You might work from home as a way of eliminating costly office overheads for your new business. Or you might have been recently forced to make the adjustment from an office environment due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and social distancing measures. Whatever the reason, working from home requires a certain level of discipline to ensure that you remain organized and focussed on your work – sometimes a difficult task when you are in your home environment. To help you access the office mentality in your living room and maintain a positive work-life balance, here are four organization tips for working from home:
- Set up your workspace
You might start your workday with your laptop in bed, before moving onto the kitchen table and then onto the sofa. However, having a designated workspace in your home, where all your work equipment is easily accessible, puts you in the office mindset and can therefore help to increase your productivity. If you don’t have room in your home to turn an entire room into a home office, minimalist work areas are also possible to set up.
- Rent a self-storage unit
With your work and leisure time happening in the same space, you might find that your home soon becomes cluttered with work-related items. From paperwork to supplies and stock waiting to be shipped, you might soon find that there is nowhere to escape to in your home without a reminder of work. Renting a self-storage unit will provide you with a space away from your home in which to store large quantities of work-related material. You could even use it as an additional workspace to carry out tasks such as packaging items to be mailed. Click on this link to learn more.
- Invest in stationery and filing
To make sure all your work-related paperwork is kept together rather than being scattered about the home, invest in a set of attractive stationery and filing, such as ring binders and pencil pots. You can find budget stationery sets in every color and style from well-known budget brands like Target, so you don’t have to worry about breaking the bank to get organized.
- Organize your time
You might think that working from home immediately gives you more time, as you are not spending hours every day on the daily commute. However, distractions in the home environment – such as housework, Netflix, and playful children – can soon make this counterproductive. You might find that your working hours radically alter, and you’re working late into the night while sleeping in until ten. This working pattern, however, can soon lead to a work-life imbalance and eventual burnout. Try to manage your time by sticking as close to a standard nine-to-five routine as possible. Use a calendar to organize your time and see when you may need to put in an extra hour here and there to make up for other activities such as doctor’s appointments.
