Since giving up our home in Chicago and working from the road, my husband and I have found ourselves in a wide variety of living situations. We mostly make our home in short-term, furnished rentals, but sometimes we crash with friends and even more rarely, we'll stay at the occasional hotel.
What makes all of this moving around possible, but also created a spacial problem, is that we both work online. Since we both need our own space (he's on conference calls all day while I need a quiet space for writing), I usually end up working from the bedroom. Here are a few tips I've learned over the past few months to save my back and my attention span.
- Tidy up! Make the bed and straighten your things before you begin work. A neat work area will calm your nerves and lessen your domestic distractions.
- Make sure you have enough light. If there isn't enough natural light in your bedroom, turn on lamps or overhead lights. We recently stayed in a place with no windows in the bedroom (!), so I had to drag in some lamps to keep myself from falling asleep at the keyboard.
- Prop up your computer to desk height. I definitely have the tendency to slouch while working. Keeping my computer up off the bed is not only better for the laptop, it helps with posture, neck position and keeps my wrists at a good angle all day.
- Take breaks and walk around. I try to schedule walks, exercise and stretching into my work day, otherwise, I'll forget to do it. This keeps my blood pumping even though I'm sitting on the bed all day.
- Don't eat in bed. Perhaps this goes without saying, but sometimes it's super tempting to grab a sandwich while finishing one small task. You'll thank yourself later when you fall asleep in clean sheets.
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I spend a lot of time in bed on my laptop, doing schoolwork or during downtime. Along with keyboard height, think about back support. If I forget to grab an extra pillow or two when leaning against the headboard, my back feels it pretty quick, and my neck gets strained. I also find myself slumping down forward or to one side over time, so remember to adjust pillows frequently to avoid fatigue and pain.
Along with eating in bed, be careful with liquids, since I've been known to slosh tea in bed (or when precariously perched on a nightstand) when adjusting my comforter.
I'm a grad student and I do a lot of my studying and writing at home. I sat around a lot on the couch and on my bed but last year developed carpal tunnel syndrome and had to find a solution to the work-from-home pains in my wrist.
The thing that helped me most was setting up a small desk in the bedroom and getting a 24" flat screen monitor & full size keyboard to connect my laptop to. When my wrist is tired and achey, I sit at the desk. The monitor doubles as a TV screen for watching Netflix, Hulu, etc from my laptop, and takes up very little space. If you don't have space for a desk/keyboard/monitor combo, just work at an ergonomic surface. Carpal tunnel is not fun!
And yes, keeping the room & house clean is an absolute must!
I'm way too unproductive from bed when it comes to working on things. I work from home now on a desktop and I have to get completely dressed like I'm going to work, otherwise I will want to lounge all day. Thankfully I have a separate office but I admire anyone who can work from their bedroom or in bed. Bravo!
Don't run your laptop on a soft surface like the bed or carpet!
It blocks the vent(s) and makes it overheat. It draws in dust etc to block the fan
One additional tip: if at all possible, when the"work day" is done, put way your notepads, files, laptop, etc. I had my office in my bedroom for a year, and there's nothing more unsettling than waking up to your work staring back at you. Home officing requires some psychological barriers between the personal and professional.
I agree with Chi_Sal about cleaning up your work area when the day is done.
I recently moved my home office from a tiny third bedroom into our still-small bedroom when we needed the other room for a nursery. After combing the Web for home office ideas, I determined the most important thing to make it work for me was a nearly zen-like workspace that wouldn't intrude on the rest of my life.
When I'm not working, I have almost nothing on my desk but my keyboard, monitor and a lamp. We fashioned some old cabinets into storage that allow all of my paperwork, supplies, kids crafts -- and everything else that used to hang out in my office -- to be stashed away when not in use.
My workspace still is the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning, but the fact that the day's work is not staring back at me goes a long way toward peace of mind.