I am currently working a master bedroom flat from which I work as as well as live. I really like my flat – the location is great and the floor plan is amazing – due to a quirk of the building, I have an extremely large bedroom.
I have rented a very small office in a co-working space across the street. I wanted a little room where I could read, journal, and work on a book I’m writing.
I have a friend who is in the same industry and also works from a one-bed flat. On the weekends she goes back to her home a couple of hundred kilometres away in Malaysia.
I’m separated from my husband and on the weekends – and occasionally during the week – I go “home” to where they live with their father. He and I get along, but we are separated.
He didn’t want to move out and shuffle the kids back and forth so he stayed and I left. I’ve supported the 5 of us for several years, with two rents to pay, while he stayed home with the kids. I did live there during the pandemic and it was a reminder of why we separated. I moved out as soon as the last lockdown ended.
She does not approve of my renting an office. She said that I could just rent a flat with a second bedroom if I wanted to have a private study. I said that the 2 bedrooms are about $500-700 more a month, while the office is $400 a month (It’s a small shared office) and wouldn’t include things like having deliveries signed for, all the utilities included, etc. And, a 2-bed flat would mean having 2 small bedrooms instead of the one extremely large one that I currently really enjoy.
So, for an additional $1,100 a month I can have another room in a lovely, sunlit space with amenities included. I can sit and focus on my writing, and meditation. I can mentally clock off, go across the street, leave my phone behind, and chill.
My office is private with a locking door. It’s off the main co-working space. Four guys rent desks in this room and they’re all self-employed in different industries.
I said that that was irrelevant and if I wanted a space to read, think, and write that wasn’t also where I worked, what did it matter?
He response was harsh. She said that I’d left my husband to raise the children alone and that anyone who needs a room “to think” needs to have a word with themselves.
I don’t know why she said this. All I can think is that usually, it’s the father who moves out and sees their kids on weekends.
She’s hit a nerve – I do feel guilty that my kids have a broken home. I probably ought to do more/better, etc but I go to the office on weeknights when I’m not seeing them, anyway.