50 Easy Upgrades For Anyone Who Spends A *Lot* Of Time In Their Home Office

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50 Easy Upgrades For Anyone Who Spends A *Lot* Of Time In Their Home OfficeImprove the ergonomics, organization, and overall ~vibes~ of your home office so you don’t have to dread your 9-to-5.

A slim laptop stand to raise your laptop and bring it closer to eye level, especially handy if you use it with a desktop monitor. This is better for the overall ergonomics of your setup, but it also ensures your laptop gets ventilation and doesn’t overheat.

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This stand fits any laptop from 10–15.6 inches and can be easily disassembled into three parts for easy transportation.

Promising review: “This has helped my neck pain and workflow. I’m used to working in an office with monitors and this made a big difference in my work from home experience by putting my screen at a comfortable eye level. The material is good quality, feels sturdy, and was simple to assemble. It comes in three pieces and is intuitive to put together without looking at directions. There are pads on the top to keep your laptop from sliding. I’m using it with a 15-inch laptop and it’s a good fit. I did get a wireless keyboard to use with it, which I would recommend. If you were to try to type on your laptop keyboard with this, it would be uncomfortable. I bought it for the ergonomics, but as a bonus, I am liking how it helps me keep my desk organized with the extra space beneath. Great product!” —M

Get it from Amazon for $16.99+ (available in 10 colors).

A desktop whiteboard that fits in that lil’ space between your monitor and keyboard for writing quick notes, ideas, or even motivational messages for yourself. A little pull-out drawer holds your dry-erase markers and other small accessories!

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This whiteboard also comes with a dry-erase marker, accessory channel (to hold the marker), and a storage drawer.

Promising review: “Never thought something analog would be SO useful in my daily routine. I work from home and am constantly project managing a number of complex strategic projects. Having pertinent information directly in front of me and top of mind has done incredible things for my productivity. Never would have imagined it would make such a difference. For a nominal investment, I highly recommend it if you have trouble keeping up with things.” —Captainflapjax

Get it from Amazon for $34.99+ (available in four styles).

3. A Bluetooth speakerphone if you’re still relying on your laptop speakers for video calls. This’ll noticeably improve your audio by reducing background noise and enhancing your speech, and you’ll hear your colleagues more clearly as well, making it an improvement for everyone involved.

You can also use this as a regular speaker for music and podcasts and the like, and hook it up using an AUX cord or an included dongle. Conveniently, it also has a button to mute and unmute yourself, so if you’re using different video platforms (or your kid is online learning) it’s easy to just mute yourself manually if you can’t find the button right away on the screen.

Promising review: “I’ve found this speakerphone to be useful for a variety of circumstances. Like many of us, I’ve found myself working from home a lot during the pandemic. It was difficult to even find a webcam for awhile, and when I finally did, people on the line could not hear me through it. That was why I decided to buy this product. Once I started using it as my microphone during cam sessions on Zoom and other platforms, coworkers immediately noticed how much clearer it was to hear me. The speaker on this product sounds nice, making it more enjoyable to listen to conference calls. You can also play music through it, so it can quickly become a way to get a nice little stereo wherever you may be in your home or office when paired with your phone. This is a well-thought-out product with a lot of versatility. I can connect to it quickly through a variety of ways, such as Bluetooth, the included auxiliary sound cord, or the included dongle. It also comes with a USB cable which can charge this device up quickly. I also like that it’s all black with a slick design that looks good in my office. It has a slight weight to it, which helps to keep you from accidentally knocking it to the floor yet is light enough that I can easily throw in my briefcase.” —J

Get it from Amazon for $59.99+ (available in two colors).

4. A charging station that’ll be a one-stop shop for organizing your devices so they’re not scattered all across your desk or cluttering a drawer. It has six USB charging ports (with overcharge protection) and illuminated LED dividers that show you at a glance whether a device is still charging or all juiced up.
This dock comes with seven USB cables, including three lightning cables, three micro-USB cables, and one Type-C cable for compatibility with Apple, Android, and other devices. You can charge phones, tablets, smart watches, and even a Nintendo Switch in this thing. (Note: You can also buy more short cables for this dock in each type as needed — linked above!)

Promising review: “This charging station does a great job of decluttering the desk area from all the wires needed to charge a family of six different devices. It charges VERY quickly! The light up feature that indicates charging is finished is really neat. It takes up very little space on the desk, which is fantastic. Highly recommend! (Only drawback is that it comes with a hodgepodge of cords for different types of devices, so in order to charge all of our Apple devices, I bought an add-on pack of only Apple charging cables, but not a deal breaker!)” —Debra Vaught

Get it from Amazon for $44.99 (available in three colors and a 4-port version).

A transparent monitor attachment if sticky notes are currently taking over your desk — with this, you can keep them organized and neatly visible next to your monitor for easy reference! It has a built-in stand at the bottom for holding your phone with a hole for a charger to pass through.

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Each of the attachments has a sticky film that’s strong enough to adhere to your monitor, but easy enough to remove that it won’t damage it.

Promising review: “I have 568 stickies on any given day and this is exactly what I needed to keep myself organized. They came packaged nicely, no cracks or scratches, and was easy to adhere. The adhesive is awesome. It’s not going anywhere!!! I recommend this to anyone like me who needs a cool place for their notes. You will be the envy of your coworkers!” —Mason’s Mom

Get it from Amazon for $8.99 (also available without the phone holder).

6. Or to replace of all the hastily scrawled notes scattered everywhere: A Rocketbook smart reusable notebook you can fill with handwritten notes, then blast them straight to your smart device for storage, wipe the pages clean, and start over. Not only will you be able to look back on them for your own reference, but it *also* means you’ll be able to send notes from that important Zoom meeting directly to your boss as an attachment and look super organized.
Promising review: “As a graduate student, this notebook is a revolution. I love being able to catalog my notes in my Google Drive so that they’re accessible and I’m not flipping through pages of notes searching for a topic during open-note tests. Also love the icons at the bottom so I can send different classes’ notes to different folders with ease, all from the same notebook. I have two of these, one for the office and one at home, and have gifted a few. They are always well-received! Great buy here.” —AJ

Get it from Amazon for $22.08 (available in two sizes and 16 colors and patterns).

An adhesive monitor clip for holding larger papers and keeping them organized. This handy clip can hold up to 30 sheets at once so you can easily reference while typing, especially handy for note-taking and data entry.

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Promising review: “I love this product. I always buy one when I move into a new office. It’s basic, but it works. Clip adheres very well to my computer monitor when both services are clean and dry. Use some rubbing alcohol to clean both services before trying to adhere it. I like this document clip because it helps me be more productive. I also use it to hold papers that need my immediate attention if I am not doing data entry. In summary, I’ve purchased this product many times for a reason. It does the job with no frills and it’s a great value!” —Cassidy

Get it from Amazon for $8.15.

8. A memory foam gel pad to provide ergonomic support for your wrists and avoid the aches and pains that come with typing at a computer all day. Seriously, once you get wrist pads, there’s no going back.

It comes in two pieces — one you can prop in front of your keyboard, and the other in front of your mouse.

Promising review: “I’ve been working from home due to COVID and began experiencing wrist pain. The soft cushion from both items provided the relief I needed. Great products and price!” —Gaga15

Get it from Amazon for $11.59+ (available in 16 colors).

Or a cute ergonomic mouse pad with built-in wrist support, adding both comfort and flair to your desk setup. It comes in over 30 different styles!

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Promising review: “This mouse pad is tacky on the backside which I didn’t realize, but really like. It keeps it from sliding around. Overall this is a great product for the money and keeps my hand/wrist from hurting throughout the day.” —Julie Dunfee

Get it from Amazon for $12.99 (available in 34 different styles).

10. Or! An adjustable heated mousepad if your home office runs chilly (and you’re trying to keep energy bills down). Even if you’ve got a space heater and a blanket at your desk, the targeted heat this applies to your mouse-using hand can improve circulation and leave your icy fingers toasty warm.

There’s a hole in the back of the mouse pad, so you can use this with a wired or wireless mouse! The USB-rechargeable mouse pad has a time switch so you can set it to run for two, four, or eight hours (and automatically turn off afterward) and variable heat settings from 110 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Promising review: “I am cold ALL THE TIME except when it’s 110 degrees in the summer, and then I have to sit outside because my husband turns the air conditioner on and I start shivering. I have heated socks, a heated vest, heated blankets, heated jacket, and now I have added this heated mouse pad to my collection. It is perfect. Keeps my hand toasty warm the whole time I’m on my computer, not too hot and not too cool. The wrist pad is comfortable and the texture inside is soft but breathable. Works perfectly with my wireless mouse and has a USB to plug right into my laptop so I don’t have to spare an extra outlet. I wish I’d known these existed when I was working all day in a freezing cold office!” —K. Darklighter

Get it from Amazon for $26.97.

11. A game-changing hanging wall organizer you can hang just to the side of your desk for organizing all your papers into color-coded sections — the colored folders are slightly transparent so you can see what’s inside.

Each folder can hold up to 25 sheets and the whole thing can be collapsed and secured with the attached cord for easy transport — which is *so* convenient if you’re working a hybrid office-WFH schedule. It even comes with blank stickers for labeling the tabs. (Check out our Smead wall organizer deep dive for more deets on how helpful it is!)

Promising review: “It’s very nice and organized, I love it. I needed to make room on my desk and this helped a lot. I was gonna use hooks to hang it up but after feeling the weight of it with all the papers in it (plus my cats eyeing it curiously), I decided to use nails instead. Holds up well so far and I hang my ID badge from it to grab on my way out hehe. I like the size and that it doesn’t take up a lot of space. Very happy with it, was excitedly waiting for it.” —Elizabeth Lopez Corrales

Get it from Amazon for $10+ (available in four colors).

12. An under-desk file organizer if your desk’s drawer space is ✨ nonexistent ✨ so you need to make room for all your files and papers without taking up space on top. The flat hanging plate means you can still place other things on top of it for maximum space usage!

Promising review: “I have a computer table with no drawers or shelves and no place to put them. Love this product — it’s easily installed on the side of my computer table and keeps my papers and supplies organized within reach and out of sight; mostly it keeps my workspace clear. There is a way to tighten it to the desk or table, but I haven’t used it, I just slid it onto my desk and voila! Instant neatness.