Ditch the Clutter in Your Home Office
It might have been easier to keep your workspace neat and organized when you worked in an outside office, but now that you are working out of your home office, it’s a different story! Often, the home office becomes a breeding ground for all the clutter in your house. It’s a place visitors don’t often frequent, so it’s easy to stash the clutter behind the closed door. Maybe you’ve upgraded some furniture or electronics in your home and your home office is the perfect place to move them to “just for now.” You can see how quickly the clutter will pile up! This NYC Professional Office Organizer is a huge fan of strategies that prevent clutter from collecting in your entire home and especially in your home office.
Before anything else, remove items that don’t belong in your workspace. Sounds simple, but sometimes this can be the biggest part of the problem! Search the room and locate all items that belong elsewhere in your home. Purses and shoes that should be relocated to a closet elsewhere, toys that belong in your child’s room – you get the picture! Collect these items and move them to where they belong.
Get rid of items that are broken or no longer used. Don’t waste space saving things that you can’t use! It’s time to recycle old laptops, donate or get rid of household items that you are storing in the closets or cabinets in this space, and throw away anything broken that you cannot use.
Clear your desk. It you have a clear, clutter-free desk, you will have a place to work that immediately allows you to be productive! You won’t have to shuffle papers to find a clear spot to work, won’t be distracted by miscellaneous mail that has collected, and you’ll know exactly where a pen is when you need one. So, clear your desk off and leaving only the important items related to the task at hand within reach.
Make sure everything has a home. Here’s the key to decluttering – give every item a home. Don’t wait to put back that file you were looking at or the stapler that you used – when you are done using them, put them back where they belong. If your space is limited, practice the one in, one out rule. When you add a new item to your home office space, assign it a spot and immediately remove something that is used less frequently.
Label everything. Home offices are very often shared spaces. Whether your home office also doubles as a storage area, a playroom, a guest bedroom, or maybe is shared with other family members, the easiest way to keep organized and clutter free is by labeling. Label file folders, storage bins, and containers. If everyone knows where every item is stored, it’ll be easy to keep your space clutter free. In addition, if the desk is shared, assigning and labeling specific storage shelves, drawers or trays will provide a designated spot for storing each person’s paperwork and materials.
Schedule maintenance appointments with yourself. Clutter has a way of sneaking back into a space. So, book time on your calendar every 3 months to assess your office space and clear the excess that has accumulated.
Implement these home office organizing strategies to rid your workspace of clutter so you’ll stay productive! For more hands-on support and organizing strategies, reach out to your NYC Professional Office Organizer today.