Shopping for your Home Office
With many companies providing a stipend for employees to buy equipment for their home office, here is the list of things I would buy if I had $1,000:
Good chair ($600)
Fixed height desk ($200)
Monitor ($100)
Footrest ($20)
Semi-Vertical Mouse ($25)
Wireless Keyboard ($30)
You may be wondering “what, no sit-to-stand desk?”. The main benefit from an adjustable height desk is lowering the sitting height so you can have your feet flat on the floor. Having a good chair is still important in that scenario (and you will run out of money if you buy the sit/stand desk and the chair), so I opt for spending the money on the chair and just sitting a little higher with a footrest. (ps- If you think ‘sitting is killing you’, just get up and move around more often, it’s better than just standing while working).
But which chair? Which desk? Which mouse?
You can read my other blogposts about chairs (spoiler alert: I like the Office Master Affirm and Truly for the home office). And for the desk, here are my top 3 things to look for:
30 inch depth is preferred (a 24 inch deep desk will promote forward reaching to the keyboard and mouse because of the distance to the monitor)
Avoid under-desk drawers and edges to give you plenty of leg room when you raise your chair to get your elbows even with the desk
Height lower than 30 inches is preferred (most people need a desk height around 27 inches tall, but the height adjustable chair and the footrest will make it all come together)
Any mouse is better than using the touchpad on the laptop, but if you want to optimize and prevent strain, I recommend a semi-vertical mouse that positions the wrist/forearm at a 45-degree angle. In this posture you have the greatest strength with the least strain. A standard mouse can make you twist the forearm, flatten the hand, and grip with your fingers-- increasing tension in the elbow and pressure in the wrist. Some semi vertical mice to consider are made by Logitech, Kensington, Bakker Elkhuizen and Goldtouch. If you have very small hands, these may be too big (look for the Newtral Small instead).
And because we don’t all work for companies that are handing out stipends, here is what I would buy if I had $100 to improve my laptop-on-the-dining-room-table setup:
Sitting Disc or Seat Cushion ($22)
Footrest ($20)
Keyboard & Mouse ($30)
Lumbar/Thoracic support ($32)
You’ll need to raise your laptop up on some books or boxes to get the top of the screen near eye level, but that’s free!
