Many people dream of working at home. You get to set your own hours and work in your pajamas, and your morning commute consists of going from your kitchen to your desk. And for many small-business owners, working out of their homes can also mean big cost savings.

But working from home also has its share of pitfalls. One of the oft-overlooked benefits of working in cubicle land is that it provides structure. You come in for a certain number of hours, get your work done and go home.

You lose that structure when you work at home. You can easily get distracted by personal issues during work time or your "work life" bleeds into your "home life." As with a typical office job, people need to balance work time and personal time and not let work invade their home and vice versa.

Here are some tips to keep "home life" and "work life" separate, even when they exist in the same place.

Make Boundaries
Set physical and mental boundaries. "Confine your business activities to a certain area of the house, preferably a room that is exclusively used by you as your place of work," advises A Home-Based Business Online (AHBBO). "The advantage of a room as opposed to an unused corner of the living room is that when work is done for the day you can literally and symbolically shut the door on it."

Dress for work and set working hours. These don't have to be normal working hours, nor do they need to be the same every day, but having office hours will let your family know when you're working and it allows you to schedule in family time as well, Lynn Truong, author and managing editor at WiseBread.com, writes at entrepreneurship blog JonathanFields.com.

Create a daily schedule that takes into consideration other obligations you may have, Buzzle.com recommends. Set parameters for personal tasks and don't do chores during work hours as you'll just as easily take home time to do work stuff, Truong notes. Plan a start time, a lunch time and a time to end your day.

Finally, remember to schedule personal days and vacations, and make sure you take them, AHBBO adds.

Have a Separate Communications System
Life coach Lucy Beal offered the following suggestions in an interview with KSEE 24 News:

• Install separate phone lines;
• Use separate voicemail;
• Forward calls to your cell phone if you're not home;
• Install a separate fax line;
• Consider using a P.O. Box for business post;
• Create a business e-mail and instant messenger account; and
• Consider making a separate business profile on your computer.

Having a separate communications system in place helps prevent your kids (or other people you live with) from picking up business calls, and has the added benefit of keeping you organized.

Stay Organized
Unlike the office where there may be plenty of room for filing and possibly administrative assistants to do the filing for you, you'll have to file all your business materials yourself or, if you can afford one, hire an assistant. If not, you may be able to get help from friends and family who are willing to volunteer their time, Buzzle.com says.

Either way, filing needs to get done during office hours. "It's amazing how much paperwork and stuff can pile up in your office," Truong muses. "If it gets out of hand, you'll be tempted to use off office hours (because you're too busy during) to tidy up."

Minimize Distractions
If you have school-age children, consider scheduling work time to coincide with their school time, AHBBO advises. And if the kids get home before your work day is done, instill in them that your work time is your time and that they'll have to wait until you "get home" before they can get your undivided attention.

For younger children, consider setting up childcare outside the house a few days a week, writes Alyssa Gregory, home-based business owner of virtual assistant firm avertura, LLC, at SitePoint's Web Pro Business blog. Having the kids outside the house lets you have dedicated time to work without worrying about the children.

"[W]orking from home does not have to mean turning your home to a place of work," AHBBO notes. "By practising these simple disciplines day-in and day-out you can be sure that even though you are taking care of business, you are also taking care of something even more important. Life."

Related: Is Telecommuting Right for You?

Resources

Working from Home: 10 Unconscious Cues to Create a Work-Life Balance
by Lynn Truong
Jonathan Fields Blog, May 18, 2009

How I Mastered the Challenges of Working from Home
by Alyssa Gregory
SitePoint's Web Pro Business blog, May 16, 2009

The Home Office - Separating Work from Pleasure
by Jennifer McLynch
Buzzle.com, June 24, 2007

Separating Work and Home (video)
Interview with Lucy Beal
KSEE 24 News

Flipping the Switch ... How to Turn Off Your Business and Turn on Your Life
by Elena Fawkner
A Home-Based Business Online, 2006