How to keep your real estate home office running during loadshedding on a budget

Loadshedding in South Africa is a reality we all need to deal with and can impact your productivity if you don't have access to your computer or internet. While there are many high-end battery backup and solar options available, for those on a slightly tighter budget look at our recommendations below.

Power your internet

You will need a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) to power your internet router. There are many options available, but if you are looking for something with a small form factor to keep your WiFi router on, we can recommend this Vizia mini UPS. If you have fibre-to-home you can also power the ONT (Optical Network Terminal) device with the same UPS using the splitter cable. It recharges when the power is on and will keep your internet on through load shedding:




Make your laptop more power-efficient

Most agents use laptops, tablets, and phones to conduct business. If you are looking to buy a laptop, look for one with a solid-state drive (SSD). They consume less battery power since there are no moving parts, plus you will get a big performance boost.  In most cases, you can also replace the hard drive in your current laptop with an SSD drive. There are plenty of options and your local PC shop should be able to sort this out for you. If your laptop is old and the battery already doesn't last very long, it will unfortunately not help much, so take this into account. 

Another useful tip is to make sure your laptop goes into power-saving mode once you lose power. Most laptops have this automated feature but you can also manually adjust it on many models, as shown below on a Dell Inspiron. Power saving mode usually dims your screen which helps save a lot of battery power.


While in battery mode, only have the apps open you need to work on. You can also check which apps drain the most battery life. 

When all else fails, Base to the rescue!

Base was engineered from the ground up to be responsive and work on any device. The great thing is that you can access all your listings, contacts, and office documents from your laptop, tablet, or phone. So even if your laptop runs out of steam, you can switch and carry on working.






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