There are many people who have turned a small space in their home into their office. Regardless of the situation, teleworking is present in many homes and you have to adapt to each situation in the best possible way. But where can you find a suitable place to work at home? What to do if you cannot have an entire room to yourself? How can you avoid clutter ?
The home office: how can you organize a suitable space?
The first thing you should keep in mind is that you need a space for your office: it is not worth putting your computer on the kitchen counter or the dining room table and then having to remove it every time you finish working. If you don’t have a separate and entire room for yourself, you don’t need to have a big house to be able to work comfortably. It is enough to have a space in a room (living room, bedroom…) that allows you to have some essentials:
To work from home we need a suitable desk or table: the ideal is that it has drawers to store all the tools or utensils that we use daily.
A comfortable chair: you must bear in mind that you are going to spend many hours in front of a computer or doing an activity so, in addition to being beautiful, the chair must be very comfortable to avoid contractures in your back .
A reading lamp, a lamp and, of course, a computer. In this sense, keep in mind that the place you choose to telework should be as bright as possible, preferably with natural light.
On the table, the fewer things the better. In addition to the computer, which must be on your table, yes or yes, get some paper organizer trays and it will be more than enough to avoid the mess that may form.
For pens, notebooks, clips, staplers, etc…, the ideal is to have them stored in a drawer, but each one inside a drawer organizer tray. That way, every time you need a pen, you’ll know exactly where it is. And every time you’re done using it, you’ll know where to put it down again.
In addition to all this, it is very important to have light-colored furniture and walls. White is perfect because it gives us a sense of order, cleanliness and peace. If we also add a touch of wood, we will have the perfect combo: a cozy and quiet workplace.
What mistakes should you avoid when setting up your home office?
As you have been able to observe in the previous point, it is important that your office is in a place in the house that is exclusively for work. Whether your desk is in the living room, bedroom, or guest room, everyone in your family (or the people who live with you) should know that this space is for your workday only.
In addition, as we have already seen, having the work area as clear as possible using organizers, drawers and an appropriate desk will give you greater peace of mind. You will even be able to have greater creativity and concentration than if you are in a place in your house full of things, such as your children’s toys or the same papers from your work on the table.
You should also avoid a few things when working at home, as Leticia tells us in her book. For example, it is better that you do not work in your pajamas , that you do not have the television on while you are at work and, of course, do not mix schedules : housework cannot be mixed with work.
However, it is also important to keep in mind that all the papers that belong to it must be on your desk or workplace. In other words, do not mix your business papers with others, such as the doctor’s, bills, your children’s drawings (if you have them)… Remember that it is essential to have a differentiation between your home and your work; even if your office or workplace is in your home.
Try to have everything at hand: do not have pens, notebooks or sheets of paper in another room of the house because then you will have to get up every time you want any of these materials. It is better to have them on the same table, on your desk or in your filing cabinets correctly placed. You will create a great space!
And what is the best way to organize your time?
Leticia tells us that the best way to put your time in order, in addition to your work space or your home, is by creating a system. You must choose the type of planning system that works best for you : an agenda, a calendar, a weekly or digital planner… In this sense, remember that your work agenda must be exclusively for your work, so you can purchase another for your household chores or for leisure with your family.
In the case of work, as we can read in Leticia’s book, it is important to take breaks, schedule tasks and set daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals in order to better organize your time. Depending, of course, on the type of work you do.
Many times we want to achieve everything: to work well, to be a good mother, to have time with our friends or our partners… But we realize that we are not going to be able to achieve everything and that can be very frustrating. We can get to almost everything, as Leticia tells us. We are not machines, we are people and during the day many unforeseen events arise. The important thing is to correctly manage our time and establish our priorities.