Organizing Your Home Office
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A PDA, phone, computer, coffee mug, file folders coming out of every hole, pens everywhere but where you can find them, forgotten memos, notebooks and loose leaf paper scattered on the floor and tables, pitiful attempts at almost organizing… sound like your desk?
It’s hard to get a home office organized. A lot of us feel guilty if we’re “wasting time” organizing when we could be working, and the rest of us just want to stay away from the mess altogether. But when it gets so bad that you can’t find the desk under the papers, you know you’re going to need some help.
Tackling your office can be scary, but this article is here to help - I’ll take you step by step through organizing one piece at a time, and getting your working space in shape. There’s no reason not to do it, and there’s no time like the present to get organized and ready for whatever lays ahead!
Why To Get Organized, Anyway?
A lot of people poo-poo organizing their office, because ‘It’s just going to get messy again anyway’, or ‘I just don’t have time’. My person favorite excuse is ‘I can’t’. But you can organize your office, it doesn’t have to take days and days of time, and you can keep your office clean! It isn’t hard, if you tackle it right, so put the excuse to the side.
Having a clean environment can help boost your productivity. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you don’t have to spend three minutes searching for a ten, ten minutes for that vital document, or a half an hour searching for your PDA to jot something down, just to find that it’s out of charge and you need to find the charger, you’re wasting time that you can work.
If you’re able to get what you need faster, you’re able to spend more time working - and that little bit each time you need to find something may not seem like much, but it certainly adds up to a lot more work done in a day. The most successful millionaires know this, too, and it’s not unheard of for a maid to come in twice a week and work solely on the office, organizing and ensuring that everything is where it needs to be.
So it may take you a little while to organize your office, yes - but can you imagine the time you’re going to save? The hassle and stress you’ll reduce if you’ll be able to find everything?
Where to Start
Making a Plan
The first thing to do when you’re looking to get yourself, and your office, organized is to step back and survey. See what you have too much of (Papers for clients? Old memos? Notes that you can’t read anymore?), and what you don’t have enough of (Storage?).
Then, grab a trash bag. No, don’t drag over your wimpy little office trash can. We’re talking a heavy duty kitchen trash bag, the no-prisoners type that you use for the big stuff in the kitchen and garage.
Take a look at your desk… how is it laid out? What section is the worst, and what section is the best?
Then, starting left to right in the entire room, start going through everything. Make piles - what needs to be thrown away goes in the ‘Big-Ol’-Trash-Bag’ pile, what needs to be saved goes in another pile. Don’t be afraid of the mess you might be making with your piles, because I strongly believe that you have to make a mess in your office before it can be cleaned.
Don’t hold onto seven year old business recipes, old crusty notes to yourself about something you’ve already finished, and odd-ball correspondence that you won’t need again. Eliminating the junk can help maximize your space.
After everything is cleaned out, take the trash bags out of the room, and look around once more. What do you need to add to make your space better?
The best thing that anyone can do for their office, no matter what work they do, is buy a file cabinet. You can get a small one for very little at your local office supply store, and a few folders for it won’t cost you much at all.
All of your papers on clients, projects, issues and notes need to go into that space. Labeling alphabetical is the best way to make sure you can find what you need almost instantly. Make sure to write in clear, easy to read letters when you’re labeling each file, and don’t be afraid to throw one away if you find you messed up.
Your last step should to look at your desk area. Can get you get to what you need in less than fifteen seconds? I’m talking phone, keyboard, pens, paper clips and paper.
Put your pens in a cup or container for them specifically, and make sure it’s right by the hand you use to write. Keep a few sheets of loose leaf paper, a blank or mostly blank notepad, or just a few Post-It Notes for quick jotting. Your phone should be out of the way, but within arms reach, and your computer - if this is where you do most of your work - should be the main focus.
A large calender to hang on the wall can help you remembering important dates, but you can’t exactly write down everything, can you? Instead, try buying an inexpensive PDA, or just something to hang within reading distance that you can change each day for what needs to get done.
Organizing isn’t scary, and it’s not hard; taking small steps, or one big leap, you can get your office in tip top shape, without hassle or worry.
