So, you’ve turned in your Work From Home proposal and it’s been accepted! Yay you! Now – where are you going to work?

Your kitchen? Well, it’s alright in a pinch – especially if you only need your laptop. In fact, that’s where I’m sitting right now. But – if you’re trading in an office away from home for a home office, you’re going to want much more. You’re going to need much more.

For this series of articles, I’ll focus on helping you make your home office a comfortable, yet efficient work environment.

If I had known when I bought this house that I would eventually be working from home full time, I would have refused to let my stepson move in. Kidding!! – although his apartment (a.k.a. the basement) would be perfect for my needs. Seriously, though, I would have planned more carefully for a spot to call my own, rather than sharing my office with the family computer. Hindsight IS 20/20 – and I can’t buy a new house – so I’m making do.

No matter, though, if you have a fully-wired, 200 sq. foot room with a private bath, or a teeny-weensy 16 sq. foot corner – there are some things that you’ll want to keep in mind.

Let’s use this column to talk about the essentials.

• A desk or table. It can be anything from a simple folding table (similar to what I used for years) to a beautiful oak desk with a 6 foot surface and file drawers like the one pictured above. Either option will work. But if you have to spread out extra long worksheets, write, and have a laptop or monitor/keyboard on your workspace – you’ll get cramped and frustrated quickly if you’re trying to do all of that in a too-small area.

• A chair. A comfortable chair that you’ll be able to sit in for hours each day. Don’t get cheap here. Your back and your butt are worth the best you can afford. Something to consider – if you get a chair with arms, make sure the arms are either retractable or they fit under your desk. Otherwise, you may not be able to get close enough to your desk to write with ease. Or – you’ll rip the arms to shreds banging them off the desk. (Ask me how I know this!)

• A second phone number (with a distinctive ring) that you use only for your office needs. Another option is to have your business line ONLY in your office. You will want to answer those phone calls differently than calls from your family or your best friend. You’ll want your voicemail to be different. If you have digital phone service in your area, you can get a flat monthly rate that includes long distance. Your employer will usually pay for the service – I hope you made sure it was included in your proposal.

• Some sort of memo board or white board. This may not seem like a must have, but it can be invaluable for remembering things when those little slips of paper go missing. I have a very small magnetic white board. I can write myself notes and stick important papers to its magnetic surface. If you use a chalk-board or a memo board or a large family calendar in your kitchen, you know how much you depend on this simple concept.

• A surge protector with multiple plug-in-thingies. (My darling husband reminds me that they’re called “outlets” – even though they’re not in the wall.) Your electronic equipment is your lifeline, right? You can live with a power outage or an internet outage as long as you know it’ll be back. But if your computer gets fried due to a voltage spike, you can be out of business for days setting up new equipment. I know the thought of losing the data on my laptop makes me cringe.
  

  Surge Protector with multiple outlets.

Those are my absolute-can’t-do-without items for setting up a home office. Next week, let’s look at the “Nice to Haves”.

What about you though? What have I missed? Let’s chat about it!

My personal blog is My Life as a Hotfessional – if you’d like to hear about the rest of the craziness in my life, please come by for a visit.