Before you started working at home with your spouse, you imagined that it was going to be amazing. Having a non-existent commute—plus working with your sweetie—seemed like a win/win situation. But now you’re a few weeks into working together—and, well, it’s not really working out. Here’s how to work at home with your spouse—and survive.
Maintain separate spaces. If you’re short on space in your home, it makes sense that you would work together in the same home office. But if you’re sharing office space and a bedroom together, that togetherness can get to be too much. So look for other areas of your home that could function as a separate home office, such as a spare bedroom, or even spaces like the attic, garage or a large closet. Not being together 24/7 can help you keep a happy and harmonious work and family life.
Keep a consistent schedule. Having a flexible schedule means that you can work when you want, where you want. If you’re working with your spouse, though, you’ll need to have a clear and steady schedule, especially if you have children. For the most part, you should try to be in sync with each other so that you can keep normal business hours. After all, if you work erratic hours (and at different times of the day) you’ll both feel like you’re always working. Consistently working parallel hours will keep your business stable—and both of you less stressed.
Eliminate (work) pillow talk. After the kids are in bed, you might find that talk naturally turns back to business. Discussing the social media strategies for your business at 11:00 PM is not a good idea. For one thing, talking about your biz right before going to bed is a guarantee to rev you up—and a recipe for you to potentially have broken sleep. As tempting as it might be to talk shop, reserve that quiet time at night to snuggle up together and connect as a couple, not business partners.
Working from home with your husband can definitely be a rewarding and fun experience. By setting up some boundaries—both in terms of space and time—you’ll have a stronger business and marriage.
