These days, more and more people work at home as freelancers for various jobs like programming, writing, blogging, designing, customer support, and a whole lot more. Although working at home can give you more time with your family, this can also be a challenge especially if you have small kids at home.
To achieve more productivity without resorting to renting a new place as your office, make one right inside your home. The challenge now is how you can make an efficient office at home.
Finding the Right Space
The first step is finding the right spot – this could be tricky even for those who are using netbooks or laptops for work.
For your office to be quite efficient, you must make sure it is as far away from the bed as possible else you are tempted to rest for longer breaks as the bed is always quite inviting. If you really must work in the bedroom, make sure to create a finite space for your office – try to never work on your bed! Put a desk and a comfortable chair. You can define your office space with a large, beautiful rug on the floor or you can even close it off so the kids could not disturb you while you work.
If your home is large enough or you have a spare room, then by all means, make sure you have a separate office!
Lights, Ventilation, Design
The design of your home office is very important in achieving more productivity. No matter how small your office space might be, work on a design that would encourage productivity as well as keep you comfortable for the long hours you stay there.
You can find plenty of designs online to copy in your home office or hire an architect/interior designer if you want something that would best suit your style but would also work best for the existing structures in your home.
Ventilation is important, especially if there’s no air conditioning in your office.
You also have to make sure that your office is well lit – you don’t want to get constant headaches from squinting in the dim light. You don’t even have to invest in fancy lights but considering that you will be spending a lot of hours in your home office, it would be nice to choose some pretty light designs to complement with your office design.
Choose the Right Equipment
The equipment that you have to buy for your home office would largely depend on what you do for a living, of course. Many freelancers these days feel no need to buy a printer but it pays to have one handy, anyway. Don’t make it a priority, of course, unless you really need one. If in case you do need a printer, choose the one with the best quality within the price range you are comfortable to pay. Still, considering you would be using it for work, invest in a good piece.
Cabinets, Drawers, and Organizing Tools
A home office is not complete without cabinets and drawers where you can store your stuff. You can buy a huge desk which comes complete with drawers and cabinets or you can have one custom-built for your home office.
You might want to consider built-in shelves utilizing the vertical wall space in your office, especially if the area is small. This will allow you more room to work in while still providing you with ample space to put stuff in.
Organize Your Stuff
The cabinets and drawers in your office would be useless if you won’t organize your stuff. For best results, utilize the bottom drawers for the heaviest items. Place light items you don’t often use in the top shelves. Place the ones you will use more often in the shelves that are most accessible to you.
If possible, place labels on the inside doors of your cabinets so you wouldn’t have problems retrieving items you stashed for safekeeping.