How to Organize Your Office Before Vacation – 5 tips

If you’re like me, you’ll be taking some time off during the holidays. With all the pre-holiday activities coupled with getting the essential work tasks completed, your office has probably gotten cluttered. Here’s how to organize your office before vacation and what I’ll be doing. This way you can get right back to work in early January instead of first wading through piles of papers and stuff to find your desk.

1: Clear out the excess. Make time to survey your entire workspace. Gather up those items that are cluttering up the space…especially those that aren’t needed or broken. Clutter not only impacts the appearance of your office, it’s distracting. Depending on the amount that has collected, you may have to do 2-3 passes.

2: Concentrate on your desk. This is where you spend most of your time, so the objective is to create a productive work environment. Limit the items on your desk to those that are used daily. Aside from your computer, this could include your phone, pen holder, stapler, tray, or file box. You’ll be more efficient with only the materials you’re working on taking up space on your desk.

3: Remember the digital clutter. We often overlook the clutter on our computers. Documents get left on the computer’s desktop or put into the documents folder but not in a specific folder. This is a good time to get these files organized. This way you won’t waste lots of time looking for information should the need arise during your holiday break.

4: Manage your schedule. With all that needs to get done prior to the holidays, this is the time to carefully prioritize each day’s tasks so the essential ones get done. In addition, proactively blocking time on your calendar for both work meetings and focus time as well as personal activities is key.

5: Make new habits. Once you have taken the time to get your office organized, take steps to maintain the space in the new year. Schedule time daily to file, declutter, and clean up your space each week. Start by clearing your desk at the end of each day. This task should only take a few minutes and will make the weekly decluttering pass go much more quickly.

I hope that you have a great holiday and that these tips concerning how to organize your office before vacation inspire you. What will you do first? Please share below or reach out to me.