The Right Stuff For Your Home Office

Are you trying to run your own business out of your home or are you a government or company employee who has the option to work from home? Working at home has many benefits, including more time spent with family and no money spent on office rental. Maybe you’re one of the many people who have embraced the idea of becoming an Internet entrepreneur. Yes, it’s time to set up a home office in a manner that is conducive and productive for you to work in, with a minimum of noise and distraction.

Finding a space for your home office will depend on the type of work you want to accomplish. If you need to be on the phone during the day (in your time zone), you can set up a computer desk with file storage in the living or dining room, which are usually quiet during the day. If you need more work surfaces, like getting those items you sold on eBay wrapped for shipment, you’ll be more comfortable in the den or basement. Working in the evenings while the family watches TV in the living room? Set up a desk in your bedroom so you can work quietly.

Once you have chosen the best area, consider putting up wall shelves to save space on your flat desk surface. Also think about using a laptop or one of the new “miniature” computers with a thin flat screen monitor. More space can be created by attaching the house phone to the wall or using your computer to make phone calls, eliminating the need for a phone on your desk.

Plan your home office carefully. The right equipment and office furniture will save you time, effort, and money, not to mention back or wrist pain. According to a recent survey, nearly 75% of home business owners didn’t have a designated room for their home office with the right office furniture.

The most important choices concern the computer desk, an office chair, storage and lighting.

A computer desk is the keystone of your home office. Nowadays, new computer desks come with many space-saving features and enough built-in storage to transform a small space in your apartment or house into a convenient and productive office space. A corner computer desk can be easily accommodated in almost any room. The style of desk you choose depends on the type of work you do. If you have to work with papers, the right computer desk will give you enough room for your computer and keyboard as well as sufficient flat surface for paperwork. For additional flat surfaces, consider adding an extra wing or curve to your desk. If you often use books, binders or thick heavy manuals, you may choose a computer desk with a hutch for shelving or closed cabinet space for easy access to printed materials and office supplies without losing any of the valuable flat surfaces.

The right office chair does more than give you a way to sit at the computer. It can also save your back, neck, and shoulders, and prevent carpal tunnel syndrome by putting you at the right height relative to your keyboard and monitor. If clients will be coming to your home, make sure you have comfortable seating for them as well.

Where are you going to keep your files, office supplies and/or product inventory? Storage space is vital if you want to keep your work surfaces neat and clean. From a file drawer in your desk to file cabinets, shelving units, bookcases, and storage cabinets and lockers, the available configurations mean there’s something that will work for you. And itís so much easier to think when you don’t have to take boxes off your computer before sitting down to work. (You might also think about going “paperless” on your bills and paying them over the computer.)

Also, remember to have proper lighting, both in daytime and at night. Don’t place a desk so that direct sunlight hits your computer monitor – you won’t be able to see! And have a good bright lamp on or near the desk to avoid eye strain.

To give your home office a professional appearance, get creative. Paint the wall a peaceful color, decorate with artwork or framed photos, and add a touch of green with potted plants or a sunny touch with bright flowers. A small effort will reward you with an enhanced image when a client steps into your home office. The Right Stuff for your home office means you’ll be happier and more productive there, too.

10 Steps To An Organized Home Office

Without the structure of an office outside of our homes, it is easy to scatter anything work related all over the house. We still need to complete our work in a timely and efficient manner. After all, the less time we spend working, the more time we have with our family. An organized home office will make for a faster and more pleasant workday. Here are a few ideas to get you and your home office organized.

1) Do you have a home office? You don’t necessarily need an entire room, but you should have a well-defined space to contain all your office essentials and files.

A desk in your bedroom that will hold your files, paper, pens, calculator and of course computer will do fine, especially in the beginning.

If your “office”consists of the dining room table, some of the drawers in your kitchen, a file cabinet in the basement and the computer in the bedroom, you may want to think about organizing everything in one spot.

Are you spending a lot of time searching for a particular document, running from room to room to find it? Consider moving all your files and papers to one central location, preferably close to the computer if that’s where you are doing the bulk of your work.

2) Keep your personal files and papers separate from your business things.

You will eventually have enough paperwork to deal with without having your personal bills, magazines and the kids’ after-school schedule mixed in there. Create a separate spot for those somewhere outside of your home office space.

3) Create a file system that works for you. Remember, you may be working for someone else, but when it comes to your home office, you are your own boss.

Think about how you look for a particular file or piece of paper. What will be the easiest way for you to find it? Then create a file system that works for you. Don’t worry, if you don’t get it right the first time, you can always resort and try again. Sooner or later you will come up with a system that is “just right” for you.

4) Take a good look at your work area. Do you have piles of papers, files, mail, floppy discs and CD’s lying around? Do you notice anything else piling up? Set aside a few hours and put everything away. Use your new file system and find “homes” for anything else.

5) Now that you have your office organized, set aside a few minutes at the end of your workday to keep it that way. Try to “leave work” for the day with a clean, empty desk. You will appreciate it the next morning. This will also prevent you from ever coming across a huge pile of papers again.

6) Add a personal touch to your office. Bring in some pictures of the kids; add some pretty plants, inspirational quotes, or anything else you can think of that will make your office a pleasant place to work in. In addition to getting and keeping you in a good mood whenever you step in your office, you are more likely to keep it clean and organized if it is a place you treasure. So splurge a little on some special office decor.

7) Let’s talk about the files on your computer. You can waist just as much time searching for an online document as for a piece of paper. If your computer is used for work as well as for personal use, create a work folder and use sub-folders for particular employers, projects etc. Again, come up with a file system that works for you and keep your work files separate from your personal files. This is particularly important if other family members access the computer as well.

8) In addition to your regular files, you also want to keep your emails organized. Let’s be honest, we have all wasted time searching for a particular email that contained some vital information we needed fast. Setting up folders for different clients and projects has worked well for me, but again find a system that works for you and stick with it. Sort the email as soon as you read it. It only takes a second or two to drop it in the appropriate folder, but will save you a lot of time if you have to find it later.

9) Now that you have a good filing system (both physical and digital) in place, set aside a little time every few months (or weeks if appropriate) to purge your files. We can quickly accumulate a lot of documents both in our file cabinet and on our hard drive that we no longer need. At the very least, try to purge your files twice a year.

10) Now that your office is organized, you may also want to take a look at organizing your time. Again, come up with a system that works well for you.

I encourage you to start with a few of these ideas to get your office and yourself more organized. You will be surprised by how much time you will save not searching for files, papers or the stapler. Before long, you won’t know how you ever functioned without an organized home office.