lectricity turned off for the weekend. She had access to dates of birth, residence addresses, and social security numbers, and gave a good story to the clerks at the utility company about how she “left my bill at home, but I know my Social Security number”. When I was injured on the job in her car, she sent the police and the driver who hit us away. I ended up suing, as I had a hospital bill and permanent injuries- took me four years and cost me my house, but I prevailed.

• YOU reap the rewards for

• Gas prices- need we say more?

• Spend more time with family I remember when I worked for a large media corporation. I was in training for my job. My son was leaving for college, over 1200 miles away. I was told by my boss that if I missed any of the training to see my son off at the train station, I would be terminated. So, a family friend saw my son off, and I remained at work. Even though we said our goodbyes that morning, I missed this important milestone.

• Save money on daycare, work clothes, restaurant lunches, road tolls, car maintenance and repairs As a young mother working for the State of Florida, almost one third of my take-home pay went for daycare. When I got “promoted” from an office job to a field job, my expenses went up for gas, car repairs, food on the road, etc. This was in 1989, before the advent of two and three dollar a gallon gasoline. I can only imagine what the social workers in field positions go through today, as the mileage check that the state issued did not cover your real expenses, plus the district office had a habit of “losing” your microscopically-detailed mileage reimbursement forms. It would sometimes be 90 days before you saw your reimbursement check.

• Less hectic pace of life- relax more, enjoy life and live longer! The average commute to work is about 45 minutes. Add the lunch hour to this, and you are devoting over 10 hours a day to your job. Then you come home, and the housework, meal preparation, childcare, etc. awaits you. You fall into bed exhausted after your 16 hour day, only to get up and do it all over again the following day.

• No more office politics! No more bosses/co-workers from HELL! This could be a book in itself. Most of us have experienced the “water cooler gossip”, the building “snoop”, and the warped personalities that become even more twisted once they get a little power in their hands. I had a supervisor who, among other things, thought it funny to call the utility company and impersonate her employees, and have the electricity turned off for the weekend. She had access to dates of birth, residence addresses, and social security numbers, and gave a good story to the clerks at the utility company about how she “left my bill at home, but I know my Social Security number”. When I was injured on the job in her car, she sent the police and the driver who hit us away. I ended up suing, as I had a hospital bill and permanent injuries- took me four years and cost me my house, but I prevailed.

• YOU reap the rewards for y

lothes, restaurant lunches, road tolls, car maintenance and repairs As a young mother working for the State of Florida, almost one third of my take-home pay went for daycare. When I got “promoted” from an office job to a field job, my expenses went up for gas, car repairs, food on the road, etc. This was in 1989, before the advent of two and three dollar a gallon gasoline. I can only imagine what the social workers in field positions go through today, as the mileage check that the state issued did not cover your real expenses, plus the district office had a habit of “losing” your microscopically-detailed mileage reimbursement forms. It would sometimes be 90 days before you saw your reimbursement check.

• Less hectic pace of life- relax more, enjoy life and live longer! The average commute to work is about 45 minutes. Add the lunch hour to this, and you are devoting over 10 hours a day to your job. Then you come home, and the housework, meal preparation, childcare, etc. awaits you. You fall into bed exhausted after your 16 hour day, only to get up and do it all over again the following day.

• No more office politics! No more bosses/co-workers from HELL! This could be a book in itself. Most of us have experienced the “water cooler gossip”, the building “snoop”, and the warped personalities that become even more twisted once they get a little power in their hands. I had a supervisor who, among other things, thought it funny to call the utility company and impersonate her employees, and have the electricity turned off for the weekend. She had access to dates of birth, residence addresses, and social security numbers, and gave a good story to the clerks at the utility company about how she “left my bill at home, but I know my Social Security number”. When I was injured on the job in her car, she sent the police and the driver who hit us away. I ended up suing, as I had a hospital bill and permanent injuries- took me four years and cost me my house, but I prevailed.

• YOU reap the rewards for

er your real expenses, plus the district office had a habit of “losing” your microscopically-detailed mileage reimbursement forms. It would sometimes be 90 days before you saw your reimbursement check.

• Less hectic pace of life- relax more, enjoy life and live longer! The average commute to work is about 45 minutes. Add the lunch hour to this, and you are devoting over 10 hours a day to your job. Then you come home, and the housework, meal preparation, childcare, etc. awaits you. You fall into bed exhausted after your 16 hour day, only to get up and do it all over again the following day.

• No more office politics! No more bosses/co-workers from HELL! This could be a book in itself. Most of us have experienced the “water cooler gossip”, the building “snoop”, and the warped personalities that become even more twisted once they get a little power in their hands. I had a supervisor who, among other things, thought it funny to call the utility company and impersonate her employees, and have the electricity turned off for the weekend. She had access to dates of birth, residence addresses, and social security numbers, and gave a good story to the clerks at the utility company about how she “left my bill at home, but I know my Social Security number”. When I was injured on the job in her car, she sent the police and the driver who hit us away. I ended up suing, as I had a hospital bill and permanent injuries- took me four years and cost me my house, but I prevailed.

• YOU reap the rewards for

exhausted after your 16 hour day, only to get up and do it all over again the following day.

• No more office politics! No more bosses/co-workers from HELL! This could be a book in itself. Most of us have experienced the “water cooler gossip”, the building “snoop”, and the warped personalities that become even more twisted once they get a little power in their hands. I had a supervisor who, among other things, thought it funny to call the utility company and impersonate her employees, and have the electricity turned off for the weekend. She had access to dates of birth, residence addresses, and social security numbers, and gave a good story to the clerks at the utility company about how she “left my bill at home, but I know my Social Security number”. When I was injured on the job in her car, she sent the police and the driver who hit us away. I ended up suing, as I had a hospital bill and permanent injuries- took me four years and cost me my house, but I prevailed.

• YOU reap the rewards for

lectricity turned off for the weekend. She had access to dates of birth, residence addresses, and social security numbers, and gave a good story to the clerks at the utility company about how she “left my bill at home, but I know my Social Security number”. When I was injured on the job in her car, she sent the police and the driver who hit us away. I ended up suing, as I had a hospital bill and permanent injuries- took me four years and cost me my house, but I prevailed.

• YOU reap the rewards for your hard work, not somebody else or some greedy corporation! Back in 1989, I read about a man who was a payments worker for an Adult Assistance Payments unit, which provided payments to Nursing Homes, came up with a wonderful idea, which saved the state of Florida tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, every month. His idea was to pro-rate the payment of the assistance grant based on the date that the elderly person entered the nursing home. Before this, the state was giving a full month’s grant payment to the homes, even though the resident would not enter until later in the month-in essence, paying the nursing home for nothing. The worker’s praises were sung in the employee newsletter- what a brilliant idea, and how much money this would save the taxpayers. In the corporate world, this man probably would have been given a raise and a bonus. What was his reward for his idea? A PLAQUE and a TEE-SHIRT! Try and take THOSE to the bank!

• No more RUSH-HOUR TRAFFIC nightmares! This fits in with the stress category. I remember my two hour (at least) commute into Tampa, FL. This would sometimes be longer if there was an accident on the interstate, and traffic came to a stand-still. Usually, this happened on Tuesdays, when I was supposed to be in court at 9 AM as part of my job.

• Benefit from tax breaks for having a working office in your home. Check with your tax preparer or the IRS about the details, but if you use part of your home as your workplace, part of your home’s expenses (mortgage or rent, taxes, insurance, and utilities, phone and internet) are tax-deductible. Any business equipment that you purchase, such as computers, copy machines, and fax machines are also deductible.