Working from home offers many advantages. It gives you the flexibility to set your own schedule, eliminates your commute, allowing you to save money on gas, and promotes independence.

To fully realize its benefits, however, you need to create a home environment that’s conducive to work; it’s hard to concentrate in a noisy, cluttered house.

Here are four ways to organize your home and create a personal space that’ll boost your productivity and set you up for work-from-home success.

Set Yourself Up for Work-From-Home Success

1. Maintain A Clean, Comfortable Home

Maintaining a clean, comfortable home will help you stay productive. If your house is cluttered, you’ll have a hard time focusing on important tasks, and you may find yourself taking random breaks throughout the day to straighten up when should be working.

Keeping your home at a comfortable temperature is as important as keeping it uncluttered. If it’s too warm, you’ll find yourself growing drowsy, and if it’s too cool, you’ll have a hard time concentrating.

To keep your home at the perfect temperature, don’t forget to have your HVAC serviced on a regular basis. Periodic maintenance will increase both the efficiency and life of your HVAC unit, enabling you to keep your home comfortable year-round.  

2. Educate Yourself About Self-Employment Taxes

If you’re working from home because you’re recently self-employed, educate yourself about your new tax requirements or hire a tax professional to do your taxes for you. For example, you’ll need to learn about the self-employment tax, a tax of 15.3 percent which covers Medicare and Social Security.

If you’ve never worked for yourself before, you’re probably accustomed to your employer taking this amount out of your paycheck. As a self-employed individual, you’re responsible for paying it yourself.

In addition to filing an annual tax return, you’ll also need to file quarterly taxes. Set aside a portion of your income every month to cover them. Paying late because you didn’t save enough or made a mistake can result in hefty penalties and fees.

3. Stay On A Schedule

Create a schedule and stick to it. Determine your start time, lunch, and when you’re going to clock out. If you want to take short breaks throughout the day, plan for those too. A schedule will help you stay on track with your workload and sends a message of professionalism to clients and colleagues.

4. Create A Home Office

Create your own personalized workspace where you’ll enjoy spending time. Design a cozy area that’ll boost your productivity, and stock it with the items you’ll need to run a successful business, like a printer, pens, paper clips, and business cards. Lastly, make sure your office has good lighting and is well ventilated.  

Working from home has numerous benefits, but to take advantage of them, you must prepare your house to double as your office. Take some time to get it ready before you start working.

Create a schedule, get your home office organized, study the tax implications of working from home, and make sure your house is clean and comfortable. With preparation and the right mindset, you’ll increase your odds of attaining work-from-home success.