Seven Things That Make Working From Home Awesome
Since we bought our new home in October, I have been working from my home office a lot more (as opposed to local coffee shops). There are some great benefits to working from home. Here are a few items that made the transition easy for me:
1. A Good Desk
I used to have a rinky-dink desk that barely supported my laptop, monitor, and keyboard. But for Christmas I went out and bought myself a nice big sturdy desk. This has made working from home a lot easier. I now have plenty of room for all my stuff and I don’t feel cramped. I got mine at World Market.
2. Airport Express
If you aren’t familiar with the Apple Airport Express Wireless Router , you are missing out. This wireless router is like any other, except it’s better. It allows you to print, listen to music, share files, and surf the web wirelessly. It’s great, and works on Mac and PC.
3. Keurig Single Serving Coffee Maker
My wife and I have had our eye on the Keurig Gourmet Single Cup Home Brewing System for a couple years. We finally broke down and made the purchase this last year. It has been such a great buy. This machine allows you to make single serving drinks with the push of a button. If you’re like me, the last thing you want to do first thing in the morning is brew a pot of coffee. This machine allows you to get your hot or iced beverage fast (and for about $0.38/cup).
4. A Big Monitor
I love my Macbook Pro laptop, but when working from home I use a nice 23″ monitor to work from. Actually I run both monitors, but I only run Tweetie and Pandora on my laptop. When doing web design, I like to have a bigger monitor. The best part is that they’re getting super cheap. You can find a 24″ HD monitor for less than $200.
5. Pandora
If you’re a music junkie like I am, you will love Pandora. It is a free service that lets you listen to Internet radio based on your favorite artists. Other options for Internet radio are Last.fm and Grooveshark.
6. The Chair
I bought a $99 office chair from Costco when we moved into our new house. It was OK. But when I sat in the Equa XR I almost died of comfort. I returned my cheap chair and haven’t looked back. If you’re looking for an amazing chair that offers incredible support (not to mention it won TIME Magazine’s Design of the Century Award), look no further than the Herman Miller Exua XR.
7. An Amazing Family
By far the best part of working from home is being able to spend more time with my family. They are incredibly understanding and give me plenty of space to work. My favorite part of my day is when my 2 year old daughter comes and knocks on the door to get a kiss and a hug. I love eating lunch with my wife and kids. If my family wasn’t so great, working from home might be more of a curse than a blessing.
So there are my recommendations. Do you work from home? What items would you add to this list?
9 Responses to “Seven Things That Make Working From Home Awesome”
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This is very informative, Vin. I’m intrigued by that chair. Is it sold exclusively through Costco?
I’m also a huge fan of the Keurig coffee maker. I have 2 — one for home, and one for the office. I love that thing so much that I actually take mine on vacation when we go.
I’ve had an Airport Express for several years. It isn’t much of an issue anymore, but there was a time when I’d stay at a hotel that only had wired internet, so I’d just connect up the Airport and make my room wireless.
Thanks for sharing this information about yourself. Good stuff.
If I only had a job that would allow me to work from home, that would be great. I need to come up with something…
I bought my chair at Costco, but I think you can buy it at other places. I saw them on Amazon, but it looked like they were out of stock. Who knows, maybe Costco struck some kind of exclusivity deal…
Whatever the case, it’s the nicest office chair I have EVER sat in.
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Great post. I do love working from home as well. It adds a different dimension to my work flow. But it could easily go sideways, especially when you have young ones, like myself. It requires patience and consistency, as well as a whole lot of love and support from your family.
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I’d add a nice set of speakers for those who like listening to music while they work. It’s great when you don’t have to wear earphones for a whole day.
Awesome article! Thanks Vin!
That’s true. I have been looking at the Bose Companion 3 speakers. They look pretty darn sweet, and under $300.
I don’t work from home all the time, but I do have the convenience of doing so when I need. Similarly to you, I’ve got a big, flat table top desk, two wide screen monitors, and plenty of space.
One of the things that I love most about working from home, though, is listening to music in surround sound instead of in headphones. That’s definitely my favorite thing.
What speakers are you using? I have a set of surround speakers that have been sitting in a box since we moved a few months ago. Maybe I should break those out in the office. They are some cheap Sony speakers, but they should be better than the Logitech ones I use now.
Thanks for your input, and great blog by the way at http://morethanuseless.com
I’m using the Logitech 5.1 X-530. They are a little dated, but I’m happy with them. You can really squeeze some decent sound of ‘em if you spend some time working with the equalizer. I’ll invest in some new ones when (a) I’ve got the money to actually burn on speakers and (b) these begin to fall apart ;).
Thanks re: More Than Useless. Appreciate it. I’ve been following yours for a little while and enjoy it. I really gotta spend sometime re-working the design on mine. Gotta find the time to do that..