A home office can provide a cost-effective business location, but it often comes with distractions — from beckoning dishes to late night conference calls. Maintaining work-life balance — and keeping your business and personal lives separate — can be particularly challenging.

Allowing business and personal priorities to mix can cause you to lose sight of what’s important in your life, says Jamie Sutherland, vice president and general manager of Sage Simply Accounting, in Richmond, B.C.

Try these tips to keep your business and personal lives separate and balanced:

> Determine your priorities
First, identify what’s important for your own wellbeing and success.

Priorities can be anything from your business to your health and your family. Once you have determined what’s important, says Joshua Zuchter, a life and business coach in Toronto, decide how much time you want to spend on each area of your life throughout the day.

> Create a schedule
Set up a strict schedule to keep your priorities in order and your personal and business lives in balance.

Sutherland recommends using a large calendar to mark everything from personal events such as picking up the children to business meetings.

Without a schedule it’s easy to become distracted and start working on other, low-priority activities, such as vacuuming, instead of a set task, like contacting prospects.

Another strategy is to set strict office hours for yourself. For example, if you decide to work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, don’t allow yourself any business activity outside those hours.

> Have a separate room
Set aside workspace away from household distractions.

Many people try to work in a section of a larger room, such as a den or kitchen, says Zuchter. To stay focused, it’s vital you have a separate room that’s closed off from the rest of the house.

As well, avoid bringing business materials into the living area. When you finish work for the day, make sure all documents and files are in the office and the door is closed to separate it from your personal time, Zuchter says.

> Leave the phone behind
Just because you can check your email wherever you are doesn’t mean you should. When at personal functions, such as a dinner with your family, leave your smart phone behind to avoid peaking at it between bites.

Phones are like companions that go everywhere with people, says Sutherland. But they can interfere with personal situations and family gatherings, so it’s better to leave them in the office or turn them off.

Says Sutherland: “It takes practice and time to get used to but it’s critical [to leave your phone] if you want to maintain your personal time.”

Some phones will keep your business and personal information separate, says Zuchter. You can switch to a different home screen depending on whether you’re at work or n your own time.

> Schedule social media time
Instead of using social media sites as a procrastination activity, make them part of your business networking time.

If you commonly use a site such as LinkedIn to network, schedule specific times to use it, says Sutherland. Using social media is critical to small businesses and you should set aside time to get involved in the conversations through such social media as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

> Use separate accounts
Keep accounts and paperwork separate to stay organized and balanced in your home office.

Use separate bank accounts and credit cards for your business even if you work from home, Sutherland says.

IE