allows me to get work done by the fireplace on school snow days, helps me be visible and present when the kids get home from school. (Number one job: Keeping the contents of the pantry from being decimated by the gaggle of teenagers who often wind up here.) 

Thanks to my Office 365 subscription, I can load the full suite of Office programs on up to five of my devices, including my desktop, my laptop, and my (growing collection of) tablets. That way, I can edit my magazine articles in the kitchen while I wait for the water for the spaghetti to boil. I can add a few slides to my PowerPoint presentations from my bedroom after I’m once again inspired in the shower. And I can save the research links and notes for the book I’m writing and place them on OneNote for later. All from home, all around my home…just the way I like to work. 

In fact, I wrote this blog at the kitchen table while my son and his friend watched Key & Peele re-runs in the family room. Between paragraphs, we caught up on what’s new at the high school, and whether I might coach soccer this winter even after having retired last summer. (Answer: Yes. I can’t help myself.) 

Then my son joined me at the kitchen table, using his laptop for some homework and, of course, Minecraft. I like to think of it as the work-at-home version of the group work space, made possible by Office 365 and house-wide Wifi. (Speaking of making things possible, check out Microsoft’s Made Possible, dedicated to sharing the latest in digital lifestyle, entertaining, family fun, and gifts.)  

Best of all, I saved the bags of chips I just bought from being emptied and I hit my blog deadline. All because I work from home when I work at home.

Note:  This post is part of the Office Champs brand ambassador program, but the words and thoughts are all mine, because I love me my Office 365.