Read time: 7 mins, 26 secs

It’s 9:03 p.m.

You told yourself you were done working *checks time on iPhone* 4 hours ago.

But now you feel pulled to check your biz email on your phone. Like a moth to a flame.

“Just a quick glance won’t hurt,” you think as you gaslight yourself.

Then you see your client responded to your SEO strategy document earlier in the evening.

You sit up suddenly, whip open the Google Doc on your laptop, and pore over each note she left.

By the time 11:45 p.m. rolls around, you’ve drafted your email reply (and scheduled it to send 9:07 a.m. the next day so you don’t look like a psycho) and implemented her suggestions.

Now your brain is WIDE AWAKE.

Girl, no.

There are 7 work from home essentials you need to help you create a sustainable workday. Y’know—one that doesn’t require you to be “on” all the damn time.

The real benefit of having WFH essentials

You didn’t peace out of the 9-5 rat race and become your own boss just to work for clients 24/7/365.

That’s why I’m BIG on creating work around your life—not the other way around.

After all, you weren’t meant to work 8 hours/day for 40 years. It’s been a long time coming that we modernize that Industrial Revolution shit.

We want the whimsy! And the Fridays off! And to be free from the Email Prison!

Most importantly, you deserve to have a life and business you genuinely love.

And a BIG part of getting there is having a website that sells for you—without the ick—24/7/365.

But even when you do have that? It’s still a bit difficult to separate work from your personal life without guilt when you’re a Type A, people-pleasing eldest daughter. (Ask me how I know.)

You give your absolute best to your clients, even at the expense of yourself—and your sanity.

That’s why you need to be extremely intentional to prevent work from bleeding into your life until the 2 are indistinguishable from one another.

Work from home necessities that create work-life balance

As an online business owner for 5+ years, these are the non-negotiable WFH must-haves to add to your cart—and phone:

1. To-do list widgets

Nothing burns more energy than trying to keep tabs on what you need to do Monday–Friday, even when you’re brushing your teeth before bed.

And as someone who has 719 random-ass notes cluttering up my Notes app (40% of which are titled “Monday To-do List” 🫠), that’s not the best way to stay organized and preserve your mental energy.

So when I found this Threads post by hersupportsystem_, I knew my life was gonna change. And now yours is, too.

Basically, you turn your home screen into an at-a-glance, day-by-day to-do list. It takes less than 5 mins to set up and it’s 100% free.

Here’s what mine looks like:

Tbh, this is the 2nd page instead of the home screen bc I don’t want my to-do list to be the 1st thing I see on my phone when I unlock it. But the sentiment is the same.

Click here to watch Sara’s step-by-step process on how to set this up on an iPhone. (And if you have an Android, I’m sure there’s a very similar way to implement these!)

Pro tip: plot out the following week’s to-do list on Friday—not Sunday

I never understood why people wait to do this ‘til Sunday evening. Like, hello? The weekend is for sleeping in, becoming one with the couch, and indulging in self-care like painting our nails! Not work.

2. Meal prep (that you don’t hate)

This is a biggie.

Never underestimate the time it takes to make breakfast + lunch, then clean it all up.

Side effects include, but are not limited to: having to work ‘til 7 p.m. just to cross off everything on your daily to-do list and resenting your business.

Breakfast

To get around this in the morning, I meal prep every single weekday breakfast using Oats Overnight.

It’s overnight oatmeal that tastes like dessert but has 20 grams of protein. So it’s pretty much witchcraft.

But my God does this give my brain all the nutrients it needs to get going + keep me full the entire morning + save me at least an hour every single day.

Yes, you can make your own. But I did that for years and absolutely dreaded it. Plus it was lowkey disgusting with protein powder and I’d have to force myself to choke it down.

That’s why Oats Overnight is right up there with cell service, morning coffee, and warm showers after a long day—it’s 100% worth it and necessary. I don’t say that lightly.

→ Side note: If you wanna save $30 off your first box, you can use my link! But tbh, check out their site first because sometimes they run an even better deal than that.

Lunch

Nothing snuffs out your will to live quicker than eating salad every day.

Or quinoa that tastes like a wet paper bag full of sand.

But eating junk food makes me feel sluggish and unmotivated. (Plus I have a *ahem* complicated relationship with food. Which is a story for another day.)

So when I found Makayla Thomas on Instagram, I was like hell yes.

Hello realistic, tasty meal preps that don’t require sacrificing your entire Sunday.

But the best part? I actually look forward to eating them, which is a first.

I use glass meal prep containers, which are dishwasher AND microwave safe.

Even more time saved during the work week? Yes, please.

3. Time-blocking

The traditional Pomodoro technique of 25 mins off, 5 mins off doesn’t work for me. Probably because as a creative/website copywriter, it takes a bit longer to get into a flow state.

So I do 45 mins off, 15 mins off.

But I don’t rely on my phone to keep track. (That’s a recipe for distraction disaster. Put your phone in another room if you have to.)

Instead, I use a social-media-free Pomodoro tool like this cube timer.

Tbh, find what works for your brain, whether that’s the Pomodoro technique, focusing on 1 task the entire day, or some other time-blocking method.

The most important thing is to set aside time to focus on work and stick to it like your life depends on it (‘cause it kinda does).

Then, because the psychology of gamification is so fucking powerful, promise yourself a quick walk, a 5-min. social media doomscroll, etc.—once the timer goes off.

To get back into the workday, tell yourself you’ll spend just 1 minute doing the task.

This jumpstarts your motivation. You’ll be surprised how well it works.

4. Noise-cancelling earbuds

My brain gets distracted SO EASILY by noise.

Which means I need to block out the outside world and all the yappers who inhabit it.

This is especially important because research shows that after getting interrupted it takes, on avg, 25 mins to return to the same level of concentration when doing complex tasks.

So to drown out work-sabotaging noise, noise-cancelling earbuds are one of my top work from home essentials.

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2nd Gen) are the best imo. And yes, I tried the Apple AirPods Pro 3—amongst like a million others. And no, this isn’t sponsored.

As terrible as this is, a reviewer said they’re the closest you can get to being deaf. And that statement stuck in my brain like glue.

Before I knew it, I was ordering them.

No regrets.

5. Dog enrichment toys

One of my favorite things about working from home is I get to be with my children dogs, Maynard and Georgia, all day. 

But they don’t know that I need to make money to afford their endless supply of crunchy apple treats and copious number of vet bills.

(Side note: I recently spent $2.2k just to find out Maynard has a ✨sensitive tummy ✨ lmao.)

And they also don’t know that when I’m typing furiously on my laptop, that means I can’t play fetch. I’m working hard to make sure they have the rich life they deserve.

So to keep them occupied and mentally stimulated, I load up enrichment toys with their favorite treats, like this snuffle ball.

6. Client relationship management tool

Creating custom proposals, agreements, invoices, and emails for every single client takes up hours that could’ve been spent on the things you *actually* love doing.

Case in point:

I once spent 2 hours (!!!) drafting a reply to a client’s email because I was sleep deprived and overthinking every detail (like, did I use too many exclamation points?).

When I could’ve had that email already written and spent 2 seconds sending it.

The worst part? Those 2 hours didn’t mean my must-do task of the day could get pushed to the next day. It meant that task would have to get pushed to that night.

Having a client relationship management tool (like my personal fave HoneyBook) cuts down on “grunt work” and saves the mental energy that would’ve been needlessly spent on said grunt work.

So you can get actual work done during the workday and spend your evenings doing whatever you want.

Plus I will die on the hill that the experience a client has AFTER they decide to work with you is just as important as—if not more than—the experience they have BEFORE.

Having a top-notch CRM gives clients a white-glove experience from discovery call to testimonial request. And that’s key to being referrable.

→ Side note: Use this link to get 30% off your HoneyBook subscription.

7. Closing-call lamp

My therapist gets credit for this one.

As part of my “shutdown ritual”—aka a specific, repeatable sequence for ending the workday—she recommended having a lamp in my home office that I physically turn off after I close my laptop.

Why? To signal to my brain that the workday is done.

Not kinda done. Not “meh, maybe I’ll take my laptop to the couch and work some while I watch Netflix later” done.

DONE DONE.

So I splurged on The Eloise Scallop Milk Glass Table Lamp from Anthropologie because I’ve been obsessed with it for over a year and shamelessly used my therapist’s tip as an excuse to finally buy it.

But any lamp will work.

(If you need this as an excuse to buy the milk glass table lamp, you have my full support. It looks even better in person!)

Rarely-talked-about WFH essential: boundaries

Plot twist: one of the biggest work from home essentials *isn’t* what’s on your desk or phone. It’s the intangible.

Yup—I’m talking about boundaries. Both for your clients *and* yourself.

Here are 3 ways to set those boundaries in less than 5 mins:

1. Set studio hours—and stick to them

Would you work for a boss that made you work, unpaid, ‘til 11:30 p.m.? Fuck no.

So don’t be that boss.

Be a cool boss.

Be a boss that respects your time and boundaries.

That includes deciding on your working hours and sticking to them. So when you slam that laptop shut at 4 p.m., it stays sealed shut.

2. Delete your business email from your phone

This helps eliminate the feeling of always being “on” and accessible.

I did this for the first time this year. 5/5 stars—highly recommend.

3. Establish communication guidelines

Outlining response times and studio hours set expectations so clients know when you’re available—and when you’re not.

So after your dream client fills out your optimized contact form and you decide you’re a match made in business heaven, include these EVERYWHERE in your onboarding materials.

For example, this is what this looks like in my client welcome guide:

Add These Work From Home Essentials to Your Life

These 7 work from home must-haves will make your life so much easier and better. 

So you can actually enjoy Netflix at night instead of secretly working from your laptop.

Want something else that makes your life easier? 

I spent 6+ hours creating a tool that helps you brainstorm relatable story ideas AND mic-drop takeaways.

So you can scribble “write newsletter” off your weekly to-do list 73%* faster and spend more time offscreen—guilt-free.

Grab the Bingeable Story Bot below:

*Not a scientifically validated stat, but we ride.