It is never too late to set up a home business center or reorganize your current one. The time you spend now may save you tax dollars later. Tax rules require records to support the information given on your tax forms.

Handling your personal finances will be much easier if you have a well-equipped home business center. It does not have to be elaborate. It should be located in a convenient, comfortable area of the home, contain necessary equipment, supplies, papers, records and references, and have a good light.

You may be able to find space for a home business center in just about any room of your house. Ideally, you would have a special room—an office. But few homes today are large enough for such a luxury. Instead, consider a spare corner in the living room, dining room, a bedroom, kitchen or family room.

You’ll also need storage space for inactive records. That space might be in the attic, garage, basement, under a bed, or those hard-to-reach top closet shelves, under stairs or in the back of a deep closet.

You will need some equipment for your home business center such as: an ample, sturdy writing surface, comfortable chair, storage space for current records and papers, equipment and supplies.

This does not automatically mean you need a desk and file cabinet. You can use the dining room table as your writing surface and a nearby cabinet or chest for storage space. A desk and storage unit can be built into an unused closet. A plywood or hollow core door mounted on two, two-drawer file cabinets provide both storage and writing surface. Or you could use a new or remodeled standard office desk and file, or a combination desk and metal file unit.

You also will need some supplies such as pencils, erasers, tape, account books, ruler, scissors, deposit slips, pencil sharpener, stationery, paper clips, rubber bands, stamps, a dictionary and wastepaper basket.

Other supplies that you may want, but that are not essential include: stapler, spindle, paper weights, address book, book ends, typewriter, parcel post scale, parcel post labels, glue, sponge for moistening envelopes, stamps, letter opener, hole punch, adding machine and bulletin board.

In your home business center you will need storage space for your equipment and supplies, reference materials, important papers and documents, bills, unanswered mail, current receipts, and a place to store inactive files.

For more information on what to keep in your business center contact your local county Extension office for information on the "Planning Your Financial Future” workshop

Prepared by: Dr. Josephine Turner, CFP
Professor, Family, Youth and Consumer Economics
University of Florida