Setting up a home office for beginners

by Startacus Admin

Working from home. That’s the dream, isn’t it? Or so they say. You get to wake up, fall out of bed, open a laptop, and check your emails in your pyjamas. There’s no commute. There’s no rushing around to get washed and find something to wear and leave the house in anything close to resembling ‘on time’. There’s no rain. You don’t need to worry about getting lunch from somewhere. What’s not to love?

Well, after the first few days, concerns about staying productive and the back pain of sitting around on your sofa full-time begins to creep in. You start to realise that offices are set up like that for a reason. Anyone working from home long term needs a home office, and today, we’re going to look at what this might entail.

Start with the small things

One of the biggest mistakes people make when setting up a brand new home office is that they go too big too fast, leaving no money for the little things that make an office tick. Start with the little things, and worry about the larger expenses later.

For example, you need to consider office essentials such as a printer, printer ink, for example printerinks.com toners, pens, and pencils, and writing paper, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and perhaps even a work lamp, and some kind of filing system - whether it be a small cabinet or ring-binders for now! Office essentials whilst working from home will certainly make the process a good bit easier. 

If paper isn't your thing, perhaps you can look at an in-the-cloud tech solution such as Google Drive, creating an online filing system. The cost of all of these small things adds up, and you could find that you need to spread the cost so as not to impact your disposable cash - even something as simple as a desk fan can set you back way more than you’d like to have paid. 

The big stuff

In recent news it was reported that more than half of UK employees are concerned about returning to work post lockdown. 

OK. So. You want a home office! 

You’ve bought the small things and that’s all in order. Now you need the big stuff, so as to turn a backroom or spare room into a fully modernised functional place of work. You need a desk. These are available in both cheap and expensive formats - obviously if you don’t want the thing to wobble or sound too hollow and scratchy, you’re going to need to dig a little deeper than the first few options that come up online.

Next, and this is the big one (assuming your employer has supplied your computer), you need to invest in a decent chair. There’s no point in spending your money on something with no armrests that is not comfortable and doesn’t offer much support. If you wouldn’t enter an office chair race in it, don’t buy it. This is where you’re going to be sitting for 8 hours a day. You need to get this right. Check out the home office chair options, spend your money, and don’t look back.

 
 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #working from home

Published on: 19th August 2020