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The Perils of the Home Office
By Nicole Dean
So you’ve started a home business. You went out and purchased a nice desk and
comfortable chair, and maybe even a new computer with all of the necessary
extras. Now you’re ready to earn an income from home! How nice it will be to be
your own boss, to work when you feel like it and to answer to no one.
At least that‘s what you think.
If your business involves the Internet you’re probably going to spend a lot of time
at your desk. You think your desk at work was a mess? You have no idea. This
past year was one of the most stressful times I’ve ever experienced; mostly due to
the chaos that was my Home Office, conveniently located in my dining room. Here
is the type of scenario that played itself out in my home on a daily basis:
Get up, fix coffee, take cup to desk, move slinky off desk, let the dog out, open
email, start making list of tasks tocomplete, answer the phone, take a message for
husband, leave note on desk, let the dog back in, separate screaming siblings,
remember to pay phone bill, locate phone bill among the dozen or so envelopes
piled up on desk, write check, leave the prepared bill among the remnants of the
other bills, three-year-old runs up to give Mommy a hug and spills coffee all over
desk, throw out the phone bill with the pile of trash (forgetting it’s there in the first
place) along with son’s school enrollment paperwork that’s been lying on desk
under home business catalogs and order forms and phone message taken earlier
for husband.'
The result of my morning's effort? Enrollment is late, phone bill isn’t paid on time,
and husband wonders if I'll ever regain sanity. Rewind, repeat tomorrow, next
week, next month, etc.
Sound familiar? If you’re new to home business, then maybe you haven’t yet
experienced the perils of the Home Office. I think the phrase is an oxymoron for
most people. There’s very little divide between the stuff for home and the stuff for
your business.
Even if you’re lucky enough to have a separate room for your office, I bet your
family (and you too) are guilty of leaving items or taking stuff to and from your
desk. I don’t know how many times I have looked for the three ring hole punch,
only to find it on my daughter's art table along with the kitchen tongs and
bathroom plunger.
So you’re asking yourself, "How do I keep my desk organized and my desk
contents out of the hands of my family?" Good question.
There are dozens of articles and books written to help "get organized", but if you
and your family are not respectful of the Home Office Space, then no number of
organizing binders and boxes and tabs and expanding folders will help. I tried.
Really I did. I kept finding my lovely wicker In/Out Box in my daughter's room,
you guessed it, by the art table with the other items she ‘borrowed.’
What finally helped my stressful Home Office situation was to schedule a time
every week to throw away old bills, to not even bring the junk mail into the house
in the first place, and to use a simple file folder system located in my desk drawer
to keep my home business paperwork, and family papers.
As far as the littlest sneak thief - I gave my daughter her own desk drawer full of
interesting things to look at. Simple plan.
Now if I could just find that ringing telephone…!
Meet the writer:
Nicole Dean faces the perils of the Home Office daily. She's a work at home mom,
and owner of www.showmomthemoney.com - a fun resource to help Work
at Home Moms stay sane. She welcomes you to visit
www.homeorganizationhelp.com for a battle plan to tackle your home office perils
and the chaos in every other room of your house.
By Nicole Dean
So you’ve started a home business. You went out and purchased a nice desk and
comfortable chair, and maybe even a new computer with all of the necessary
extras. Now you’re ready to earn an income from home! How nice it will be to be
your own boss, to work when you feel like it and to answer to no one.
At least that‘s what you think.
If your business involves the Internet you’re probably going to spend a lot of time
at your desk. You think your desk at work was a mess? You have no idea. This
past year was one of the most stressful times I’ve ever experienced; mostly due to
the chaos that was my Home Office, conveniently located in my dining room. Here
is the type of scenario that played itself out in my home on a daily basis:
Get up, fix coffee, take cup to desk, move slinky off desk, let the dog out, open
email, start making list of tasks tocomplete, answer the phone, take a message for
husband, leave note on desk, let the dog back in, separate screaming siblings,
remember to pay phone bill, locate phone bill among the dozen or so envelopes
piled up on desk, write check, leave the prepared bill among the remnants of the
other bills, three-year-old runs up to give Mommy a hug and spills coffee all over
desk, throw out the phone bill with the pile of trash (forgetting it’s there in the first
place) along with son’s school enrollment paperwork that’s been lying on desk
under home business catalogs and order forms and phone message taken earlier
for husband.'
The result of my morning's effort? Enrollment is late, phone bill isn’t paid on time,
and husband wonders if I'll ever regain sanity. Rewind, repeat tomorrow, next
week, next month, etc.
Sound familiar? If you’re new to home business, then maybe you haven’t yet
experienced the perils of the Home Office. I think the phrase is an oxymoron for
most people. There’s very little divide between the stuff for home and the stuff for
your business.
Even if you’re lucky enough to have a separate room for your office, I bet your
family (and you too) are guilty of leaving items or taking stuff to and from your
desk. I don’t know how many times I have looked for the three ring hole punch,
only to find it on my daughter's art table along with the kitchen tongs and
bathroom plunger.
So you’re asking yourself, "How do I keep my desk organized and my desk
contents out of the hands of my family?" Good question.
There are dozens of articles and books written to help "get organized", but if you
and your family are not respectful of the Home Office Space, then no number of
organizing binders and boxes and tabs and expanding folders will help. I tried.
Really I did. I kept finding my lovely wicker In/Out Box in my daughter's room,
you guessed it, by the art table with the other items she ‘borrowed.’
What finally helped my stressful Home Office situation was to schedule a time
every week to throw away old bills, to not even bring the junk mail into the house
in the first place, and to use a simple file folder system located in my desk drawer
to keep my home business paperwork, and family papers.
As far as the littlest sneak thief - I gave my daughter her own desk drawer full of
interesting things to look at. Simple plan.
Now if I could just find that ringing telephone…!
Meet the writer:
Nicole Dean faces the perils of the Home Office daily. She's a work at home mom,
and owner of www.showmomthemoney.com - a fun resource to help Work
at Home Moms stay sane. She welcomes you to visit
www.homeorganizationhelp.com for a battle plan to tackle your home office perils
and the chaos in every other room of your house.
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