Efficient Home Office – what you need to have

An efficient home office is one where you can perform your work to the best of your abilities with little to no distractions. Having an efficient home office is key to success when you are navigating the working from home waters especially for beginners. I have been working from home for over 7 years and I have had all types of offices; bed or bedroom floor, kitchen table, living room floor, bathroom (yep – the tub) and the like. Not everyone is can afford to an entire room dedicated to being a home office but in any case, there are items that you need to have if you wish to have an efficient home office that will improve your productivity.

As more and more companies move to have both physical and virtual offices, it’s becoming much easier for most non-customer professions to work from home. working on corporate Britain, I am fortunate that I can work from anywhere in the world all I need is a good WiFi connection and a laptop. But working from more doesn’t mean you will be more productive especially if you don’t have an efficient workspace nor self-discipline as you work. As a WFH beginner, you need to have a dedicated workspace that is free from distraction and have everything you need to work more efficiently. When you have found this dedicated workspace, here are some of the things you will need for an efficient home office.

Efficient Home Office – Everything You Need

When I started working from home over 7 years ago, I only had a laptop, notebook and a pen. This worked for a while until I realised to be more efficient, I needed to have half of the items I have in the company office. It took a while of trial and error to realise that I needed a dedicated workspace with essential items that allowed me to perform my job efficiently.

Dedicated Workspace

Regardless of the size of your home or room, you need to find a space which is not the bed to be able to work from. The kitchen table is often a good place to start but for a more efficient office, you need to find a corner that you dedicated can only be your workspace. This corner of your home needs to be free from distractions like the TV, food, and other people (if possible).

L-Shaped Desk

If you have space, I recommend an L-shaped desk as these desks not only provide you with a workspace but often come with built-in storage so you don’t need a separate filing cabinet. I work from an L-shaped desk and it has improved my productivity because I have everything I need within arms reach and the space to work freely.

Desk Drawer Organiser

I am someone who struggles with organising my desk drawers because for me they are often dumping grounds. But having a simple desk drawer organiser can do wonders for your work life. I have organised the drawer in such a way that I can locate anything easily and can tell what I am running out of much quicker. Invest in this small gadget to be more efficient and productive.

Comfortable Chair

I can not emphasise enough the importance of having a comfortable office chair. I spend most of my time at my desk more than I spend sleeping or watching TV it, therefore, makes sense to invest in a good chair. Not all workspace chairs have to be expensive but the majority of the good ones are a tad bit expensive. Thanks to Charlie Distracted, I was able to find a good and affordable (ish) chair that I absolutely adore and highly recommend. The chair is very comfortable, offers great back support, spins round, can be adjusted up/down and looks cute.

Wireless Printer

For as long as I have worked from home I have found myself in a position of wanting to print something either for personal filing or needed to sign and return back to work. Then a few years back I invested in an affordable WiFi printer which was limited but served me well for years. Until recently when it broke down, I found myself in need of a semi-professional at-home printer that won’t meet the same fate. I invested in a good quality printer that can do everything the big ole printer at work does with all fun and dancing. This has been the best investment yet, I would recommend if your job requires a lot of printing then invest in something that will last a long time.

Filing Cabinet

Now, if you have an L-desk with a built-in filing cabinet then you don’t need to invest in one. If you don’t have space then a storage box works just as well but a small filing box that can fit into a storage box is another option. Due to the nature of my work, I have to keep certain signed documents for a number of years even if we have them online before I can destroy them. A filing cabinet in my built-in L-shaped desk has been what I needed and allows me to work efficiently.

Stationery Cabinet

If you have a lot of stationery then you need to have a small but dedicated cabinet to keep them in. I am a stationery hoarder and I am not ashamed to admit it, I probably have more pens, pencils, notebooks, highlighters and such than I have plates, pots and cutlery in my home. Even though I have the space for the stationery cabinet, I prefer the drawers in my L-shaped desk as I don’t need to go far to get my favourite notebook.

Water Bottle

Those who know me, know that I suck at drinking water but I am good at keeping myself hydrated with tea. Which is not really a good thing so I now have a measured water bottle that I fill up every morning and at mid-day to ensure I stay hydrated. Having a measured water bottle that prompts me when I should drink water has helped me improve with how often I firmly water. Sometimes I have found that setting an alarm for when you should think water does help.

White or Choke Board

As a to-do list-oriented person, I always need to write down the plans of the day and I need to be able to see them. I have a small choke board that I use to write my plans for the week, but if choke boards are not your thing, a whiteboard can do the trick. I find myself to be more productive when I can see the list of things I need to accomplish that day write in big letters and I can easily see them from where I sit in my office.

An efficient home office is one that allows you to be as productive as you can be during your working hours. I wish we all had home offices that were free form distractions but that is not the case, we need to make do with what we have and often that’s not much. I am fortunate to have a dedicated space in my home where I have little to no distractions and can work as efficiently as humanly possible. If your workspace has a lot of distractions then maybe use headphones to muffle out sound or maybe move to another space.