Imagine waking up in the morning and getting ready for work. You stumble into the kitchen, start up the coffee maker, and hop in the shower. After your shower, you throw your pajamas back on, walk back into the kitchen, and sit down with the morning paper. That doesn't sound like getting ready for work, does it? But it's a close approximation of what millions of Americans who work from home do every day. There's no packing up (or in the blistering winter months, warming up) the car, no stops at the gas station - nothing but just getting up and going to work, which is usually just walking into another room in the same home.

It's obvious why anybody would want to work from home. It seems almost too good to be true. You can set your own schedule. You can catch the afternoon game on TV or all your favorite soap operas during what would normally be office hours. You spend nothing on gas going to and from work, and you don't have a boss looking over your shoulder, critiquing your work at every step. Oh, you probably have a boss of some sort, whether he's a one job client or a regular contract. But he can't exactly look over your shoulder from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, can he?

Of course, it's not always that easy. If it were, everybody would be doing it, right? The freedom can be an impediment for people who aren't great at managing time. Some people just need the threat of the boss barking at them if they don't stay on task or miss a deadline to get anything done.. Those people aren't good candidates to work at home - at least, not without some serious self development. Another side effect of working from home is that you're basically at work all the time. Sometimes it's hard to get away from it all when your work can go anywhere you can.

Still, for the millions of home working and telecommuting Americans, the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Some work for regular office companies but don't report to an office. Some work for internet-based companies, and still others run their own home based businesses. The freedom of working from home is something that can't be emulated in any other environment. It helps a lot of parents stay home and be a bigger part of their young children's lives, go to ball games and school functions. It gives college students a chance to set their own times around their studies, and it lets adults without families travel all they want, since many jobs from home don't require you to be anywhere in particular.

Businesses are looking to save overhead expenses in order to get ahead. Workers are looking to get back hours in their day. It all adds up to a growing trend of people working from home that shows no signs of slowing down. There's a good chance you know someone who works from home, and maybe you've even thought of working from home yourself. Look into your options. You might be surprised what's out there.