Over the number of years that I have worked online, I have noticed many trends, descriptions, and terms come and go. The popular concept now seems to be life hacks. For those still unfamiliar with this, a life hack relates to an idea, tip, trick, skill or shortcut that helps with productivity or increases efficiency.
For most of us, we may have been inventing and making use of numerous life hacks for many years in our own homes. However, those life hacks which I have currently been trying out for myself are related to the home office. Over the last few weeks as I have been expanding and reorganizing my favorite room in the home, my office, I couldn’t wait to share some of the hacks that I have discovered and implemented during this process. To this day I am still finding hacks and products that can better my home office environment, from providers such as Office Monster and the many other alternatives you can find online.
Home Office Life Hacks to Make Working More Efficient
If like myself, you tend to spend a lot of time in your home office, you may just find yourself on the lookout for hacks to improve your productivity. True, it still isn’t the easiest of options to take, working from home as your base. A separate room that serves as an office may work for you, but if you find that there are too many distractions in the house, think about getting a separate she shed office built in your backyard. A completely separate space which brings in a work-like environment can help you remain productive and also distraction-free. Otherwise, anything which encourages us to make the most of this room and increases our motivation in the meantime is always a winner where I’m concerned!
Sound Isolating Headphones: When I’m working on my home computer, I find the only way I can purely concentrate is by listening to relaxing or classical music. This has usually meant popping my trusted earbud headphones in. However, these don’t tend to keep out much of the outside noise, and I’m often still interrupted by anybody in the house who can’t see that I’m wearing them. After trying a pair of these sound isolating headphones, I don’t think that I will ever part with them again! They keep out distractions such as building work, traffic and even the hum of the computer while offering quality clear, crisp music through them.
Quality Stationary: There’s nothing worse than trying to use a pencil that keeps snapping or a pen that keeps running out. It leads to messy paperwork that looks unprofessional. Invest in some good stationery and you’ll find the quality of your work increases too. Also, ditch the scissors when trying to cut paper. Your lines will be all over the place and when you’re compiling a document for a client, it can look like it was thrown together by a five-year-old. Instead, look at trimmers that can cut through a whole document at once. It’ll give you clean, sharp lines that make it look much more professional.
A Cable Manager: Though these items may seem and indeed sound small and insignificant, they are a perfect timesaver when attached to the desk as they stop the many wires you will have running along your desk from getting tangled. There have been many times when I have sat and cursed at knots in my charging wires, and it always leads to losing a good ten to fifteen minutes of work time in the process when untangling them! With so many cables essential for all my gadgets, this little but perfectly formed life hack is a game changer for my home office desk.
Small Table Top Art Easel: No, I’m not an artist, but I have found that these easels allow me to stand my paperwork up to read or copy from when I’m on the computer as well as holding my tab or mobile phone if I want to copy or refer to them also. I did toy with the idea of a paper holder, but that wouldn’t hold my electrical items. This way the easel can be folded back down and put away when I need the extra desk space.
Stationery Desk Cup: I have a teeny obsession with cups or more specifically the incredible artwork that many of them contain. For me, it seems a shame to hide them away in the cupboards each time they aren’t needed. I wanted to display a couple of them on my desk to brighten up the working day, but I wasn’t too sure what to do with them until I came across the idea of using them as pen pots and then for other stationery items! Now, I never have to search for random pens to fill out a quick form, I just reach to the cups at the top of my desk for a choice of pens!
Chair Pillow: I have still to find the perfect office desk chair that offers pure comfort. As I can see myself sitting at my desk for hours on end during one session, I tend to end up with chronic back pain at the end of a particularly hectic work month. Having taken a blogger friends advice, I invested in a pillow, a basic bed pone, and attached it to the back of my current chair. Now, sitting in the chair for many hours is a more pleasant experience, and I am yet to experience any more back pain.
A Stainless-Steel Coffee Mug: To get more work one, I had to remove my coffee maker from my office as the temptation to make coffee at ten to twenty-minute intervals was just too much for this coffee loving girl! It now resides in my kitchen! However, that doesn’t mean I have to stop drinking it. Though I do take large bottles of water into the office for use during the day, I still need a couple of cups of coffee as my motivational treat. A stainless-steel mug large enough to hold a large cup of coffee is the perfect solution as I can keep it on my desk with the lid on to save against paperwork spillages. Plus I get to nurture this one cup for up to an hour as it keeps warmer for longer than a standard mug.
A Compact Humidifier/ Working AC: Though I had never purchased one for my home before, this was recommended by a fellow home worker who convinced me of the benefits of having a small humidifier on my work desk. When I haven’t seen the outside world for most of the day, I notice that my skin gets a bit dry – especially as I sit close to a radiator! The humidifier that I own also allows you to place an essential oil into its base so you can release a refreshing aroma into the room to increase the freshness of your home office during the day!
In case your place is humid, you probably have an air conditioner that maintains your room temperature. If not, make sure you get one for your home office. You can call an HVAC company like https://friendsandfamilyhvac.com/ac-installation-corona-ca/ to install it for you. Having a comfortable room temperature is known to improve work productivity.
As you can see, home office life hacks aren’t expensive or unobtainable. However, they do work best when you can tailor them to suit your own individual circumstances. For a more efficient and productive home office working environment, why not see if you could implement some of the above into your daily routine?