Tips and advice to work from home

Working from home adapts to your preferences, needs and schedules but it also has some risks. Discover them in this guide.

Many people think that the only thing they can do on the Internet to get work is to post their resume on LinkedIn or Infojobs. Few consider working from home as a viable option when, in reality, it’s something totally possible.

The proof is the many writers, translators, photographers, journalists, entrepreneurs, graphic designers, bloggers, marketing specialists, programmers, etc… who are already doing it.

In this guide you’ll find tips and advice that will be very useful if you’re already working from home or if you decide to do so soon.

Productivity at home

One of the big challenges of working from home is managing to be productive. Something that especially if you have a family is not easy at all. Your home is an endless source of distractions: from television to neighbors, passing through the jar of Nutella you have in the cupboard, the console, the cat, the phone and a thousand other matters.

These are 10 tricks to be productive when you work from home:

1- Two or three daily tasks

Setting yourself 10 daily tasks will only serve to overwhelm you and jump from one to another without finishing any. Analyze the tasks you actually close daily and you’ll realize that finishing 10 isn’t realistic. If you set yourself an impossible goal you’ll end your day with great frustration and this will harm you.

“Set yourself only 2 or 3 daily tasks and leave them closed. Being realistic will improve your productivity.

2- Get dressed

Taking a shower and getting dressed can be very useful. It’s a routine that will help you feel that your work day is starting. If the shower thing doesn’t convince you, you can do something else like exercise. Morning sports will help you get active.

3- Stop your friends

If you work at home you can’t allow your friends to interrupt you to have some beers or comment on last night’s football game. If you were in an office they probably wouldn’t dare, but at home you run the risk of having a friend peeking through the window every now and then. If this happens tell them politely that you’re working.

4- Go out to work outside from time to time

Going out to work outside from time to time is something very enriching. Surely near your house you have a cafeteria, a coworking space or a library with WIFI. Working in one of these places is a way to break with the routine of your house. It can help you perform certain tasks, for example the most creative ones.

5- Use the cloud

Using cloud tools is the best way to work because it allows you to do it from anywhere. And I’m not just referring to being able to work in a bar or a library, I’m referring to being able to do it at different points in your house if you need to (to get away from noise for example).

Buy yourself a laptop that gives you freedom of movement, a desktop computer forces you to always work in the same place.

6- Create your workspace

If you work with a laptop, you don’t need any fixed office to work. Despite this, it’s good to have some corner of your house where you can isolate yourself, especially if you have children.

7- Let the landline ring

When you’re working, forget about your home’s landline. Most of the time it will be someone who wants to sell you something, so it’s not worth breaking your concentration to listen to offers. Your family and your clients already know what your mobile is.

8- Avoid private appointments in the middle of your work day

If you have to go to the doctor, dentist or buy something, try not to split your work day. Put these appointments before starting your day or at the end, so they don’t break your rhythm.

9- Enjoy your flexibility

Adapt your work to your life and not the other way around. Take advantage of middays to exercise, take a small nap or disconnect. A walk through the forest can give you the solution to a problem you can’t solve.

Work in your most productive hours, if you have nocturnal habits work at night and if your brain works better at dawn do it then.

10- Don’t enter the kitchen

This advice is one of the most effective. It has to do with your productivity but also with your health. Working at home you run the risk of spending all day snacking and this can harm both things. Enter the kitchen only when you have it stipulated (at breakfast and lunch time for example).

If you’re not applying these tips, choose one and start. Incorporate these habits little by little into your way of working and you’ll see how you feel much more comfortable with your productivity.

Working from home can seriously harm your productivity if you don’t acquire some habits to avoid it.

What can I deduct if I work from home?

Although many of us would like everything to be deductible, the reality is that deductible expenses must meet perfectly established requirements. These are the 3:

• It has to be linked to your economic activity.
• You have to have documents that justify it (invoice or receipt) and you must keep it for 5 years.
• It has to be registered in your accounting.

That said, let’s review the deductible expenses if you work from home:

1- If your home is rented…

You can deduct the proportional part of the monthly rent that corresponds to the space dedicated to developing your activity. And also community expenses and local taxes like the IBI or urban waste collection services, in the proportional part that corresponds.

2- If your home is owned…

You can deduct the proportional part of:

• Community expenses.
• Property depreciation.
• Mortgage interest.
• Home insurance.
• Local taxes like the IBI or urban waste collection services.
• Material purchases.

In both cases you can include as expense the purchases of material necessary to carry out your activity (stationery items, furniture…).

Whether your home is owned or rented, supply expenses (electricity, water…), can only be included:

• If you have independent meters and contracts to be able to differentiate consumption.
• If you can demonstrate increased consumption through invoices.

3- Other deductible expenses for working from home

There are other expenses not related to the workplace but to the activity:

• Technology: purchase of computer material necessary for your activity (computer, mobile…), as well as expenses related to them (phone bill, ADSL…).
• Transportation: expenses for travel for activity development (train tickets, plane…). At this point, we must comment on the use of our vehicle, since we won’t be able to deduct the total cost (both fuel and repairs…), unless we have a vehicle dedicated exclusively to our business. The above is what the Law indicates to us, but it’s a use commonly accepted by tax inspectors, to be able to deduct 50% of the VAT on gasoline, repairs… of our vehicle.
• Training: all expenses for your training and recycling (courses, masters…).
• Independent professional services: payment of expenses to certain professionals (advisors, notaries, economists, lawyers…).
• Travel and restaurants: all travel and meal expenses. Watch out! This deductible expense isn’t meant for going on vacation, but for business trips and meals.
• Social Security contributions: both your own and those of workers hired under your charge (technically they are VAT exempt).
• Other expenses: such as those derived from attending fairs and professional meetings, advertising, health insurance premiums paid by the self-employed person for themselves, their spouse or children under 25 who live in the family home (maximum of €500 per person), fees paid to professional associations and colleges…

Remember that you can deduct these expenses as long as they are related to your business and justified with their corresponding invoices.

And that’s the list of expenses you can deduct if you work from home. Don’t forget any!

FacturaDirecta and your business

Working from home is a viable work option that can give you the freedom you’re looking for. But having a company isn’t a piece of cake, you need to optimize your productivity and above all have your business under control.

FacturaDirecta is an online invoicing program that allows you to access your business information wherever you are and whenever you want. This way you’ll always make your decisions with information in hand.

More than 50,000 self-employed, freelancers and SMEs have already simplified their administrative tasks with FacturaDirecta. It’s your turn!

Try FacturaDirecta for free. Your business will never be the same again.