When I left teaching to blog full time and work freelance on writing projects I was all prepared to create a work at home office area. We have a study which is open plan with the dining room. I have to share this area with the husband and an ever growing pile of books to mark, a child doing homework and a teen doing GCSE revision and I long for my own work station. One thing I had forgotten during the planning stages of going freelance was that I didn’t actually even have my own laptop. The laptop I blogged from was my school issue work laptop which obviously had to be handed in when I left. I hadn’t twigged this for a few weeks after handing in my notice and suddenly realised a laptop would be my first business purchase. I would now have chosen a desk top computer (a Mac ideally) as working on a laptop is not very ergonomic and I often have neck ache from looking down.
The second key business need is a good printer. Now we had a printer but we were forever getting through ink cartridges as we all used it regularly. The children for homework and especially Chloe who prints of past exam papers to revise from. As a blogger I also often have to print off contracts or Non disclosure documents sign them and send them back. Therefore my printer needed to multi task. It needs to copy, print and scan to keep us all happy. Therefore the Epsom EcoTank was a welcome addition to our little study.
My favourite feature is that it is wireless. This has made life so much easier. We have no wires but more importantly we all have the printer set up to our devices which means that any of us can print at the press of a button. This is ideal for the children’s homework’s and projects and they can see the printer directly from their iPads.
Having a printer is essential for us and we use it most days. Therefore having a sustainable printer that uses less ink and is easy to operate is immeasurable really. In a household with older children I can’t see how you can get everything done with a printer, even school letters are now emailed to me and I have to print off and sign for school trips etc. Paperless for the organisation but it means homes benefit from having a printer.
Therefore a laptop and printer are pretty essential when working from home. I also suggest a good chaair to sit on in order to work effectively. I know many bloggers work from there sofa but for me I need to sit and be productive! I also work set hours and have myself in a little routine. I work well in the mornings so start at the laptop straight after the school run.
As I said I would love to have my own workspace to make pretty. I think the right environment helps me be creative. I would like a nice light, some framed quotes and a bunch of flowers. As I share my work space with everyone else in the house it is much more functional with a pot of pens and piles of school books!
