10 CHEAP AND EASY WAYS TO LEVEL UP YOUR HOME OFFICE

Are you working from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic? Not knowing how long your remote-work situation will last might leave you wondering how much effort you should put into creating a nice home office.

- JILL DUFFY

Before you sink too much time, work, and money into this project, consider improving your current setup with some simple tweaks. You can implement many of these suggestions immediately, often for little to no money. They can help get you through the next few weeks (or months).

1. INVEST IN HEADPHONES

To be fair, this tip isn’t one of the cheaper ones, but headphones have a real purpose in a home office. Not everyone likes to wear them every day, but when you need them, you’ll be grateful to have them—especially if you’re housebound in a small space with others, as many of us are right now.

A good noise-canceling pair can tamp down ambient sounds. And comfortable over-ear headphones can make you feel like you have more privacy than you actually do, helping you focus. Any set that comes with a microphone improves video and audio calls for both you and the people on the other end. If you’re shopping online during the COVID-19 pandemic, be sure to double-check the store’s return policies, as some have changed during the crisis.

2. USE A BACK PILLOW

You don’t need an expensive office chair at home, as it’s easy to adapt any standard chair to be more comfortable with a back pillow. You can buy an inexpensive curved foam cushion for your chair, or save yourself a few bucks by trying a standard pillow or rolled-up towel.

3. RAISE YOUR MONITOR OR LAPTOP