When considering the idea of working at home, you have to keep a few things in mind. For starters, while it may sound enticing at first glance, there are a few downsides to working from home: less people will be around you and your kids might stop speaking. There's also the matter of tax laws. If you earn money from home, the IRS considers it self-employment income and rates your salary accordingly. For these reasons, if you're serious about working from home, there are some important considerations to take into account before diving into this endeavor.
This article will cover some of the benefits and drawbacks to working at home, as well as provide a few tips.
Here are a few things you should consider:
1. You Can Be Home With Your Family
If you're like most people, you already spend a lot of time at home either working or watching TV or playing your X Box. With that in mind, it might come as no surprise that this is one of the biggest perks of working from home. Not only will you have time to play with your kids and pick up from where you left off before they were born, but your spouse may enjoy their own alone time too. If so, it's a win-win situation.
What's more, you can also save money on commuting costs. Depending on where you live and how far you have to drive to work, that could amount to quite a bit over the course of a year!
2. You'll Be Around Your Kids More
As previously mentioned, one of the biggest benefits of working from home is that you'll be home with your kids more often. For some people this might lead to problems because they're not used to being at home all day with their children or because they are easily distracted by them. In either case, this can be a cause of much friction between you and your spouse.
If there's something you don't like about your job, chances are that your kids will know about it. If you're constantly arguing with your spouse because you have no interest in spending time with them, chances are that the kids will pick up on that too. Who wants to live in a house where fights regularly break out?
3. You'll Get Paid for Sick Days
One downside to working from home is that if you have an illness or injury, it's likely that no one knows about it but yourself. Even when dealing with something minor like the flu, this can work against you. You probably won't have to worry about getting a call from HR telling you that you're being called in to work, but you'll be putting your health at risk. That's not exactly an appealing prospect for someone who is sick.
This is where working at home actually pays off because if you're a worker who can't go into work all the time, it's possible that your employer will allow you to take two or three days off per month. That way, if you come down with something bad, there won't be any confusion or red tape.
4. You Can Get the Job Done in a Timely Manner
One of the biggest downfalls of working from home is that there is no one to hold you accountable for getting your work done on time. By working from home, you have no one to blame but yourself if you don't finish your work by the end of the day. Some people may not be comfortable with that prospect. If not, trying to motivate yourself can be a bit difficult at times and it will definitely take some getting used to.
The only way for this to work is if you're able to separate your work from your personal life and get things done as efficiently as possible. You also have to have a plan in place to help you get your work done in a timely fashion so that you don't fall behind.
5. You Can Use Your Spare Time as an Opportunity
If you're the type of person who is always trying to find ways to make more money, working from home can give you the ability to do just that. Even if you only have five minutes here and there, there are plenty of ways for you to make money from home. As long as there's free space on your hard drive and connectivity, then anyone can make some extra cash online. With that said, try picking up a side job or two . . . before your spouse gets home!
6. Tax Laws May Allow You to Get Paid More
In some cases, you might be able to get paid more money even if you work at home. If you're self-employed and do your work on the side while your spouse is at home with the kids, this can be advantageous. The time spent working (which is often much more than the amount of time needed to get the job done) can be counted as self-employment income for tax purposes.
For tax purposes, any earnings over $400 are taxed as self-employment income and are subject to Self Employment Tax (SEC). These rates increase with earnings of $125,000 or less, but there are some exceptions . . . More on this later in the article.
7. You Can Still Make More Money on the Side
If you're self-employed and want to make money from home, you can't ignore the fact that your other job will play a part in your success or failure. Working at home is great, but if you don't have a high-paying side job, then you might be wasting your time working from home. In some cases, it might even be an advantage that you have another job because it can provide more opportunities for getting paid from home.
In any case, if you're not getting paid a lot for this work and have little experience with it, there's a good chance that you won't succeed at making money quickly. This is especially true if you have no experience in programming, Web design, social media marketing or other online jobs. Many people who have made money at home are self-taught and those who are not won't be able to succeed without hard work.
8. It Can be a Good Opportunity to Learn New Skills
If there's one thing that we should all strive towards when it comes to work, it's to learn new skills so that we can grow as people and help ourselves advance professionally as well. If you're an experienced worker looking for some fresh opportunities, working from home can provide you with the perfect opportunity to get some much needed change in your life - both literally and figuratively!
9. You Can Stay Home and Still Get Paid
Being able to work from home is great, but if you're not making much, then there's no reason to even consider working from home unless you absolutely need the money. If that's the case, then working from home can be a good way to make some extra cash when your significant other is at work. This is especially true if you're not as good at working independently as someone who works in an office with others all day.
10. You Can Work From Anywhere You Please
Some people may have a problem working from home because their spouse would prefer that they are always available when they come home so that they don't miss out on spending time with them.
Conclusion
This is a pretty short article, but it covers just about everything that you should know working from home. We're still not quite sure where the proper line is to draw on this, but we'd be very interested in hearing what you think.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. We'd love to hear your thoughts!
Before getting into the other topics we've discussed here at MoversAndShakers, please check out our top 5 travel tips for college students . If you aren't a student, then read our top 5 financial tips for women .