There’s probably never been a better day than today to extoll the virtues of home working.

This morning, my office looked like this:

I’m one month into a ‘new’ home working role and already feel I’ve learned tonnes about myself and working away from a traditional office set up.

How this new home working position came about

I’ve been with Hotwire for a total of nearly 5 years at our London office. I love the company, I love the culture, I love the people I’ve spent so many hours with. I’ve honestly never had a better job.

I lost my Mum to cancer in January of this year and that brought with it some major lifestyle changes – one of which included my husband getting a new job back ‘home’ in South Wales (my home, not his).

The time had never been more right to say my farewells to London and head home. With that came the need to resign from my current position at Hotwire.

Flexible working wasn’t an option for me. I pride myself on being diligent, hard working and giving nothing other than my best. I didn’t want this to change – and feared being tarred with a ‘what the heck does she do all day, anyway?’ brush if I was no longer visible to the wider company. Presence is really important to me.

Not everyone feels the same about home working

I am however blessed to work for someone that totally disagrees with my attitude to remote working – our group CEO Brendon Craigie. Brendon was reluctant to accept my resignation and (politely) pushed for me to give home working a go.

Here I am, one month on totally loving it. Who would have thought?

It’s not always been a bed of roses and I’ve definitely learned lots along the way.

What home working has taught me

• I made the mistake of thinking home working gives you 26 hours in a day – it doesn’t. Least of all when you’ve switched your 5 day a week contract to a 3 day a week one and you’re finding yourself doing more than ever before. You can’t (comfortably) fit a family supermarket shop into your lunch hour; you don’t suddenly gain 3 hours before work from not commuting for 40 minutes in a morning and you are just as exhausted and in need of some R&R after a hard day at the home office. Do not try and fit a pint into a half pint glass. It’s not happening

• Get out, and talk to people – regardless of multiple phone calls, emails, IM chats and social media interactions there’s no substitute for having a conversation with someone in person. There’s something that bit more enriching about it – even if it’s just a lament from the postman about all the additional Amazon packages you seem to get these days

• Stay active – I wear a Nike Fuelband and make every effort to hit my daily goal. I was amazed at how much more difficult this became when working from home. Despite my best efforts to always sprint to the upstairs loo and never settle for the downstairs bathroom; the kettle being that bit closer, no four flights of stairs up to the office and not wandering over to someone’s desk to ask them something several times a day took its toll – but in a good way. It made me more determined to work out. I’ve buddied up with a dog owning friend for early morning walks, I’ve definitely spent more time outdoors as a result

• Never underestimate the power of a ‘technical restart’ – a bulletproof connection counts for everything when you’re a home worker. Without it, you’re doomed. You swiftly morph into your own IT guy and find your way around connectivity reboots pretty swiftly. Same goes for giving yourself a bit of a kick up the backside from time to time. If you’re struggling with something, put it down, make a coffee, walk round the block, attack it with fresher eyes and a clearer mind

• Do something different with the flexibility you gain – my new reduced working week means I can pursue my passion for nutrition. I’m studying part time to become a nutritional therapist and I’ve launched a blog over at Let Her Eat Clean. This doing something different gives me so much more energy to attack my working days – it makes me ever more grateful for something that pays the bills and lets me do something I’m really passionate about at the same time

• And finally… No matter how hard you try to explain, your 69 year old father will never ever ‘get’ home working. He tells all the locals at the pub I’m a fraud, he tells me he feels the need to write a report on my outputs to my ‘big bosses’, he forever worries I’ll be issued with a P45 for emptying the washing machine

Things have come so far since my Dad’s days at the office and I can honestly say I’m really pleased to have been given the opportunity to try out a more flexible way of working.

If you have any tips or have any questions drop me a tweet, I’ll be back on the blog soon to let you know how I’m getting on.