Ok, let me first say, this is not a say no to everything that comes your way. You need to have a clear list of priorities to understand what to and when to say to NO to things. 
How to say NO:
I can’t this time
Sorry- not today
That won’t work for me right now- but I’ll get back to you if anything changes
I really appreciate you thinking of me , but I’ve just have to much on my plate right now.
When to say NO as a work from home professional.
A lot of people will think, whether they say it to you or not, that because you are at home then you are available. Which is simply not true. Remember, your job is your livelihood, when you are not working you are not making $$. It’s that simple. So, when your kids school asks you to host snack each Monday for the entire year, you should probably say NO, unless your totally cool buying snacks for twenty 5 year olds each week and taking it to them…but if you can host snack on the 3rd Thursday of every month, that is something you can say yes too! If your neighbors just want to chat endlessly, just be honest and tell them you work from home and have an urgent phone call to take.
I’ll be honest, I use the ‘too much on my plate’ for church stuff. Since joining our congregation last year, I made a promise to myself not to get overwhelmed and feel pressured to say YES to everything. When I say YES too much I resent the things, and people I have agreed to and that makes the task even harder. So I limit myself to 3 commitments at the church at any one time. You want me to decorate the worship table 2 times a month, no problem, update the stewardship giving board each month, easy, create and run the powerpoint next month, sorry that is overfilling my plate. I am happy to run the slide show one week but that is all I can commit to. Setting limits and saying no, makes you more reliable and efficient in the long run.
When do you say NO? How do you say NO to nonessential tasks?
Stylishly Shelby 