You may ask yourself now, how drunk I was when writing this headline, or? I can assure you that I was completely sober, besides you count caffeine into that, then that´s a whole new story. Since moving into my little flat here in Salzburg, I always wanted to write this post, because I think there are some more people out there, who struggle with the same issues. In a 25 qm flat, I have no space for a desk, not to mention for a real home office, therefore I have one table in my flat, that has to cooperate with everything. Unfortunately this solution is not the easiest one, because you have to move your stuff around all day long, which is very ardous, especially if you have tasks to do that need several hours. To avoid this problem in the future, I found some ways to handle this problem. I thought I share my tips with you, in case some of you have the same issues.

ORGANISATION

That´s the most important thing, because otherwise you will drown in your own chaos. I had a little bit of space left, so I decided to buy a small shelf, which I can reach from the table and where I can store all the things that normally find their place in a home office. At IKEA you can get many different options of storages and boxes, and if you know what you want to store you can adjust the sizes of the boxes. For example I have one bigger box for all the stationary things, that are normally stored in the desk drawer, like pens, hole puncher, post its and and and. Then I have another bigger box for all the university stuff I do not need at the moment, but in the future. I also have several folders for different topics like bank and bills, a folder for personal stuff and another one big one for university and some smaller ones for university too.

In my closet I also had some space, where I store all the books and so on I need for university at the moment, so I can just open the doors and grab what I need. Especially if the space bordered it is even more important to keep your things organized, because otherwise it can look very cluttered and then you have the feeling of having even less space. Therefore it is also not very advisable to deposit stacks of paper and paperwork on your table. Just moving them from one edge to next one, won´t help you in your mind either and when you want to eat, it is also not the best solution.

I found that it helps my productivity a lot when I put the things away straight after using them. And I always know where I have to put things, because they have a place. At the end of the day I always make sure that my table is clear, so that I can start my day better with a breakfast on a clear table.

STYLING

Especially if your office is at the same time your living and bedroom, in my opinion it is even more important to make your office look like there is no office. Therefore I love some really nice boxes with patterns, which I can use as decoration, but also put things in it like ink or other little things.

FEELING

In my opinion the biggest hurdle with a home office is the feeling you develop there, because working from home, can mean that you get distracted from different, therefore it is essential to be able to make a cut between office mode and “normal” mode. For instance I make myself a coffee or tea, light a candle and put my pencil case next to me on the table, which is then the start for my “work mode”.

Let me know if you have any tips for a home office without a home office!:)