5 Things you Need to Set up your Home Office During COVID-19

If you’re like me, you’ve been working from home for the past week or so. I’ve had a relatively decent time of it. Some of you may remember when I spent a few weeks talking about how I had set up my own home office, but for those of you who may not have had one set up before, that are thinking of setting one up now. There are a few basic things that you may want to consider investing in.

1) A good screen….or two – When I would only work in my home office on weekends, I found that one screen worked just fine for me. Partially because I didn’t have that many programs open and toggling a little didn’t really bother me. The other reason was that The screen that I have at home is a 32″ screen, which for computer screens is big enough. Since I’ve started working from home, I have purchased myself a second screen of the same size and brand because I like the quality of the image that I got from my first screen, and when I was in the office at work, I had gotten used to having two screens. With Laptops being smaller and smaller, it’s essential to have a bigger screen to work with. Light and portable are great, but if you can’t see the words on the screen, what’s the point?

2) A good Keyboard and Mouse – I don’t know what it’s like at your company; at mine, we have a standard Keyboard and Mouse combination that everyone gets. The reason for the standard keyboard and mouse is so that we can buy them in bulk and know how to fix any issues that may come up (not that they do that often). Now your home office can be a whole different thing. You are going to be setting up the entire system for yourself. There is a WIDE range of Keyboards and Mice that can work for you. Do you want to go wireless? You can do that. Do you want to have a Mechanical Keyboard? Awesome! Go for it. The Sky (or your budget) is the limit when you’re setting up an office for yourself.

3) A Printer/Scanner/Shredder – My personal philosophy is that there is no reason to have paper anymore, so I don’t have a printer in my office. There is one in my house, so if I REALLY need it, it’s available to me, but I do have my handy dandy Scanner sitting on my desk and my shredder underneath. Paper causes too much clutter, so having a way to get it into your digital filing system, and a way of safely disposing of it, is something that you should consider when making up your home office.

4) A Reliable Hub – It doesn’t make much sense in having all this other stuff without a way to connect it to your computer, does it? For those of us who use Laptops, having a hub to be able to connect all of our various Ancillary devices is critical to being able to work at home. The Hubs will plug all of your devices into one spot and then into your computer. I have too many things on my desk, so I have my computer hub AND a USB router for all the USB devices that I have with me in my office. I would recommend starting with the Computer hub, and if you find you are running out of USB ports, a USB hub isn’t too hard to find.

4) A good coffee mug – If I’m honest, this has nothing to do with Office organization or Digital system management. I just really like my cup fo coffee in the morning, and I love having it in a good mug. It makes me feel like a champ while I’m working. I have a whole coffee station set up in my office so that when I’m working in the morning first thing I do is turn the pot of coffee on, so it’s brewing while I get my system started for the workday. Once I’m logged into my e-mail and got the first task or two going, my coffee is ready, and I’m good to go.

I know that many of us are now required to work from home, and rightfully so. Working from home doesn’t mean that it has to be a hardship. Think about it like this, while you may be required to have a specific set of equipment when you’re at work, when you’re working from home, you can set your own rules. When you get yourself set up at home, you will be both working efficiently AND from home. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

How is your set up at home?

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