10 Work from Home Tips & Essentials to Stay Organized
Did you ever think you’d be working from home for longer than a few sick days? Did you ever think you’d be working from home AND your children would be doing school from home? Our team is certainly not immune to the sudden changes in daily life as we are attempting to keep ‘business as usual’ while juggling our kids, their school work, our spouses being home and working and none of us leaving the house. We don’t need to talk about what’s going on in the world, you’re certainly aware and have come to the blog post for a reason!
Working from home isn’t as relaxing as it probably sounds, especially if you live with anyone else (pets included… anyone else’s dog constantly staring at them?) and are juggling taking care of them as well as yourself. It’s easy to feel like you’re suddenly drowning and can’t get work done like you need to! We’ve compiled a list of 10 tips to hopefully make working from home a bit more manageable and we’ve also linked some of our office essentials that help us stay organized. In addition to the items shown below, you can find more office essentials by visiting our Amazon Storefront! These tips and essentials work for anyone, no matter what your new setup is whether you have an office or you’re working at the kitchen table.
A final message about working from home that we want you to remember: show yourself grace. You can’t do all the things and don’t beat yourself up for that. Some days will be better than others, some more productive than others. Changes like these take time to adjust to and that goes for everyone in your home. If your kids get 5 hours of school work done and you get 2 hours of work done, that might be a win for you! If you have to work from 5am-7am and then not work until 6pm-10pm, that’s what works for you. You’ll find your groove and new routine, even if it seems unconventional. Do what you can, try your best and call it a day!
Stay organized! Whether you have a home office or you’re having to create a makeshift work space, staying organized will help you focus and be productive. This means minimizing clutter, keeping paperwork from building up and taking over your space, limiting the number of “things” you have laying around, throwing away unnecessary items and tidying up at the end of every day, even if it’s only for 5 minutes.
Have a dedicated work space. Try to avoid working from bed and work seated at a hard surface. This will help your brain focus on work. When we work from bed or even the couch, it’s pretty easy to get sidetracked by binging our favorite shows, online shopping or going down rabbit holes that take us away from the tasks at hand. Your body thinks it’s in ‘relax’ mode, not work mode.
Work in increments of time or tasks. If you’re struggling to find hours of quiet time to get work done, especially if the kids are at home, try to block off smaller increments of time to work or work by increments of 3 tasks that MUST get done. Schedule 15 minutes for answering emails or 30 minutes for phone calls. Working in smaller increments of time forces you to get productive within those allotted windows. Write down 3 tasks that are top priority to get done and focus on those. Take a break between tasks if needed to go help the kids, throw a load of laundry in, etc. Even if you can only get through 3 tasks throughout the day, you’ll feel way more accomplished crossing those off than feeling like your day has been chaotic and nothing has gotten done!
Try to keep your work materials separate from your kid’s school work or your spouse’s work. Everything piling up in one spot can feel cluttered and messy, it might be overwhelming to sit down and tackle work if your kitchen island is buried beneath everyone’s ‘stuff’. Remove your work materials and put them in their own spot when you’re not working, even if it’s temporarily in your closet or on a bookshelf.
Going back to suggestion #1, clean up your work materials at the end of the day. Take the time before bed to tidy up, you’ll be so grateful you did the next morning! It’s easy for our paperwork, floor plans and design samples to get spread out EVERYWHERE. I know we dread cleaning it up the next day if it’s not done when we’re finished with everything. Just force yourself to clean up!
Take a break to go outside and go for a walk!! Get fresh air and sunshine, don’t stay cooped up all day!
Get some basics like folders, notepads, binders and a hole punch. If you have room, get a small little storage rack to keep these items on and off countertops. If you have built-ins, take a shelf to use for work items temporarily and organize them neatly! If you’re like us and have samples or loose items, get some storage baskets and use those on a shelf. However, you don’t need to go drop a fortune on ‘stuff’ for a new home office setup. Get the minimal basics to stay budget-friendly and prevent things from piling up. You don’t need 3 different ‘cute’ notepads. Pick one! Choose binders with organized tabs or folders, whichever works for you. You don’t need to try to implement 5 different storage systems.
If you have a small desk space, add a few small pretty things like a little greenery, a good candle or even a picture. Make your space enjoyable!
Shop your home for things you already have! Maybe you have some old binders or notepads laying around, use a coffee mug or small vase to hold pens. Have a folding table out in the garage? Bring it inside to setup a makeshift desk. You’ll be surprised to find you probably have a lot of what you need at home already!
Lastly, get dressed when you get up. It’s too easy to be in your pajamas all day and this doesn’t lead to a feeling of productivity! Work from home isn’t vacation time or the same as weekend lounging. We’re not saying you have to put jeans on, but change out of your pj’s, brush your hair, put a bra on and try to feel semi-human!
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