I work at home, and have done so since 1974.

[MineralMan]

I wear pants when I work. I have done that since 1974, as well. Getting dressed is part of my preparations for sitting down and my desk and working, just as it would be before getting in my car to go to a job. It's a transition that helps me focus on what I'm doing, I suppose.

It's interesting to see how many people don't bother to do that when working at home temporarily. Since I'm going to work, it's important to prepare to get down to work. For me, that involves putting on clothing suitable for work. I guess I'm old-fashioned or something. Old I certainly am, at the very least.

[cilla4progress]

1. What industry are you in,

MM, if I may, that you have been able to work from home since 1974?

[MineralMan]

3. I've been a freelance writer since 1974.

For most of that time I wrote for various magazines. Now, I'm semi-retired, but still write the content for complete small business websites, working for a web designer.

I would not recommend writing on a freelance basis as a career, though. It's a very difficult way to make a good living.

[USALiberal]

2. My attitude is not based on my clothes, it is based on my professionalism.

My attitude is not based on my clothes, it is based on my professionalism.

[MineralMan]

4. OK.

I still get dressed every morning, though.

[LanternWaste]

5. Juicy...

[cwydro]

15. Um, what?

[Hoyt]

6. Have worked mostly from home since the late 80s. Dress if I have to go into office or

to see someone. Fortunately, internet and email have made that rare since 2000s.

Otherwise, it's shorts and T-shirts when weather allows. Like to get up and go straight to work. Plus, I'll get up at all hours to do stuff, try out ideas, meet deadlines, etc.

To this day, I don't do any meetings on video. I'll tell them I'll call in. If they insist on using cameras, I tell them I have a glitch, just got a new computer, or something, so stick me on speaker phone.

[MineralMan]

8. I don't mind videoconferencing, really.

I do quite a bit of it, for client meetings and stuff like that. I have a webcam plugged into my desktop PC and use it and its microphone for meetings like that. Ever since Skype came out, I've been doing that, and now use other platforms, as needed.

It took me a while to get the right camera angle and lighting, along with a background that didn't show just how messy my office normally is, but once I got that all set up, I just do it whenever it's helpful.

I really prefer that than traveling to someone else's office for a meeting. It saves tons of time and still has the personal, face-to-face advantages of an in-person meeting. The web designer I work with and I still go to client meetings sometimes, but most of them are online, now especially.

My wife, who is also a writer, uses her iPhone for such meetings. She has a stand for it. I helped her find a good spot for the phone and adjusted the lighting to help her look her best. She also uses an iPad sometimes for Skype conversations with friends.

[PJMcK]

7. I've worked from home since the early 1980s

Although I've had a NYC office all these years, I've also had a studio in my home.

For me, a daily routine is an integral part of being productive. I have to shave and shower and get dressed before I can sit down to work.

I agree with your assessment above that freelancing is a tough way to make a living. It has had its benefits, though, such as a more flexible schedule, increased creativity and, ironically, it has given me more security. This is because I've diversified my client base and income streams so I'm not dependent on one source of income. It's a juggling act but it has mostly worked well for me for almost 40 years.

[MineralMan]

9. Yes. There's something about getting dressed and ready to work

that makes work seem more important, somehow.

There were several lean years for me when I began freelancing, but I soon figured out what worked and didn't. You're right about diversifying your client base. It's never a good idea to work solely for a single client. However, in my semi-retirement, I've cut back to just one very reliable client and am on a retainer with him. Sometimes I have too much work and sometimes not enough, but the retainer basis evens it all out. We've been working together for almost 10 years now.

I think it takes a certain mindset to freelance. Most people don't seem to have that mindset, so I never recommend freelancing to people who ask me about it. Instead, I talk about the self-discipline and scheduling required to make it work and the ever-present ups and downs of income it often produces.

Since both my wife and I freelance, that also helps balance the unsteadiness of the workload. We've learned to manage the home workplace environment well in our 28 years together. Part of that is maintaining workspaces in different parts of the home, so we don't interrupt each other's concentration.

My wife is more social than I am, so she often schedules outside meetings and get-togethers with friends as part of her schedule. We're both available to do proofreading and minor editing for each other, which also helps. Our computers are networked, so we can deal with any work-sharing stuff, as needed, very easily. We also have separate Alexa smart speakers which can be used as an intercom system, although we rarely use that feature. Alexa lets you "Drop in" on someone to set up a conversation.

[MineralMan]

10. When my wife and I lived in California, our house was too

small to have two people working from home at the same time. So, we rented a 4-room office suite in a local building. After we moved to Minnesota, though, there was plenty of room and separation of work spaces at home, so we no longer do that.

[Yavin4]

11. Improve productivity by reducing the number of daily decisions

There's a school of thought that you can improve your overall daily productivity by reducing the number of decisions that you have to make every day. Wearing sweatpants, t-shirts, jeans, etc. can boost your productivity by reducing your clothing decisions to a default choice.

I have found that I am more productive working from home because it eliminates my commute which also reduces my decisions.

https://observer.com/2017/03/how-to-make-every-minute-of-the-day-count-by-dramatically-reducing-decisions/

[eppur_se_muova]

14. That's why I wear only black socks. :4) nt

[MineralMan]

16. Perhaps, but how much of a decision is putting on some clothes after a shower?

I mean, I have a closet full of clothes. I put on a pair of pants and a shirt. Anything in the closet will do, so I grab something. This time of year, it will depend on the weather outside. What's the temperature this morning?

I don't have any clothes I don't wear. So, whatever I pull out of the closet will do just fine for anything I will do that day, from working to meeting the delivery guy at the door, or going grocery shopping.

It's not really about making a decision. I shower every morning, so I have to put something on.

[Yavin4]

18. You'd be surprised.

Questions like:

What did I wear yesterday? Is it clean? Do I have to clean my clothes? Dry clean or machine wash? Do they match? Etc.

If I put on the same sweat pants/hoodie/t-shirt every day or at least multiple days, then I don't have to think about those things. If I buy enough sweatpants an t-shirts for a month, then I don't have any decisions to make for a month or more.

[Hortensis]

12. I worked at home from early 1980s until a couple years ago.

Real estate appraiser most of it, in blazers, slacks and pumps I could represent banks in as I climbed over fences to see what was on the other side. Then editing and rewriting documents when we moved to the country in the clothes and touch of makeup I'd wear around home and be presentable in if people dropped by or I had to run to the store.

Agree that it helps. Not just with the work, but especially in not letting standards for all the rest of your life slide.

When isolated, like living at the end of a road in the country, it's too easy to do that. I remember hiding when some interesting but not close acquaintances from another county dropped by because I wouldn't let them see me "like that." Whatever that was about, I missed it. Also not accompanying my husband somewhere because I hadn't showered and done my hair. Not good.

Also, nonstretchy pants getting tight are a critically important signal for anyone liable to put on weight at home. Huge no to hanging all day in sweats and loose lounge wear. Next step's liable to be looking for something to wear to a party or some such thing and having to rush to town to find something quick that fits. And then other larger sizes may follow. Cute, figure-hugging clothes don't let that happen.

[cilla4progress]

13. I'm "in Court"

right now on Zoom (awaiting my turn.)

Dressy up top; leggings and Crocs on the bottom!

Will be verrrrrry tough going back...assuming it happens! 🤣

[Happy Hoosier]

17. I have worked from home since 2004....

I always wear SOME kind of pants.... but they are often shorts or sweatpants.

I am an engineer, and "business attire" is not usual anyway.

[mcar]

19. I've worked from home since 2002

I'm also a freelance writer.

It's Florida so I'm usually in shorts and a t-shirt but, yes, I dress every day.

[Rae]

20. If that works for you, great.

I've worked from home for 10 years now and like to be comfy, especially since I'm in a chair all day. The very best part is bras are optional. I have my morning "go to work" routine that prepares me mentally, as well as my daily wind down. Clothing is not a part of that equation. The hardest part for a long time was walking away from my desk as well as my job for the evening. It was entirely too easy to run back up and jump online. I've learned to balance that.

To each his own. I am, however, unavailable for video calls until my hair salon opens back up. Lol!

[DFW]

21. I don't know if I'd want that

My job--when I can do it!!--takes me to a different country every day (except for the last five weeks). I've been doing it, in one form or another, for 45 years now. I have taken the last month and a half in stride because I have had to, and suddenly adapting to new situations is part of what I have learned to do. Besides, the situations aren't all that new any more. I speak the language of every country that borders on Germany except Czech and Luxemburgisch. Spain, Scandinavia and Italy are short flights, so I speak Swedish, Catalan, Spanish and Italian as well. Russia is farther away, but the mountain usually comes to Mohammed in their case. My Polish sucks, too, but I can fake it. Hey, if you're gonna live here, you might as well LIVE here, right? Besides, it cuts down on my work time by half not needing an interpreter.

Still, being stuck in my small village outside Düsseldorf for five weeks in a row is starting to be a very OLD new situation. But this bug is not to be trifled with. Some friends have had it and while they survived, neither was unscathed, and since I had pneumonia a few decades back, you might say I am "pulmonarily challenged." When I was summoned up to a town in Lower Saxony last week, I booked a train up there for this morning. My wife said NO WAY, returned my train reservations and drove me up there and back. Being Europe, it was only a couple of hours in each direction, but being Germany, it was very stressful with wall-to-wall trucks from Eastern Europe waddling aimlessly from lane to lane and aggressive German drivers trying not only for their own Darwin awards, but offering to share them with anyone not quick enough to get out of their way.

Anyway, we did get back fine, and now, besides celebrating a neighbor's birthday tomorrow go back into semi-hibernation. By the same token, we have done some cleaning out of old boxes in the attic. Lots of useless stuff, but also stuff I love to go over again. Newspapers crowing of Obama's historic election, JFK'S assassination, invitations of "The President of the United States and Mrs. (whoever it was) request the pleasure of your presence, etc etc.," letters from parents and friends no longer with us.

But MAN, it's been 5 weeks!!!!! I'm not ready to retire at this age! I'm not willing to die for my impatience, but this native is definitely getting restless.

[fescuerescue]

22. Myself I've done since about 97 part time and full time since 2000

I usually wear pants.

jokes aside, many of my customers have been introduced into the "work from home world" quite abruptly. It's been REALLY interestingly to listen to them talk about the adjustments and how many cannot wait to get back to the office.

Given that even the most reluctant businesses have had to adapt rapidly to work-from-home, I suspect that a large number of them will never go back

If ANYTHING, I hope this is the death of the damn cubicle farm trend that has been getting worse every year.