Beyond Folders : workplace organization, home office

Is Your Kitchen Your Home Office?

Community Manager — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:44:00 GMT

The kitchen is the de facto command center for many homes. Whether you work at home, commute from home or stay-at-home, managing the paperwork and information flow of life requires a centralized strategy. Where better than the heart of the home?

That Was Easy

Organizing a kitchen office doesn't have to be hard and having one will make life easy. Very easy. The kitchen is a magnet for paperwork, bills, car keys, prescriptions, invitations and to-do lists. Corralling these items is a must.

Capture items in daily use that can't be filed away in your kitchen command center. A command center doesn't need to be the permanent filing solution we've discussed in other blog posts. Rather, a kitchen command center is a communications hub handling incoming and outgoing information needing immediate action on a day-to-day basis.

Consider including the following useful items:

Calendar
Corkboard
Dry erase board
Clock
Pegs for keys, dog leashes, backpacks, etc.
Wall mounted bins, file folders, baskets

Set up your command center to enable family members to walk in, unload crucial papers and items and have them at their fingertips when next ready to leave. For more how-to and real life inspiration read The Ultimate Family Command Center. It targets busy moms and harried home business owners. If they can do it, you can do it.

Command Center Plus

With location independent workers increasingly telecommuting or freelancing from home, kitchen command centers often need to do double-duty as an office. In our blog post Tips for Setting Up Your Home Office we outline basic home office needs. Home-makeover web site HGTV.com offers tips for optimizing kitchen work space in Fit Functional Office Space in the Kitchen. Finally, enjoy the eye-candy inspiration of fabulous and functional kitchen office spaces at Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen Workstation Ideas.

What tools help your kitchen command center run seamlessly? Do you have pictures of your kitchen home office to share? Post your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Carly Fadako

Tips for Setting Up Your Home Office

Community Manager — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:58:00 GMT

The Home Office Conference Call

How do you set your boundaries?

I previously posted about the rise of a home office workforce that favors an easy (or, really, non-existent) commute, more flexible hours and a casual dress code. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, almost 52% of all small businesses are home-based. If you are thinking of working from home, here are some ideas for setting up your office space.

The first step is to choose the right area of your home. This post from iVillage poses some key questions to consider, including:

How much time will you spend in the office?
What type of work are you doing?
How much privacy do you need?
Is a computer the office's focal point?
Will customers or vendors visit you?

As this USA Today article and a post from workshifting.com set out, once you choose the physical space for your office, you need to consider what you need in it, such as:

Electricity
Internet, phone and fax connections
An ergonomic desk and chair
Good lighting
Heaters or air conditioner
Storage

If being green is a priority, check out the tips in this post on How to Set up a Green Office for $1000 or Less . Planet Green also offers this Comprehensive Guide.

One of the great benefits of a home office is proximity to your family. But, if you have kids, you will probably want to set some boundaries (physical and otherwise) around your workspace. This Fast Company article on The Home Office, Kids Edition provides some good insights.

Have you set up a home office? If so, please let us know how you did it. Photos welcome!

by Carly Fadako

It is Nice to Share: Making Room for Two in Your Home Office

Community Manager — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:12:00 GMT

Millions of people in the U.S. work from home at least part time (check out some interesting work-at-home statistics here). Many making the in-home commute from one room to another do not make it alone. They are part of a growing population of home office co-workers.

Sharing Your Home Office Space

If you are thinking of creating a home office for two, you and your work-mate-to-be should consider the important questions posed in this article on home office life:

Do you have compatible working styles?
Are your internal clocks in sync?
Do you have the same tolerance for noise (or silence)?

Beyond addressing these basic questions, you have to be realistic about your physical space. A Helium article on sharing office space points up the importance of having separate desks that you can position "side by side, on opposite ends of the room or even back to back so you face your office partner over your computer." It also recommends that you maintain separate filing systems if you and your office mate are not in the same business or have distinct roles in a shared venture. Keeping your shared space clean and clutter-free is also a priority.

When you are ready to tackle your new set up, you can use these home office visualizing and planning tools. You can also gain some design inspiration from this HGTV article library and this take on 12 ways to pimp your office.

As important as it is to tend to your physical environment, according to this WebWorkerDaily post on A Home Office for Two, you also need to take care of your separate and joined psychic space by:

Being clear about your desires and expectations
Keeping the other informed if something is bugging you
Ensuring that you are both prepared to try new approaches and be flexible.

Do you share a home office? If so, we invite you to tell us about your experiences making room for two.

by Carly Fadako