Creating a Coworking Space with Your Partner
One of the toughest things about working from home is keeping everyone happy. In many cases, all adult members of a household can find themselves vying for space to get their work done effectively and without too much stress. If you and your other half are currently struggling to share the space available in your home, read on. This article offers a few hints and tips on creating the most effective co-working space together.
Earmark Two Zoom Rooms
If you’re both likely to be in virtual meetings at the same time, you don’t want to end up talking over each other. If possible, find another space in your house to serve as an alternative. Try to choose areas where interruption is unlikely, though this may prove difficult with pets or young children at home.
Invest in Headphones
If what your partner is doing is noisy or distracting, you might want to find yourself some noise-cancelling headphones and put on a little relaxing music to keep you focused. If you want to listen to the same music, why not make it fun by being the DJ on alternate days. You take Monday, Wednesday and half of Friday, they take Tuesday, Thursday and the other half of Friday.
Declutter
If you’re both working in the same room, you’ll need as much space as you can get. Remove any unnecessary items and arrange things so that you aren’t constantly tripping over one another. This will reduce stress levels and prevent arguments. Try to lay out some ground rules when it comes to keeping the space tidy, so one of you doesn’t end up doing all the work, but try to stay relaxed so that you don’t stress each other out.
Share a Desk
Why not invest in a good-sized desk that will support two computers, either next to each other or one on each side? This will prevent you from having to find your own little niches in which to work, and also don’t have to sacrifice your own comfort for the other. Of course, if you find your partner distracting, you might prefer a separate desk facing the opposite direction.
Upgrade Your Internet Connection
With two of you working at home, a weak internet connection can become overloaded. If possible, look into upgrading. You may find that your employer will be able to remunerate you for this, as it is a necessary step that will enable you to complete your work, but be sure to check with them first. If you find that you’re incurring too many costs when upgrading your resources, you could take out a personal loan to help you afford the necessary home upgrades that lead to a productive home office. You can get matched with loan options in less than 60 seconds and even provide extra funds during the pandemic to get any existing credit card debt under control.
Make it Fun
Isn’t it great to finally see more of one another? Make the most of your time together with little activities and routines. Why not take it in turns to make each other lunch? Set up coffee rounds? Set each other challenges in order to stay motivated? Go for a run on your break? This will help you to find the joy in what could otherwise be an inconvenient situation.
