D home living 120

As technology heads for the better and employers look for ways to cut costs, more and more of us are working from the comforts of home, reports The Wall Street Journal.

In a previous post, we talked about work-at-home opportunities for medical coders and ways to spot work-at-home scams. So say for instance you’ve landed that work-at-home gig like so many medical coders have. The work is not done and over as yet because working at home is an art. The Wall Street Journal article has some some good tips but like always, we get down to the nitty-gritty on My Coding Career.

Here we’ve got 3 practical tips from ladies who work from home.

Tip 1:

No jammies. The cliché about working from the comforts of home is that you get to be in your P.J.’s all day. But many say getting dressed boosts your spirit and your productivity too. Supercoder.com’s Leesa A. Israel, CPC, CUC, CMBS says, “I get up and get dressed every morning as if I’m going to the office,” adding, “Not working in my jammies keeps me focused.”

If you’re a lady, a little make-up helps too. I write articles from the comforts of home, and my employer just signed up for an Internet phone service that has video capabilities. Yikes. Now when I talk to my coworkers, my face shows up on my monitor and theirs. I have gathered quickly that a little mascara dulls the pain.

Tip #2:

Hush ‘the angel in your house and resist the temptation to get up and do house hold chores. This tip is provided by Mary Compton, PhD, CPC, who also works with Supercoder.com. The ‘Angel in the House’ is a famous old poem about one of those domestic goddess women who keeps a ship-shape house and is totally devoted to her family.

All of us, be it men and women, have a little ‘angel’ in us: We want the best whether it’s for our homes or for our families. But when we are working, we have to keep the kids in school or day care and ignore the dirty dishes lying in the sink.

Multi-tasking work and housework normally does not work. Just ask this woman writing, who by accident laundered an iPod while mulling over a project for work.

Tip #3:

Find a spot. The Wall Street Journal urges you to set up a home office with a door that closes. Compton, who lives on a farm, says she works from a little building on her property and ‘commutes’ across her courtyard.

For those of us with less acreage, it’s still possible to set up a space that means “work”. Israel points out if you’re not working on the couch or sitting on the bed it is easier to stay motivated and focused on work rather than the laundry that needs to get done.

A friend of mine works from a little desk in her kitchen. When it’s quitting time, she puts all her coding books in a drawer and then her work desk becomes homework-checking-bill-paying-central.

Israel urges that whatever you do, you should remember to put your work away. “I’m terrible at this.”