Get Mobile and Stay Home

Figure 1: Boring. Beige.  Business Wear. 

One big reason I have resisted working in a traditional job is that I hate dressing up.  Especially if the word "appropriately" enters the conversation. 

Business casual, skirt suits, hosiery, shoes that clack?  I can't stand them.  I feel like I'm wearing a costume.

It's one of the many reasons I relish working from home.  And why I'm so glad to live in an age when wireless connectivity makes it possible for me to wear thrift store rags 7 days a week.

The Economist has a special report on The New Nomadism, and how people are increasingly leaving the traditional workplace and flying out on wings made of wi-fi. 

The report goes into great detail about how our gadgetry does threaten some social linkages that are important, but I could only think of the bright side when it comes to staying at home:

* eating your own home-cooked meal, from food sources you are aware of, that involves less packaging

* not driving (and at upwards of 3 bucks a gallon, the planet AND your wallet will breathe a sigh of relief)

* not sitting in traffic, which is a huge, boring time-waster

* taking refreshing breaks in your own garden or neighborhood

* being able to maintain home tasks like switching loads of laundry and or rising bread

* spending less on cubicle couture and wearing consignment rags or jammies to your heart's content

Some of us won't be able to work like this.  If you work in a restaurant, retail store or factory, you kinda gotta be there.  But for those of us in the knowledge-based industries, spending even one day at home reduces your consumption and stress level both.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.