4 great ideas for working from home in retirement
Barbara Binland is the pen name of a senior, Julie Grenness, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a poet, writer, and part-time English and Maths tutor, with over 40 years of experience. Her many books are available on Amazon and Kindle.
Now it is retirement time. Being retired can be a forever Saturday. But for some folk, retirement does not last too long. For over-60s, there can be ways of engaging in part-time work, without commuting. You can be free to work when you choose, and do not need fashionable clothes. It is convenient if you have a significant other at home. A benefit of having a home office, as an example, you can write off a part of your expenses on any taxes.
But, if you are planning to work from home, you must be very self-motivated, to complete tasks. You can miss out on the company which a workplace provides. You might feel that you never leave your workplace. Working from home can make clutter, so you have to manage that.
Overworking, by spending too many hours on a job, and undervaluing your services, are common drawbacks to working from home.
So, you wish to work from home now you are retired. What are some options for employment, paid or voluntary?
1. Online work. This can include: tutoring, writing, graphic art and illustration, editing, virtual office assistant, transcript employment (for example, for medical or legal professionals), bookkeeper, data clerk, medical biller, customer service representative, blogger, web and software development, research assistant, and other kinds of online work.
2. You do not have to work online. For example, you can tutor face-to-face at home. You can volunteer or set a fee for jobs like nannying (grand-nanny!), do catering, or ironing. There are voluntary jobs you can do at home, such as envelope stuffing for charities. Or you can craft for charities.
3. You can declutter your home and sell preloved items online. Sites like Ebay, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace are great places to get started. If you have DVDs or CDs lying around, selling these can raise cash flow.
4. You can create handcrafts, or toys, and also sell them online.
Of course, these are only examples. Simply browsing, focusing on your skills and experience, may give you a lead for post-retirement choices, if you wish to work at home.
One factor to consider is to beware of scams, especially online. Anyone who offers you extraordinary wages, or demands a fee from you for employment, is representing a scam.
Over-sixty and retiring? Your retirement does not have to last too long!