Designing a home office part 5

Hey everyone and welcome back to my website. For today’s post, I will be releasing another post from my 12-part series for “Designing a Home Office” This one will talk about equipment. Today we’re going to talk about some of the equipment that’s needed for your home office. This was taken from a super fun project I had while I was in college.

Equipment required!

For starters, you’re going to need a computer. It will serve you in many ways. Whether you get a desktop or laptop will depend on your personal needs. Sometimes I think it might be ideal to have both so that it can be connected to an internal network. There can be so many benefits to having a mixture of both. But for me, I just have my little Laptop which. It’s a good idea to also have an external hard drive. I love it but I have learned the hard way that you need to consistently monitor and update these on a regular basis. Always keep backups of your backups too.

Laptops come with monitors, but I also have an external monitor. In this day in age having dual monitor capabilities will set you apart from your peers and colleagues. I have my old tv as my monitor. It’s a 32-inch screen which allows me kind of more than dual screen sometimes because I can have 4 screens open on the one with great visuals/portions of them all too.

I also have an external keyboard and an ergonomic vertical mouse that’s external to my laptop. I wish I had a cute little paper shredder from Amazon or something. They’re not even that expensive I think some of the decent ones are like 75 dollars. But I would love a cute under-the-desk shredder. I actually no longer shred my paper but instead, I turn it into paper pulp and make handmade paper with it. It’s also a good idea to have a fax machine or a printer with scanning and faxing capabilities.

It’s a good idea to have a surge protector. It’s a good idea to have an air purifier. I have one that’s in my kitchen but would be in my office area if I had more room for it, Along with my humidifier. It’s in the area where my bedroom meets the office. My humidifier also has a diffuser compartment for essential oils.

It’s a good idea to have a business-style phone with multiple lines if you can. But just for me, I have a home phone on my desk to screen household calls during the day. I have my cellphone and I take 99% of my phone calls here. I like to put it on my little gooseneck. Something I don’t have a VoIP system, but I recommend it for a home office. It’s usually on the list of things and was on the list that my breakout room came up with.

We don’t have safety alarms, but we do have a security system. It’s a decent security system and has some convenient features. It’s important to make sure you have security features on your filing cabinets and on your computer systems. Basically, anywhere that client information is stored should have some type of security feature on it. This is to aid in maintaining confidentiality. In the future, I plan on using Tresorit to keep electronic files safe and confidential.

Every office needs an Internet router is also important. High speed is preferable. Most laptops come with webcams but sometimes it’s also a good idea to have a backup/external webcam as well. I have a Logitech external from my computer. I have an external microphone that I purchased from Amazon. Having a label printer can increase efficiency and productivity. It’s also a good idea to have a corkboard and a wipe board. I only have cork, I have a larger one and I have a couple of octagons that are closer to my desk.

Having noise-cancelling headphones is ideal. I have a home coffee station that also houses cleaning supplies as well. I purchased a coffee mug warmer at the beginning of the semester but after trying it out I realized it was not good quality, so I returned it. Which is a good thing since I’m taking a hiatus from coffee anyway. Speakers are also a good thing to have as well. I have a black web Bluetooth speaker on my desk. Black web is a reputable company for decent quality at a decent price.

I have an amazon fire tablet which is used a lot for some parts of school during the summer. I wouldn’t suggest an Amazon tablet for work though as they have many limitations. It would be ideal to have a Samsung Galaxy tablet. They have amazing reviews, and my sister has one for her work at McGill and loves it. Speaking of Amazon though, it’s a great idea to have an amazon prime account!

I also have my foot pedal still from 2015. It may come in handy if I decide to pick up some transcription work on the side.

Personally, I love my USB hub; it has 7 different external USB ports allowing me to do more on my computer at once. Depending on your business you might also need streaming tools. Some of which have already been mentioned. I can do i sidenote post on this if you guys would like. A Laminator is a good idea too. and lastly a clip-on light ring!

Thats it for this one you guys thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out posts 1-4 of this series! It’s been super fun working on this for you guys and breaking down this huge project that I did into smaller chunks and sharing it! Dont forget to hit that follow button to see more posts from me! I would absolutely love to connect with you all as well!