Terri Ramsey Beavers In today’s world of high-speed internet and global economy, more and more people are working from home, whether part-time or full time. However, in order to be truly efficient when working from home, you need to eliminate as many distractions as you can.
The best way to go about this is to make a home office. However, it’s not enough to find a nook somewhere and plant yourself there. There are some things you probably can’t function normally without. Here’s a (pretty) extensive list of things you will need in your home office.
Office Furniture
This is the most obvious place to start designing the office. However, you shouldn’t just pick any old table and chair for your office. Remember, you will be spending a lot of time there and you will need to be productive.
There are numerous ergonomic options for both chairs and desks which you should explore. Make sure that you don’t break your budget, but don’t skimp on this purchase either. This will be one of the biggest costs when setting up your home office, so you should know how much money you can spend. Make sure that your new office chair is comfortable and that it has back support as well as functional armrests.
Electronics
If you are working from home, chances are that you will be working on your computer. Make sure that you have the appropriate machine for the task at hand. Video or picture editing takes a lot more processing power than writing and editing text documents, so take that into account. What’s more, if you are working on multiple projects, you will likely want to have more than one screen available.
Another important thing you won’t be able to work from home without is a stable internet connection. Make sure that your router can cope with the workload you are predicting, as well as that your internet package is appropriate as well.
Finally, think about job-specific electronics you may need. Some people need a plotter, others have the need for paper shredders, or even 3D printers, depending on the line of work.
Surge Protection
In order to have all of those electronics function properly, you will want to have surge protection. It will save your devices from being fried if there’s a surge. However, you may still lose all of your work if the power runs out.
Fortunately, there are uninterruptable power supply devices, or UPS devices, which are essentially a big battery that you plug your devices into. While there’s electricity, it’s no different than a power supply. However, if there is a power outage, the battery in a UPS should give you enough time to save your work and turn off your devices.
Good Lighting
Even though you may spend a lot of time staring at your computer screen, you will still need some kind of light in your home office. Ideally, there should be a window to let in some natural light, but if that is not available, make sure that you have lamps or similar lighting options preferably with LED bulbs.
File Storage
Most of our important documents are in digital form by now. However, there are still some that need to have a hard paper copy. If you are keeping those at home, you will need to keep them safe from external factors, like moisture, fire, and theft.
Fire-resistant filing cabinets such as offer safety and durability to keep all of your important papers safe and protected.
Designing your own home office can be fairly simple once you figure out what you need and what you can’t do without.