WAHM setup

This one’s for me, Poppins and other WAHM hopefuls. It’s a bunch of tips on working from home, coming from an IT dude. He’s not a mom (duh!), but the points are relevant enough.

He does mention my biggest problems these days:
1) Decent chair+desk: I’m the kind of person that sits either cross-legged or hunched over my knees while coding. (Everyone’s used to my scramble to find my shoes when I’m summoned for a impromptu meeting). But somehow, the chair-desk alignment was far more ergonomic than sitting cross-legged on the bed. It’s not like I’m doing my kegels while coding, and my back n’ bones have aged decades over the past few months.

2) Environment: It’s no coffee house when you’re surrounded by laundry, baby goo stained clothes and useless plastic toys. If anything, it is depressing and not the right work environment. I do have issues having Nibbles leave my line of sight, even if there are other responsible adults watching him. I need to work on creating a bigger baby-safe play area where he can explore without my continuous chorus of Nooos and Aaaacks. The playard we have is so tiny, it feels like a prison (doesn’t help that Nibbles peers through the mesh/cage and wails miserably till he’s free).

Some things that I’d add right off the bat:
3) Go on an internet hiatus while working (excluing access to my work machine). Avoid personal sites (e-mails, blogs, social networks) like the plague the gym.

4) Feed growling tummy something tasty to avoid fishing for lil’ somethings to hit the spot.

5) Block time slots for working and don’t do anything else during that time (besides feeding/helping Nibbles sleep); post dinner time slots work best for night owls like me. This is bound to be far more productive than the office, with numerous breaks attributed to production issues or coffee refills.

I’m all pumped. Will attack code with a vengence now. Yeaaaah!