We highlight the best products to boost work from home productivity. These products are available on Amazon and can be complete game changers in the way that you get work done. We cover work from home essentials to more unique items that many people overlook across a number of price ranges and budgets.
When determining the most useful work from home items for productivity, we take the approach of using things that serve a purpose and also make working from home easier.
It’s easy to take the office place for granted, especially if you are used to working at a large corporation that has spent millions of dollars on modern office spaces and amenities. You can’t easily re-create the experience of free snacks in the break room, but you can bring some of the best parts of working in an office to your work from home setup.
Let’s jump in!
Ultrawide Computer Monitor
Dell Ultrawide 34” WQHD Computer Monitor
If you’re like us, you spend most of your day working from home staring at a computer monitor. Whether it’s applications like Microsoft Excel, Power BI, an ERP or one of the many other business applications used to get your job done, high resolution wide screen monitors let you see more of the task at hand at a single time.
The more you can see at a time, the less you have to scroll around.
We find that 34” monitors are the sweet spot, they offer more real estate than a traditional dual monitor setup and take up less desk space which is often at a premium in a home office.
To see our other selections for great productivity boosting monitors, you can read our full computer monitor buying guide here.
Wireless Bluetooth Headset with Built-in Microphone
Anker Soundcore Q30 Wireless Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headset with Microphone
The Anker Soundcore Q30 is one of the best values in wireless Bluetooth headsets. It has excellent sound quality and noise cancelling. The noise cancelling works great for flights and also blocking out background noise when working from home.
This model also includes a microphone that is exceptionally good at blocking out most background noise, making it easier for people to hear you if you’re work from home environment is less than perfectly quiet.
The biggest productivity boost from this headset is from the wireless Bluetooth connectivity. There are a number of times we find ourselves on Teams or Zoom calls where we don’t have our camera on and are not actively participating in the conversation. By using a Bluetooth headset, it frees you up to cook, clean, or move around the house without missing anything.
Field Notes
3 Pack 48 Page Ruled Notebooks
Mentioning a notebook on our list may not be the sexiest productivity tool but with the countless number of phone apps to track tasks and keep yourself organized it can be overwhelming. Sometimes it can be easier to write a note down in a notebook or draw a diagram of a process.
A number of studies have proven that writing can also help people remember. It’s not as clear if writing notes on a phone have the same effect.
Field notes come in a variety of types, from ruled, graph paper, to blank. Each type has its benefits depending on which industry you work in.
Magnetic Chalkboard and Colorful Markers
Magnetic Chalkboard with Markers
Some people operate on an out of sight out of mind basis. By placing a chalk board magnet, or white board on your refrigerator it forces you to look at it each day.
For an even more in your face approach, you can purchase pre-framed chalk boards that are easy to setup on a desk or a wall next to your computer monitor. Just by working your normal job, you will be able to see what goals you have or projects to complete.
Combining chalk boards with colorful chalk markers will make planning easier to keep track of and more fun.
Hourglass Sand Timers
Set of 15 and 30 minute Hourglass Sand Timers
A common theme across productivity books is designating focus time. Setting aside 15 to 30 minutes to close out of Outlook or Gmail to focus on a specific task at hand provides to be an indispensable productivity booster. It’s a way to clear your mind of distractions and give undivided attention to a single task.
Sand Timers have an elemental aspect to them that can’t be replicated with setting a timer on your phone. It forces you to literally watch time fall one grain at a time and has a focusing mental impact that is difficult to recreate.
Espresso Machine with Built in Grinder
Brushed Stainless Steel Breville Barista Express
Caffeine is often hailed as a productivity booster due to its ability to enhance alertness and reduce the perception of effort, making tasks seem less daunting.
This espresso machine is both a productivity booster and a showstopper when friends or family come over to the house. Machine with built-in coffee bean grinders is a must have for the coffee aficionado. Couple the espresso machine with a fresh bag of locally roasted who bean coffee and you’re in for a treat.
At home espresso machines like this one can easily surpass the quality of coffee that you would get from the big chain coffee shops. While there is an associated upfront cost, it quickly pays itself off when you subtract the cost of buying multiple americanos or other specialty coffee drinks each day like you would if you were in the office.
The settings and buttons may at first be intimidating, but after a few days of dialing in the settings the operation of the machine is pretty much effortless.
Multi Plug Wall Adapter with Surge Protection and USB
3 Sided Multi-Plug Surge Protector with USB Charging Ports
One of the first things you realize when working from home is how much stuff you have to plug into a single wall socket. We keep a phone charger, laptop charger, computer monitor, shredder, printer, and sometimes a second laptop or iPad plugged in at any given time.
3 Sided Multi Plugs are preferred over the more traditional power strip due to their compact size, ability to keep cords off of the floor and the inclusion of USB charging ports lets you easily charge mobile device
Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers
Edifier Bluetooth Bookshelf Speakers
Cranking up the music is a timeless way to boost productivity. Get in the groove of the right song or soundtrack and you’ll find yourself lost in work and getting things done. A benefit of working from home is not having to worry about what your coworkers think about your musical tastes.
These bookshelf speakers not only look great, but they sound great. You can run them synced to your phone or computer with a Bluetooth connection, and you can connect them to a record player for that classic vinyl sound.
The versatility, sound quality, and overall look of bookshelf speakers are hard to beat.
Stick Vacuum
Shark Corded Stick Vacuum for Pet Hair
Vacuuming while working from home is the rallying cry of the return to office manager. They conveniently forget how much time employees can spend messing around on the internet, going on coffee runs, or good old fashioned staring thoughtlessly out a window.
With a quality vacuum, you can get some work done while taking a break from staring at the computer.
Stick vacuums like this one help you be even more productive when you pair it with a wireless Bluetooth headset. On a conference call that you’re not contributing to? Need to listen in on a webinar? Turn on the headset and power up the vacuum to get two jobs done at the same time.
Conclusion
Working from home can be a challenge for productivity. Space is often more limited and there can be noisy family members in other parts of the house. Being able to tune them out and have dedicated focus time is a great way to improve productivity.
Other items on our list won’t necessarily boost work time productivity, but they do improve your ability to be productive outside of work. Whenever we are attending a webinar or listening to a conference call we will try and find ways to multi-task and get work done that would otherwise need to be completed outside of work hours.
After all, the biggest benefit of work from home is eliminating the commute and getting a large amount of time back into your day.
Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Pop! Automation may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase through these links.