How to Equip a Home Office

Your home office

A home office is just that--an office in your home. Whether you’re freelance and work out of your house or you have a job that allows you to work from home, it’s important to be properly equipped. Depending on what your job entails, there are many options for what is required, but there are some items that are not negotiable.

Things You'll Need

• Dedicated room, with doors for privacy
• Dedicated phone line
• Voice mailbox from your phone company
• High-speed Internet connection
• File cabinet
• Bookshelves
• Printer
• Decent telephone
• Fax machine (with dedicated number)
• Copier/scanner
• Headset for your telephone

Instructions

1. Decide which room you’re going to use. It can be a spare bedroom, the basement or attic, the room over the garage or even the barn outside. As long as there is ample power, space and light, you’re good.

2. Make sure of the following things (in no particular order): It won’t get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. It possesses no health hazards (black mold, exposed insulation, uncovered asbestos pipes). The room is quiet (not next to the furnace), private (not in the laundry room) and is a place where you can focus on your work.

3. Keep it professional. Avoid the following: background noise (kids, dogs), standard answering machines (use a voice mailbox from your phone company) and cheap phones that don’t allow you to put callers on hold. If you receive faxes, get a dedicated fax line. Nothing says rinky-dink more than “If you wish to fax, press 9.” If you spend a lot of time on the phone, buy a headset. If clients visit with laptops, set up a wireless network. Finally, buy some decent furniture. It’s unprofessional to work at a card table and folding chair. (Plus, it’s bad for the back!)

4. 

   Keep it neat. Don’t use the office for nonwork-related storage, don’t pile up the books in the corner, empty the trash, and dust and clean on a regular basis. Keep supplies in a closet or on shelves away from your work area. Nobody likes working a pigpen!

5. 

   Give it some personality. Just because it’s an office and a workspace doesn’t mean it has to be sterile and boring. Give your office a nice paint job, use a nice rug or refinish the floor, put some artwork or pictures on the walls, get a cube fridge and add a stereo and TV if they won’t impede your productivity. Now get to work!

Tips & Warnings

• Tailor your office to your line of work. A CPA has different requirements than a Web designer does.

• Most of what is required is not expensive and can be bought secondhand.

• Make sure the home office is set up to separate you (physically and mentally) from your home life.

• Don’t push the limits of deductions with the IRS.

• If your data is essential, make sure you have an off-site backup.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish