Bean Bags for Work from Home
The temporary rooting of working from home brought by the unanticipated global pandemic has become a permanent rooting for most of us.
While some like me are hardly missing the boring and tedious office, I understand some are looking forward to moving back. Honestly, even an office hater like me sees the lack of a proper sitting area to stay focused and proactive in one’s home environment.
So, trust me when I say I tried everything, starting from a good old chair at the dining table to the comfy couch in the living room. These many trials and errors finally led me to a solution for working from home sitting furniture that satisfied me to the fullest.
Bean Bags are a good option for working from home culture. Even though Bean Bags gives you a comfortable sitting while working from home for several hours, you need to be mindful of your posture and how you properly keep your Laptop and writing pads.
Let me tell you of the best way I managed to get my work done with comfort and without any back or neck pains and why I think of Bean Bags as the best way to do so.
Table of Contents
- Advantages of Using Bean Bags for WFH
- Disadvantages of Using Bean Bags for WFH
- Best Bean Bags for Work From Home
- Using a Laptop on the Bean Bag
- Using a Writing Pad on the Bean Bag
- Correcting your Posture
- Conclusion
Advantages of Using Bean Bags for WFH
There are many reasons for a person to have a bean bag in their home, garden, or classroom, working or just chilling on them. Below are a few of those reasons, and you will see the benefits of using a bean bag and how it makes way for a better work from home experience.
Comfortability
The best feature of a bean bag is the soft and squishy interior that easily shapes-shifts into the body shape of anyone that sits or lays on its surface. And that is what also makes a bean bag the most comfortable thing you could sit on.
Be the way you want to with a bean bag. Sit upright or bend forward. Lay on your back, stomach, or your side. Cross your legs or stretch them apart. A bean bag will always mold itself into a shape that supports your spine.
You will sit at least eight hours per day when you work from home. So comfortability must be a priority for you.
Portability
Another reason bean bags are famous in indoor and outdoor environments is that anyone can move them without much effort. Even a child can move these bean bags easily without damaging anything. That is because bean bags are filled with very lightweight materials.
You can easily store them away when you are not using them and get them out when additional seating is needed when you have some guests.
The bean bags’ portability has also made them a popular choice when it comes to outdoor seating. You can easily take them from one place to another, and this is golden when we are trying to make the best out of the sun or shade.
Just imagine work in your garden for several hours and work inside your home for several hours. Bean bags will fulfill your dream of that.
Easy to Clean
The combination of pets and children with the furniture is a nightmare not many will understand if they haven’t lived through one. Those spilled drinks, food, and the cute but exhausting graffiti of the children and the never-ending hair fallen from your pets are the reasons for this.
Well, that all comes to an end with the bean bag. Not the spilling or shedding but the hours you wasted dabbing at marks and spills with stain remover unsuccessfully.
Bean bags come with removable covers, so unzip them and throw them in the washing machine (or clean them by hand if that’s what you prefer). There are indeed bean bags with non-removable covers, but you can scrub them easily. You don’t have to worry about the filling as they repel water and be dry and ready quickly.
Sitting on the same chair for eight hours a day will make them dirty. So having a piece of easily-to-clean type furniture is an advantage for the working from home culture.
Variety
How many pieces of furniture are out there can change their look and material according to their environment.
With a bean bag, all you need is a few extra covers in different colors, fabrics, and patterns to match with the room or environment in which you move it.
Bean bags also come in any shape or size you can think of, and even if you can’t find one, you can quickly get one custom-made according to your desire. Bean bags can even bring a funky look to your swimming pool and lawn thanks to the waterproof covers you can get to put them in.
The only limit of the fashion of bean bags is the limits of your imagination. With this, you can easily give your home office a personality which suits you.
Affordability
Finally, one of the significant advantages of a bean bag is its affordability compared to any other type of furniture in the market.
While being relatively cheap, they also become a great addition to your place of living, whether it is a dorm, apartment, or a house, as evident above.
After all, why spend large when you can spend smart.
Disadvantages of Using Bean Bags for WFH
Bean bags come with many advantages, but there are several disadvantages too. After all, nothing is for everyone, any place or situation, and bean bags also have to bow to this universal rule. So think about their downsides as much as their upside while purchasing it as your working from home furniture.
Durability
A bean bag is not as durable as wooden or plastic furniture. After all, it is mainly made of fabric. The filling inside the bag also tends to flatten as time goes by.
However, you can change both the filling and outer cover when such a need arises.
Not Suitable for Infants
While bean bags are a comfortable and safe place for anyone above 12 months to sleep or sit on, I do not recommend keeping your infant below that age on them without any supervision.
Because such a baby has no way of turning around when they have difficulties breathing if they are on their tummy, it is hard for them to keep the heads up, which will lead to a risk of suffocation.
But this won’t be a problem for you as you are using a bean bag as office furniture.
Choke Hazards
Polystyrene balls in the filling could also be choke hazards if you are with small children. So, be sure to get bean bags with safety-locked zippers when buying them for a house of kids or pets.
You should also change the cover of a bag or get it repaired if damaged to prevent leaks.
Difficult to Get Up
You will face this problem mostly if you are a pregnant woman or an elderly with limited mobility. Difficulty in getting up is due to the softness and shape-shifting ability of its materials and the fact that it is much low to the ground.
We do not recommend bean bags as work from home furniture for pregnant moms.
Difficulty in Disposing
Disposing of filling is the biggest problem when we are talking about bean bags.
The filling of most of these bags is a combination of small and large expanded polystyrene balls. They will pose a danger to the environment and the wildlife if you dispose of them carelessly.
However, you can hand them over to a recycling center to take care of them the right way.
You can also avoid using these polystyrene balls altogether and get a bean bag with a more environment-friendly bean bag filling like buckwheat. They might not be as comfortable as a polystyrene filling, but they will significantly impact the carbon footprint caused by you.
Being too Comfortable
The main feature of a bean bag is the comfort it brings to the user, and that is what made it so famous among us.
However, the bean bag could also be too comfortable in environments such as schools. Bean bags became popular in schools due to their portability and cost-effectiveness.
However, the teachers soon discovered that a bean bag’s comfort disturbs their lessons as the students started to fell asleep during them. Now bean bags are primarily used in schools for relaxing activities such as reading in the library instead of curriculum work in the classroom.
Keep this in mind when you are to attend those boring and long zoom meetings.
Best Bean Bags for Work From Home
Sofa sack Bean Bag Chair – Overall Best
4.3 stars with above 9,427 reviews
Sofa sack – plush, ultra-soft bean bag chair is filled with a durable foam stuffing encased in velvet which holds together with double stitching that intends to give the bag the maximum strength.
This bean bag is indisputably a perfect addition to any nursery, playroom, child’s bedroom, or basement in addition to your working from home furniture. It can support an adult’s weight or a couple of kids whether they choose to sit, nap or lounge while giving them comfort through a softness unparalleled to any other of its counterparts.
The foam that makes up the filling of this bean bag makes minimum noise, and the fabric of this marvel creation breathes wonderfully and prevents the bag from getting hot by doing so. This bean bag comes in a set of colors and a variety of sizes which would perfectly complement any décor you place it with and any place you choose to place it in.
We recommend this bean bag chair as our overall best bean bag for work from home. It gives you everything you need for work from home furniture.
Big Joe Milano bean bag – Best Budget Option
4.5 stars with near a thousand reviews
Big Joe Milano bean bag chair is noticeably different from the traditional shapeless bean bags as it is with a somewhat structure to support it, which makes out an actual seat with a backrest.
It is also with a sturdy handle to make it easier to move around the house or the garden. This bean bag is the best choice for you if you are working with a tight budget as this is among the cheapest bags in the market, which still gives the satisfaction of any expensive colleagues of its kind.
After all, this is a double stitched bag with dual zippers installed for extra safety and durability that can handle 200 pounds.
You can order your big joe within various colors such as gray, navy, mint green, sapphire blue, black, or red to suit your surroundings. You can also buy bean bag refills sold separately in the market when they are withered with the time and use.
This way, you can give your big joe a pick-me-up when needed and use it for an extended time.
Big Joe large fuf Bean Bag – Easily Cleanable
4.6 stars with above 2,845 reviews
Big joe large fuf is with a washable cover made of premium Lenox fabric and a handle, making it easier to carry. You can buy this bean bag in various sizes that start with kids and move to XXL, which could easily support two adults.
This bean bag is the best choice for you if you are with younger children or pets since you could easily wash the cover to get rid of the painful marks of spills, falls, and stains. This bag is with zippers that are with safety locks. Safety zipper will prevent your kids, pets, or yourself from accidentally opening them.
This bean bag won’t look like or seems comfy just from when you took it out of the package, which is because this bean bag takes almost a week to fully expand into its perfect shape when filled for the first time.
The manufacturers guarantee that this bag’s form will last longer, and even when it is withered, you can easily refill it. They also boldly claim that their bean bag never goes flat. Tossing the bag around is all you need to do to make it re-fufed after a long hour of sitting.
This bean bag is the easiest to clean from our list. We recommend this if your workplace is prone to become dirty quite often.
Using a Laptop on the Bean Bag
We all have seen those images where people enjoy a cup of coffee while having their laptops on their knees. This position would be ok if you are to work a few minutes with that Laptop.
However, this position is terrible to work with the laptop while on a bean bag for a few hours. This position will surely put a painful strain on your forearms, wrists, and elbows, which will lead to aches in those areas. And the heat generated on your Laptop will harm you badly. They could even harm your body in the long term if you continue it for days.
The best way to use a laptop in a bean bag is with a lap desk. You can easily adjust a lap desk to match the position you are sitting on the bean bag. This way, your hands will be relaxed and stress-free. Amazon has great deals on Laptop desks. You can find them here.
Using a Writing Pad on the Bean Bag
Bean bag is all about comfort, and that comfort is disturbed when you are stressing your hands with things like laptops and writing pads on them.
It is ok if you are using them for a few minutes, but if you are using them for hours, you better find the surface to put them on.
You can easily find an adjustable table or a lap desk, which will give you the solid surface you need for your activities. Freeing your hands from these burdens will also help you relax your body, helping to relax your mind and improve your creativity.
Correcting your Posture
Neck, shoulder, and back pains are faced by many who spend long hours sitting in front of a computer. A bean bag helps resolve all these three problems as it changes its shape according to your posture and supports your spine no matter how you sit on it.
When it supports your spine or your back, it automatically supports your neck, preventing shoulder pain.
The bean bag’s shape-shifting ability makes almost any posture a correct posture, and that’s what makes a bean bag so comfortable.
However, there are some things you can do to provide additional support to your body to be comfortable. You can use a rolled-up towel or a small pillow between your back and the bag for such additional support.
It’s also better to take a brief break every hour or so to refresh yourself.
Most importantly, make sure not to sit on a bean bag with an unnatural sitting position.
Conclusion
As for my personal opinion, I believe bean bags are the best solution for a healthy, economical, and fun experience of working from home. You need to keep in mind that you need to maintain a correct posture while working with your Laptop and writing pads.