How to Cowork With Your Partner Without Losing Your Mind

Remember, just because your workday is over, doesn't mean your partner's is. Christine from Atlanta, 26, said, "We both set our own hours for the most part, but it really helps if we work on the same schedule. It's too easy to distract each other if one of us is working and the other is lounging or doing chores around the house."

The idea of working in proximity, playing footsie under the dining room table while you're both dialed into conference calls is romantic, but not great for actually, uh, working. If you have room in your house to do so, split up! Ideally, neither of you should post up in the kitchen, which should be a neutral break space, but if that's where you have to work, it is what it is. If you're stuck working in the same room, use headphones, be extra respectful about noise and interruptions, and try to carve out specific corners that are yours alone.

Your productivity working from home may change compared to the office-in either direction. That's okay. You're not a machine, you're a person (and a person who now has a nice bed for procrastisexing a mere 20 feet away). You aren't working every single moment you're in an office, so give yourself and your partner a break if you two get off track for a few minutes.

Obviously, you need to give your partner space during conference calls and important meetings, but respect their work hours throughout the day, too. You're coworkers now, so get used to asking coworker-type questions like, "Do you have a minute?" rather than simply walking into their workspace and talking about the tweet you just saw or the dump you just took. That said, as Christine pointed out that unlike with coworkers, you can be blunt. "At least with my husband, I can say 'Dude, I'm really busy-can you just show me the meme later' without sounding rude."

You don't have to totally isolate yourself from your partner (unless you're sick, then do so as much as possible). Take advantage of the fact that you guys get time together that you don't usually. Keith Pandolfi said he and his wife eat lunches together when they're both working from home. "It's almost like a date in the middle of the day," he said. This will also give you a set time to talk about the aforementioned tweet or big dump. Or our country's stunning mismanagement of this crisis. Whatever!

Working from home usually translates to even more hours of the day spent seated or supine than a traditional office setups does, so get up, go outside, and take a walk for at least 10 or 15 minutes, ideally longer. Hold hands, even! (Just don't touch anything besides each other, or get within six feet of anyone else.)

One of the hardest parts of working remotely is the blurred lines between the office and home. As Reese Cassard in Boulder, 26, pointed out, "The stress of work plays out in the same setting as so many other important parts of our relationship. If I'm having a rough day, it's hard not to carry frustration or doubt from work right into cooking dinner a few hours later because I'm literally in the same space." Do your best to turn off work when it's over. Take a shower, change clothes, take another walk, pour a drink. Do something to signify the end of the work day, that it's time to be back in your house with the person you bone.