I’ve occasionally spoken of the benefits of working from home. And one thing I’ve focused on is how freelancers and telecommuters have the ability to control their business and income. More recently, The Renegade Writer blog featured a post, How to Gain Control Over Your Freelance Life, which actually explored how “out-of-control” a freelancer’s life can be: unpredictable clients, looking for new assignments, waiting for payments, etc.

Being self-employed is a roller coaster. But at the end of the day, I don’t think I would trade this life for anything. Once you get a taste of freedom, it’s hard to turn back the clock. I don’t know why, but this weekend (out of the blue), I started thinking about the little benefits can come with work at home life. Here’s what I came up with:

I love……

• Being able to get a hair appointment in the middle of the day. When I worked outside the home, my hair appointments were restricted to evenings and weekends. Naturally, most of America was also available during this time, which meant spending three or four hours in a hair salon. Nowadays, I’m in-and-out the salon in less than an hour and a half.

• Being able to have lunch with my husband, and not feel rushed. We don’t get together as often as we would like. But when we do, I can relax and not watch the clock.

• Getting first dibs on sales and clearance items. If I hear about a sale, I make sure to hit the stores before everyone gets off from work - and I stay away from the malls on the weekends.

• Being able to re-new my driver’s license on the weekday. Every Saturday I pass the DMV and see a line that wraps around the building. I remember those days. Fortunately, I don’t have to stand in them - anymore. I had to re-new my driver’s license earlier this month. I went on a Tuesday morning around 10:00. There was less than 40 people inside the building, and I was out in 20 minutes…that’s like a record!

• Being able to lay down and unwind. Something happens around 2 p.m. everyday, and I usually need to lie down for 20 or 30 minutes. I don’t always go to sleep. Sometimes, I just lay in complete silence and give myself a mental break. Afterwards, I’m good to go.