Your kitchen may be where you eat, and your living room may be where you go to unwind. If you have a home office however, you may feel as though it is the nerve center of your home. It’s where you communicate with your clients, keep track of your bookkeeping, and even where you spend most of your time. It doesn’t matter what official use your office has because you can’t get much done in there if you are constantly dealing with a cluttered mess. You may find that you end up getting tangled in the mess of wires and that you also find it hard to concentrate with so much going on too. If this is the case, then now is the time for you to change that.
Get a Solid System in Place
Before you even think about clearing a thing off your floor or desk, you have to remember that you need somewhere to put it all. You also need to develop some kind of rational system that will help you to organize everything too. There is a chance that if you need to organize your office in the first place, you are working in a state of panic and clutter. There are many things that you can do to try and organize your office, including having an inbox where you can put anything on your to-do list, and having an outbox so you can handle paperwork that might be finished, but is yet to be filed. Having a filing cabinet and a trash basket will also help you out here, so be mindful of this if you can.
Sweep your Desk
Do you feel as though your desk looks like a haven for clutter? If so, then it is time for you to get that organized. The best thing you can do here is start with a clean slate. The only things you should be leaving would be your computer, your printer and of course, your phone. This is probably the first time that you have been able to have a solid look at your desk for quite some time. You then need to try and go through every single item that might have been on your desk. How often do you use it? Is it once per day? Once a month? Or never? If the answer is more than once a week, then put it to one side. Only once a day items belong on your desk from now on. Now would be a good time for you to sort through your computer too. If you have not yet updated it, or if you are holding off a defragmentation because you simply can’t be bothered, then now is the time for you to change that. Check out this guide if you want to learn more about Mac updates: https://setapp.com/lifestyle/macos-ventura-vs-monterey.
Design a Filing Cabinet
Buying a filing cabinet is a fantastic way for you to free up some of the space within your home office. If you can buy a fireproof cabinet, then this will help you to ensure that your documents do not end up getting stolen or destroyed. Make sure that you keep your car titles, your marriage certificates and also your passports if possible. If you want to try and maximize storage space, then now would be the time for you to invest in a four-drawer cabinet. If you throw all of the paperwork you have in there, then you might as well not have bothered buying it in the first place. Instead, come up with a system so you can keep your files nice and organized. Your system could be numerical, color-coded or even alphabetical. Either way, finding something that works for you is the best thing you can do here.
Toss It
One of the major reasons why home offices tend to get so cluttered is because a lot of people don’t take the time to throw things away when they should. You need to scrap any pens that do not work, and you also need to get rid of paper clips that may be all bent out of shape. Unused or broken equipment should also be scrapped, along with printers and scanners that do not work. If you have a lot of documents and you are not sure if you should be keeping hold of them or not, then this is understandable. Tax returns, along with any supporting documents should be kept for up to 7 years and pay stubs should be kept for one year. If you have investment statements, keep them for one year, along with bank statements. Everything else can go whenever you feel as though you are done with them. Having a filing cabinet can help you out quite a lot here, so try and be mindful of that and make sure that you are using yours to your advantage if you can.
Cut Clutter
If you feel as though you are always dealing with a huge snaking mass of cables and wires every time you step into the office, then this can be a major problem. Not only is it a tripping hazard, but it is also a danger if there was to be a fire. The last thing you want is for your office to be more cluttered than it is too. If you need to reduce your cables, then put away any electronic equipment you do not use. You also need to use as many wireless devices as you can. Your mouse, your printer and your keyboard should be wireless, to reduce cable clutter. Having a USB hub is ideal as it lets you plug everything into your computer with a single USB cable.
So, there are many things that you can do to try and make the most out of your office space and if you follow this guide, you should have no problem in making sure that you get everything dealt with, so you have a nice and tidy office come Monday morning.
