5 Ways to Work From Home With Your Spouse Without Killing Each Other |

5 Ways to Work From Home With Your Spouse Without Killing Each Other

Congratulations. You and your significant other are part of the steadily growing, yet lucky few who gets to work from home. At first you were excited. After all, now that you were both working from home, this meant that you would get to spend more quality time with each other, right? Wrong. For most couples who operate out of their kitchen, dining room or (if you’re really lucky) home office, it often doesn’t take long to realize that the only “time” you are spending together is on each other’s last nerve. That being said, here are some helpful tips to save your sanity….and your relationship!

5 Tips for Working From Home With Your Significant Other (S.O.)

Separate But Equal- Try to keep your work space as far away from your S.O. as possible. Trust me, this will lessen the urge to be distracted by him/her-especially the occasional “I just wanted to ask you this quick” or “Take a look at this thing really quickly..”
Make a Schedule- And STICK TO IT. Just because you’re working from home now, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t at least “pretend” like you hold regular job hours. Especially when you’re working from home, it helps to have a little discipline, this way you’re not tempted to run errands and do other miscellaneous household chores. Pretend like you’re not even there!
Get Out- The trap that many WFHers fall into is they might go for hours (sometimes even days) without going outside. If you have to, set an alarm to go off at a certain time, this way you can remind yourself to take a break. Even if it means going outside to do a quick loop around the block or head to the gym for an hour, make sure that you’re up and moving.
Invest in Noise Cancelling Headphones- If you live in an apartment or are really stuck for space to where you have no choice but to work across the table from your partner, investing in headphones may help to block out unnecessary noise (i.e. your spouse on the phone, the cat meowing, dog barking, loud neighbors, etc.). This would also be a great opportunity to discuss noise issues with your S.O. ahead of time.
Plan a “Date Night”- When you work from home, try to take care of any errands that you have to run earlier in the day so that they don’t get neglected later (i.e. laundry, gym, food shopping, etc). This will create more space in your schedule later on in the day. Of course, this depends on what work schedule you’ve set up for yourself. More importantly, if you and your S.O. both work from home, it can become REALLY easy to get caught up in working around the clock. Make it a point to shut down the computer and plan a special night or day where the two of you spend time together from behind the warm glow of your laptops. It will do wonders for your relationship to have the actual face-to-face communication!

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