Working at home is getting more and more popular with many employers now understanding that people need some flexibility in their working lives.

A lot of employers are now allowing employees to work remotely and spend some time in the office as well as at home.

For some people, this is a brilliant initiative, but before you commit to working at home you may need to consider where you will work to ensure you are making the most out of your day.

When working from home it is easy to get distracted and you need to be extremely disciplined to work productively.

If you have a spare bedroom that could be used as an office this is the ideal situation but unfortunately, this may not be possible for some people.

Here are some tips on how to work at home with little space:

  1. Look at the areas in your home.

    You may not be able to allocate an entire room for your working space, but you should be able to find an area that will fit your needs. Look under your stairs or at areas in your kitchen as well as a place in your living room.

    You may have some space in your bedroom that may work or try your utility room if it is warm enough. Remember, you need to have enough space for your desk and chair. Everything else including your laptop, files or paperwork can be stored away with some good under-the-desk storage solutions. 

  2. Make it about work.

    Your allocated office space needs to be just about work and not about everything else that goes on in your house. So, don’t let others invade your space with their own work or use it when you're not there. Your workspace needs to get you in the zone, and you can’t do that if you are using the space for lots of other tasks. Make it about work and then you’ll make the most of your time once you sit at your desk. 

  3. Have boundaries.

    It is easy to not have boundaries when you work at home but for it to work, you need to be strict. This means not letting people use your space for their own work or letting the kids colour on your desk when you are cooking dinner. Everyone should respect your need to a personal working space. Talk to your family about working hours and ask them to respect the hours you work. Use noise cancelling headphones to block out noise around your home if it is a noisy area or if other people are at home while you work. 

  4. Think of your callers.

    If you are in the business of video calling, make sure your working space has little distractions in the background. For example, your workspace shouldn’t show the kids playing in the background or the rest of your bedroom. Turn your desk into an area with a plain backdrop and one that doesn’t intrude on family life if people are in the house while you work. 

  5. Leave room to change.

    If it works out, then you might need to build on your space and leaving room to do so is important. A small desk that is pulled down from the wall could be changed to a proper desk in time if working at home is working for you. Invest in a good chair once you are going to be working at home for long hours and build on clever storage solutions.

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