The joys of working from home

By FIONA HAWTIN

Much of Julie Biuso's day is spent happily barefoot. She can only do so because she works from home and traditional office dress codes simply don't exist.

Such freedom from boring old pumps is what the Viva food editor, cookbook author, regular contributor to Cuisine magazine, National Radio and Breakfast on TV One relishes about her setup.

She's a long-time advocate of home working, having done so for the past 15 years since she realised the extra catering jobs she was taking were simply paying the rent on the premises. She simplified things and got rid of the business space. Now, there's only one phone bill and one electricity bill.

Biuso's so keen on the arrangement that she convinced her husband to do the same. Now they often work as a team on a Viva food photo shoot, all done from the Biuso villa at Northcote Pt.

This all saves time, something the busy foodie is as eager to do as much of as possible. Indeed, writing cookbooks can only be done in the evening and on weekends.

"Why waste that time in traffic queues, getting parking tickets and having that frustration of driving? You're not wasting time to-ing and fro-ing," she says.

Flexibility is also a great advantage. Not many of us can have a 9 am meeting, then hang the washing out at 9.45. Biuso does.

It did take her almost 10 years to convince her family she did a real job, though. And while it can be difficult when a friend pops in and she's minutes from a deadline, most of them now understand the nature of her job.

Sometimes it's hard to switch off. Family dinners with the two children are often an exercise in recipe development. Even so, an office environment has little appeal. They're too noisy for one thing.

"You're not up against any of that petty stuff that happens in most offices. I have no desire to go back."