When we go out to work we constantly deal with interruptions from colleagues, exchange news and gossip, make coffee, struggle to make the printer work etc – and still go home at the end of the day with a feeling of a job well done.

Yet when we work from home, we want and expect to be productive 100% of the time and unwanted jobs that crop up like uncooperative technology, unexpected phone calls and dealing with glitches all feel like wasted time.

We often feel guilty when we’re not at our desks working during normal office hours and yet the freedom to work odd hours to suit ourselves is one of the reasons we choose to work from home. The old habits cling on after we’ve left the office environment behind, just like cartoon characters keep running after they’ve gone over the cliff!

You may feel you have to be available throughout working hours in case you miss a call from an existing or potential client. But do you expect professionals to be instantly available whenever you call? Of course not, and if they were you’d probably start to worry about how good they are if nobody is using them!

Manage the situation by returning calls promptly and explaining you were in a meeting/on another call/focusing 100% on an important piece of work, and people will respect you for your professionalism and want to work with you.

It can be so tempting to scrub out plans to go and meet a friend or take a walk if someone suggests that time for a meeting or call. But then you can end up wearing yourself out by never freeing up the time to get refreshed and replenished. Stick to your guns and show a little kindness to yourself!

Actually I’ve come to the conclusion that the solution is to buy a smaller, lighter laptop, not a new bag, but that’s a rather steeper investment and will have to wait for a while. And of course if I got an iPhone I could also dispense with my Filofax and A-Z and float about almost weightlessly!

In the meantime I’ve bought a very smart and spacious wine-coloured bag for events like the conference, where my favourite satchel and purple suede sack just don’t cut it! It’s the most grown-up bag I’ve ever had and I must say it’s rather a treat to be able to find everything instead of it all falling in a heap at the bottom.

With impeccable timing Sarah Evans of RightBag.co.uk has tweeted to say her new website is up and running and providing ‘funky tech bags for women’. She has a colourful selection of bags, cases and sleeves that’s much more interesting than most of the stuff you find in shops, and a good range of prices.

I’ll take a picture of my smart, ladylike bag soon, but in the meantime do let me know if you’ve discovered any clever solutions for home workers on the move.

For me though, working from home was actually a help at the end of my marriage, although admittedly my situation was different in that we were able to agree on all aspects of the parting of the ways.

When I felt down I’d just go to bed for an hour or two. I’m a great believer in the restorative power of sleep to tackle all kinds of ills and it never let me down. I think I was able to come to terms with the massive change in my life quicker than if I’d had to go out to work every day and switch my brain into totally different concerns until after 5pm.

Other people I know have abandoned their home office after the birth of a child and when they felt they needed more input than home working could give them. Are there any times in life when working from home might be a bad idea? Would you go out and get a job, or are there ways to work around it?

For me it means beginning the layering process, moving into T shirts with sleeves and jumpers and putting a pair of socks over those chilly desk-bound feet. I’m determined not to go into sheepskin boots yet, however, however much I love them. I’m hoping to hold out till November as it’s a sign of approaching winter I’m not quite ready to accept. Nor will my fleece blanket be introduced to the office chair until we start to have frosts.

What are your home working sartorial concessions to the changing season? Do you welcome the chance to wear woolly jumpers or try to hold off the evil moment as long as possible?

And what do you wear when you go out for meetings and events? I’ve always had difficulties in balancing a professional appearance with the freedom of being a home worker and not subject to the office dress code. I turned up for my last event at Central, which coincided with the Indian Summer, in a brightly coloured summer dress and cardigan and was taken aback to receive several compliments. Was it because I was wearing a skirt for a change, or because of the colour, or a mixture of both? Whichever, it’s made me rethink my default dark trousers and range of tops position.

Perhaps I don’t need to be so hung-up about looking professional and just wear what I know suits me and makes me feel good. I’d love to hear what both male and female home workers find the best approach for away-from-home working.

It’s frustrating when a label that’s been a stand-by suddenly decides to rebrand. I only discovered Kew about 18 months ago and now it’s become Kew.159 and is obviously aimed at a younger market. Which is odd considering that the population is ageing and that the bulk of spending power lies with the (relatively) oldies.

So I’m watching Mary Portas’ new retail venture with interest – she claims to be dressing the ‘grown-up woman over 40′. Anyone checked out her new store in Oxford Street yet?

And not to neglect you chaps who are interested in how you look. Take a look at Lifeover35.co.uk, a blog written by home working journalist Guy Clapperton about clothes, gadgets and style.

Many of us who are home or mobile workers are doing something we are passionate about. We have given up jobs that failed to fire us up in order to freelance or set up a small business that uses a talent. In my own experience, I don’t feel I’m “working” in the same sense I was when I was employed; I am simply expressing myself in a way that feels natural, so working at what would traditionally be considered odd hours is not particularly a problem.

Despite this, after a while I started to feel that I could be more creative and productive if I chose my work hours more carefully and actively planned to get out of the house. I found that meeting people, and not necessarily people connected with my business, gave me a boost that never happened at my desk. I therefore pop out to meet a friend for coffee these days at whatever time suits us both.

I’ve come to believe that successful home working means creating your own schedules, regardless of the conventional 9 to 5. The most creative home and mobile workers learn to switch on and off at any time in order to meet deadlines and – more importantly – give their brains a break and fuel their imaginations.

This ability only seems to come with experience. Most new home workers stick to their old office patterns for a while before becoming more aware of their freedom. I’m interested in this way that work is developing and how the boundary between so-called work and leisure is blurring.

How do you mix up your time? Does it feel different from what you have done before?

This post was first published on www.workshifting.com, the site for people who work out of coffee shops, hotels, airports and their homes every bit as much as the office.

Our special guest was Clare Flynn Levy, a hedge fund manager until having her first baby converted her to the delights of flexible working. Clare is now the MD of Flexpaths, providing software to help organisations manage flexible working, and the founder of the Equilibrant Network for senior executives interested in flexible work. She was the perfect guest, and informed and entertained us equally with her experiences of combining work and home life.

It was interesting to see how, although we all share the challenges of procrastination while working mainly from home, people vary enormously in their response to it and how they overcome it. One of my principle beliefs about working at home successfully is that each individual has to find the best way for themselves, and so reading prescriptive articles (that you must have a separate home office, for example) is not necessarily helpful.

The great thing about these monthly groups is the opportunity to hear about different ways of doing things, while feeling encouraged by realising that the challenges – which we often feel are ours alone – are in fact shared.

One of the attendees, Claire Melvin of Claire’s Cakes, brought along some cute mini cupcakes for us, some with my house logo in green icing, which was a lovely thought. And I didn’t notice anybody procrastinating about eating one!

I’ve subsequently seen a photo of Eva Takacs’ newly cluttercleared workspace and will post it soon on the Home Office page. Eva, the founder of The Vent Service, was bemoaning the untidy state of her sofa, where she works with her laptop, at the first two groups, but now she has transformed it. Not only is the group an inspiring night out, but it gets good results too!

No, of course not! It’s tempting to think you can be more productive if you just keep on working, and maybe in the short term you can. If you’re working to an urgent deadline, for example. But it’s not so good when it becomes a habit. I find that if I’m on a roll with work I keep putting off a break, sometimes for so long that I end up starving and resort to biscuits etc because I can’t wait to make something healthy.

Until recently I’d got into the habit of eating at my computer while reading (and sometimes bolting my food in order to wipe my fingers and get back to the keyboard). And then I was told by a nutritionist that I’d absorb the vitamins and minerals in my food better if I relax while eating – and that means leaving my desk.

Then there’s the question of what to eat. Since my consultation I’ve been eating much more healthily – less wheat, dairy and sugar, even – the home worker’s greatest dread, surely – less caffeine. But it takes time to plan and shop to make sure there are always healthy snacks in the house. So much easier to grab a sandwich, and graze on biscuits, crisps and cake in between.

In an ideal world working at home should enable you to eat better. But what happens in practice? Is your home working day one long graze at your desk, or do you make a point of stopping to eat and drink?

For years I believed I needed to work entirely alone in my own space, well out of earshot of other people’s conversations, music or other interruptions. It wasn’t until we lived in a house where ‘my’ office was plenty big enough for both of us, and A started to spend some of his time working at a desk at the other end of the room, that I realised I was actually much better at tuning out noise than I’d thought.

I’d never have guessed I would be able to work alongside other people in a coworking space either, but you do adjust to the circumstances. These days when I go to Central I’ve noticed it always takes me ages to even start to hear the background music, but I’m not sure whether that just proves how nosy curious I am about my fellow coworkers or that the music is well-chosen and played at the right volume!

I know some people use different kinds of music to get themselves into the right mood and pace for the work they’re doing. I find a good jump around on the rebounder to some classic Bruce Springsteen is a guaranteed way of starting the day fired up or shaking off a bad mood, but I still don’t play music in my office.

I prefer to work in quietness, but other people find they can concentrate better if they play music or have the radio on in the background. Cherry Douglas of How To Change Careers told me the other day she has the radio on in the house to take away the dead quiet, but not so loud she’s able to listen to it!

Have you tried one of those apps that play ‘white noise’ to help you tune out unwelcome distractions? What are your ideal working conditions from a sound point of view? What’s on your favourite playlist for home working?

Image by fapen

Working from home is great. I’ve been doing it, on and off, for about five years. There are times, however, when the allure of the television, the biscuit tin or the unmade bed are too much even for me. It’s those times when I pack up my MacBook in an old kit bag and look for somewhere else to work. But where?

Here are some ideas for places to work when you don’t want to work from home:

1. Coworking spaces. If getting out of the house is something you want to do with some regularity, consider joining a coworking space or members club, like Central in London. It’s a nice way of working, because it puts you in the same space as other independent workers and can lead to collaboration. If you want to try it out for free, join a local Jelly event, which is like a pop-up coworking space. (Judy’s written an excellent guide to Jelly for home workers).

2. Coffee shops. Taking your laptop to a coffee shop is often the easiest way to work outside of the home. It’s not hard to find coffee shops with wifi these days – and the only rent you’ll pay is in caffeine!

3. Libraries. Libraries offer a quieter environment in which to work, and most have free wifi. You may have to be a member to get online, so make sure you take some ID with you, if it’s your first trip.

4. Somewhere fancy. If working at home just isn’t cutting it, get out of the house and work somewhere fancy for inspiration. Dress the part and work in a posh hotel lobby, and it may give you a fresh perspective on your work.

5. The great outdoors. If you work from home most of the time, it’s a good idea to separate your workspace from the rest of the house. You can do that physically with a garden office or be even more adventurous and make the most of the great outdoors. We wrote a blog post all about it recently.

Where do you work when you don’t fancy working from home? Let us know in the comments.

San Sharma (@WorkSnugSan) is community manager at WorkSnug, a website and mobile app that connects mobile workers to the nearest and best places to work in the world.

Photo credit: visual panic

I’ve never managed to solve the dilemma of how to carry all my stuff in this situation and always end up hung about with bags like a home working bag lady – my usual cross-body bag full to bursting plus the laptop in a cotton shoulder bag with notebook and A-Z. Not a very elegant solution. I prefer to walk around London whenever possible as it’s so fascinating (my favourite sight this trip was a chap coming out of Charing Cross station with a ferret curled around his neck – on a lead, I was glad to see as he passed close in front of me!)

I can’t decide whether to buy a large bag that would hold my laptop as well as my Filofax, brolly, personal bits and pieces and everything else, or whether this would end up being too heavy on my city strolls. My everyday bag came from this site that sells leather bags for men and women that are incredibly good value, and they stock bigger bags that would do the trick. Have any of you clever home workers come up with an answer to this question?

PS There are now more suggestions on Home working bag lady Part 2