When we first moved into the apartment we live in now, we knew we wanted a second bedroom to function as an office, as well as an extra bedroom for family! It has been the perfect guest bedroom for my family and friends who needed to stay the night. About a year ago we made it into a functioning office for my fiance to do voice work in as well as animation projects and so on.

 

For about 6-7 months now, our office has sat empty, with my fiance recording a couple lines every now and again, so I recently took it upon myself to take over the office, so I could have my own work space to write, create topic boards and so forth. I was kind enough to leave the foam voice panels on the walls (they were a pain to put up so I was not about to try to take it down). I got the desk all set up how I want it, as well as all the equipment I need! By taking over the office, I had a better organization strategy to store my photography props and equipment, as well as video and recording equipment! Yes I am now in the process of making YouTube Videos, but more on that later!

 

I thought I would leave out the obvious things such as a computer, a stapler, tape, etc. I thought it would be fun to discuss what things I need in my work space and why! So without further ado, let’s begin!

 

1)Writing Utensils

I feel like this is way to obvious but it is so required. You can always spruce up your work-space with something like a fun pen cup or something of the sort. In my writing cup, I always keep a wide variety of colorful pens, mechanical pencil. Highlighters, a couple sharpies,and a few loose erasers (I should probably clean it out). I also like every 6 months or so (I did this with school stuff too) I go through the cup and test all of the pens, highlighters, sharpies, etc., just to see if they work. I am hoping to get a whiteboard in here soon, so I may have to expand the cup to a jug to accommodate for my dry erase markers. Man, being an adult is so fun.

 

2) Post-It Notes

Sticky Notes honestly have been a lifesaver for me. If I wasn’t a freak and felt the incessant need to have a clean desk, I would probably have sticky notes plastered everywhere.  I use sticky notes for same or next day reminders. Yes I do work from home, but having the office as a work space rather than watching TV and trying to edit a new post. Rather than living where I work, I work where I live. Having the separation between the two has helped so much. Being able to leave sticky notes on my computer and desk is a great way for me to keep track of what I need to do before I call it quits for the day. I also use a different color sticky note for everything. Yellow are blog posts, pink are for research, green are for photo sessions for the blog and so on. I use orange stickies next to my keyboard, as a summary of what I did that day. I look at them before I start that way I have an idea of  what I need to start, continue, or finish! It’s a great system and if you want to know more about it, just give me a shout!

 

3) Calendar 

Having a calendar/planner has been crucial to my organization. Having a calendar helps me meet my deadlines as well as have a general view of what is coming up.I also write any events going on in town so I can attend and possibly write about them or even take some pictures for future use! Some people find it easier to have a planner over a calendar and it’s just up to personal preference. Since I am still a student, I do have a planner for school as well as a travel planner I keep in my bag for blog posts as well as the local events again. I find it easiest for me to have a whiteboard calendar. The one I have currently has a note section on the side that I can use for anything from holidays coming up to a shopping list of stuff I need for the next photo shoot.

 

4) A Notebook

Having a notebook for different things have been the best when I am doing research about articles! I have a sketchbook that I use to write down all my information about blogging. I take about an hour a day (sometimes longer) to do what I call “research”. What I mean by doing research is looking up information about how to apply for affiliate partnerships, as well as food photography tips and tricks. I think that if everyone were to take an hour a day to research news or even new viewpoints and opinions on whatever they are doing, everyone can learn so much more and even improve your work!

 

5) Headphones

Having the ability to work from home for the time being, I am thoroughly enjoying it! However, we love having company and playing video games. Having a pair of earbuds to put in to block out noise, or even put on some focus music, having a pair of headphones is so important for me.

I currently just have a pair of cheap earbuds that do the job, but I have my eyes on a nice set of audio-technica headphones. Maybe someday! For now, these work wonderfully for listening to music, or for editing videos as well!

 

6) A Good Keyboard and Mouse

I love my laptop so much. Truthfully though, I don’t bring my laptop everywhere and it usually stays home. I am lucky enough to have an iPad I take to class for notes, or if it is dead, I will just use a notebook and copy the notes in when I get home. My Fiance and I have been thinking about getting/building a desktop. The desk that we have in our office doesn’t exactly have the best arm room so I have the laptop on one of the shelves of the desk, and an external keyboard and mouse which work great!

The brand of keyboard and mouse I have is a Logitech and I have always bought this same brand. They are affordable, as well as durable. We have had our keyboard and mouse I want to say for at least 5 years now and it has worked like a dream. The different mice (that sounds so weird in computer terms) they have range from $10-$20 usually. They are wireless which is the best. They keyboard is a little spendier but it is durable and makes the best click noises, which I am obsessed with. The keyboard we have has 10 key on it, which makes it a touch more expensive. It also has shortcuts to email, a calculator, and so on. You should definitely think about picking one up today!

 

7) The Box of Paperclips, Tacks, Rubber Bands Etc.

This may seem obvious, but I love these types of things. Obviously don’t just throw them all into one large cup, box whatever (unless you like to live dangerously with the tacks in the equation). I have gone almost paperless because I have all of my posts saved on google drive as well as a flash drive, so there isn’t a need to print out. I am thinking about getting a small tack board to hang a few things up. I mainly use the paperclips and rubber bands for school stuff, but once I start a newsletter, I think I will use paperclips and such more often.

 

8) Happiness

This is the most important thing you need. If you aren’t happy with what you are doing WHY ARE YOU DOING IT. Please take a second to reflect on if you are happy with what you are doing. I have had so many jobs that I have literally cried that I didn’t want to go. Now instead of crying sad tears, I am crying happy tears over the news of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild Sequel because I cannot stop playing the first one. I beg you if you are not happy with what you are doing, please do something that makes you happy. What is the point of doing something if you get no enjoyment out of it.

 

That’s all I have for today! Do you think I missed anything? Do you love Zelda and want to chat because I would love that! If I left anything out let me know in the comments below!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

-Bre 🙂

 

PS: I accidentally set my post to go up at 2 AM yesterday instead of 2 PM so that was my dumb mistake please forgive me! See you tomorrow!