Tame your paper clutter once and for all.
By Ann Springer
Whether it’s a desk tucked into a corner or any entire room devoted to being an office, nearly every American household considers having a home office space a priority. Keeping the office space clutter free can be a challenge, even in the supposedly paper-less world that we now live.
There are many ways office clutter can keep our workspace from actually working for us. It can appear that papers just appear out of thin air and accumulate faster than we can shred or file them. Office equipment can be bulky and take up lots of space. It’s also not very visually appealing and can be hard to blend into a room used for multiple purposes. Before you know it, you have an office that hardly has a room left for work to be accomplished.
First, you should start with a great desk. Evaluate the one you have and see if it works for you. Is it the right size? Is your chair comfortable? Does it have adequate storage space, if used properly? Is it large enough to store your computer, daily supplies, and still have room to spread out a project?
Once you’ve cleared off your desk you can put daily use objects back on the desk or where they’re in close reach. Pens, notepads, staplers, business cards, etc. should make the cut to adorn a desk while other items like stamps, notecards, and extra supplies can be tucked away and out of sight.
Next, look at your storage solutions and evaluate their effectiveness. Look at your bookcase, filing cabinet, or other furniture you use near your desk. Are they really working for your needs? Maybe your furniture was great for you in college, but now that you’re managing a larger household you need a better solution. You have to start with the right equipment in order to be successful. You wouldn’t try to bake a cake on the stovetop. Close isn’t good enough. You need solutions that will work or you’ll be right back to where you started from – a disorganized office that is nonfunctional.
Once you’ve got all the right tools in place you should make a list of what you use your office area for. Most people use a home office space to pay bills, work on the computer, help kids with homework, work on craft projects, organize photos, work on a hobby, store important documents, and work from home on occasion. Numerically order which needs your office space should most fill. This may be different than how it is currently being utilized.
Now that you have a priority system in order you should evaluate how you will utilize your storage space. You should divide your storage areas into zones: bill paying, crafts, kids stuff, etc. This is where your priority list comes in handy to know which areas you need to accommodate and which are most important.
If you own lots of craft project supplies you’d like to store in your office, consider putting large baskets, clearly labeled on a bookcase or in a closet, so you can access them easily but they aren’t in plain view. Or maybe you have cases and cases of CDs filled with saved photos. Make sure you keep them all labeled and stored in dust-free places so they won’t be damaged.
If you don’t own a label maker you should consider buying one. An organized office is only as good as its filing system. If baskets, file folders, and drawers aren’t properly labeled, then items can easily be misfiled in the wrong spots. This is especially important in families where multiple hands may be looking for items and returning them.
Excess office supplies like copier paper and envelopes can overwhelm an office space. If these supplies aren’t assigned a spot in the office, you may also make the mistake of buying multiples of the same item just because you couldn’t find the original one. This leads to excess items to store and wasted money.
The last and most important step to having an organized, de-cluttered office space is to put things away as you use them and that you stay on top of the paper piles. You may have to hold other family members accountable in this regard as well. If they’re old enough to use the office, they’re old enough to help keep it tidy. Just as lawns need to cut and dishes need to be done, office spaces aren’t self-cleaning and they do require regular maintenance. If you’re hitting gridlock again you may need to reevaluate your system and adjust accordingly. If you have the right system in place keeping it clean should be simple.
I’ve read some posts and i like your blog.I’m just starting up my own and only hope that i can write as well , thanks!.