The Best Desk Accessories for Your Home Office
There are a number of desk accessories that will take your work from home game to the next level. From whiteboards and full desk mousepads to glasses and voice assistants – we got you covered!
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An Echo Dot makes for a great desktop companion to help you become more efficient. Ask it questions, set alarms and reminders, control your music, or control your smart home from it. The Echo Dot is also alway adding more features like fitness tracking, games, and more. For its price, there’s not much better value on the market – it will make the ultimate work from home setup for you.
If you are looking at a computer screen all day, the light and reflective glare emitted from the screen can be harmful to your eyes. It can cause eye fatigue as well as interrupt your sleep patterns. To reduce the amount of Blue Light your eyes take in, you can wear tinted computer glasses like the Intercepts by Gunnar! They reduce 65% of the Blue Light that would normally go through, helping your eyes and your overall health. They also come with a 30 day return policy and a 1 year warranty.
The CloudValley Webcam Cover Slide is a great low-tech solution to any sort of privacy concerns. All tech leaders advise people to cover their webcams when not in use, and this one helps you do it quite easily, for a super low price. We picked this one out of all the slide covers because of its very thin product design. This allows your laptop to close and stay closed without the camera blocker getting in the way.
This is a no frills solution to staying safe and keeping your feet and legs protected when working from a home office standing desk. The mat is comfortable and will feel great – with or without shoes on. The mat is safe and has a non-slip bottom to prevent tripping or the mat moving underneath you. The style is minimalistic and sleek. If you want a solid color and reliable mat, this will serve you well.
Just about all desktops are made from hardwood, mdf, glass, or metal. And all of those sound terrible when you are moving a mouse around it. You can find plenty of mousepads like this one for under ten dollars. We like VicTsing’s for its stitched edges, rubber base that won’t slide around on surfaces, and because you can easily wash it when it gets dusty. It’s also super smooth.
Wire tubing is great for a few reasons. It keeps them all organized. It keeps them clean of unwanted dust. It protects them from any pets that may like to chew on them. And, it just looks a whole lot nice, especially if you have a desk with a lot of open space and no back panel. 25 feet should be plenty to work with around your desk and throughout your house if you want to use this for your TV and living room area as well.
Small tech gadgets that get dusty need a way to be cleaned, and most of them can’t be cleaned with liquid, especially keyboards. A compressed air cleaner is essential for cleaning them out and getting into those tight spaces. And just remember, your keyboard is one of the dirtiest things in your whole office since your fingers are touching them all the time (not to mention, anyone who spills crumbs while eating over it). Buying a compressed air duster for less than ten dollars is a no-brainer – keep those tight spaces clean!
This screen cleaner can be used on all devices such as your laptop, phone, tablet, and TV. It is streak free which is nice, and comes with a microfiber cloth. It’s also safe for delicate screens because there are no alcohol, ammonia, or harmful phosphates in the cleaning solution – you can even use it for your sunglasses.
Dry erase boards are great for keeping lists and knocking off to-do items! We like this one because it’s pretty compact and functions as a magnetic board as well. The dry erase marker has a fine pointed tip and there is a built-in eraser on the cap of it. You’ll love this board and use it a ton. It’s also fun for kids, although consider getting a larger one for your wall if they will be using it too.
Typing and moving a mouse around all day can be a pain on your wrists and forearms. Setting up your home office with a wrist and mouse cushion will give you just that added comfort that may not be entirely necessary, but it’s a nice treat. This one comes with both in the same package!
Buyer’s Guide To Your Home Office Desk Accessories
We geek out a lot on the best work from home setups and how to create the perfect home office. After all, if you are working from home full time, you should invest in every little detail to make it a better experience. Of course, that starts with the nuts and bolts like a desk, chair, vertical monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If you are short on any of those items and you plan on working from home in the future, those products would be a good place to start. But if you are good on the basics, here’s a more in-depth look at additional accessories.
This buyer’s guide will focus on three main categories: productivity, health, and comfort.
Productivity Desk Accessories For Working From Home
Investing in your productivity at your desk has such a great ripple effect. You’ll impress your manager and co-workers. And, you’ll feel better about yourself for crushing each day at work! There are a number of things that you can try to improve your overall productivity and efficiency. But, we think it’s worth starting with the Amazon Echo Dot or another voice assistant. We love them for setting reminders, asking questions, and even setting up your smart devices with it. You’ll save time and energy, and you’ll remember to follow up on work tasks better.
We also recommend having some sort of white board or notebook. Or at the very least, some post-it notes are good to document and jot down notes when needed. A great strategy is to set up a DIY kanban board for yourself to track your to-do items. It’s really simple: on a whiteboard, draw three columns: “To-Do”, “Doing”, and “Done”. Then start filling up your to-do list and move them over from column to column when you are working on, or done with each to-do item. It is fun and rewarding! It’s even more intrinsically rewarding if you use post-it notes. There’s something about moving a little sticky note into the done column and seeing them stack up! You can also see our full product review and buyer’s guide on magnetic whiteboards for more items.
There are also hundreds of software applications you can try out that will also improve your productivity. For example, if you don’t like our idea of a manual kanban board, you can try a web-based one with Trello.
Health Desk Accessories For Working From Home
The three most important office purchases for your health are a sit-stand desk, an ergonomic chair, and an air purifier. But let’s get into the other smaller items that will make a difference in your health.
Cleaning supplies are ultra important. Don’t think that just because you are working from home and avoiding a lot of crowded places that you still can’t get sick! Dust build up and germ accrual on things you touch almost everyday like your keyboard and desk surface happens all the time. We recommend investing in some disinfectant wipes. to wipe down your desktop. In addition, we recommend a compressed gas or air canister to clean out your keyboard. There are a ton of small places where you can’t get to with a wipe or rag. Your future (and healthy) self will thank you for it!
Blue light blocking glasses are also trending and for good reason – they will prevent eye fatigue and dryness in your eyes. They will also help regulate your sleep patterns, as a lot of blue light, especially closer to bedtime, is not good for you when trying to fall asleep.
Comfort Accessories For Working From Home
There is probably a never ending list of comfort items for your home office, but we just want to focus on a few that will have a big effect. Once again, go invest in a high quality chair if you haven’t already. But aside from that, we also recommend a standing mat if you own a sit-stand desk. Take it from the experts who use them every day, they are very comfortable and allow you to stand for a much longer time – this ultimately improves your health as well!
We also recommend wrist cushions for your mouse and keyboard if you will be typing all day. A lot of mouse pads come with built-in cushions, or you can find plenty online for less than 15 dollars like this one.
Kevin is a WFH veteran. He has spent the better half of the past decade traveling the world while working remotely. Kevin has recently settled down and stopped traveling frequently, but continues to work from home and has created a spectacular home office. He loves reviewing new products for his office and sharing his insights so that people can improve their home office experience.
