8 Steps to Actually Organize Your Office
The home office – it’s a breeding ground for mess. No matter what you do for work – you probably have stressful moments and that stress can manifest very easily in your physical space!
Cleaning up this space can calm the mind and the body – leading to more productive work and more satisfaction!
The good news is there are many ways to organize that office and keep it clean ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Let’s dive in!
- Go Through and Throw Out
This is one of the most important first steps you can take. Over time, a lot accumulates in our offices. Old papers, opened envelopes that are now irrelevant, broken knick knacks, old chords to electronics you no longer have, etc. This stuff gathers and clouds your space – and therefore your mind. Throw it out!* Trust us, it’ll feel so good and your clutter-free space will feel just like new.
2. Find Your System
Everyone operates differently! When it comes to finding a space for everything and everyday organization – find what works for you. It might look radically different than what works for someone else and that’s okay! Bins, (clean) piles, file folders, etc – it’s all good in our book as long as you stay consistent.
3. Make a Home for Everything
Adding on to the previous tip, make sure you know exactly where everything goes. Your unpaid bills, your stapler, extra stamps – it should all have its place. This might mean coming up with a bunch of different categories if things don’t fit neatly into a few different labels. This is okay! A lack of clarity of what goes where is where piles come from – avoid this.
4. Label, Label, Label
After you’ve decided where everything goes – label it! Labels will make it even clearer and help you stay consistent with putting things back where they go.
5. Deep Clean Consistently
Clean your office as often as you clean your bathroom! Or every other room in the house! Wipe your desk surface down, sweep underneath and dust off those picture frames. Organization goes deeper than just loose papers- make it a clean place from the inside out!
6. Avoid Sticky Notes
We don’t want to outlaw sticky notes by any means as they’re an incredibly useful tool! However, overusing them is a quick way to visually clutter your space in a way that isn’t helpful. If you’ve got too many around chances are you aren’t able to focus on one and read what it says anyway! Keep them to a minimum, and have a miscellaneous notepad where you take quick notes and transfer the info to where it belongs shortly after if necessary.
7. Invest in a Good Chair
We can’t emphasize this enough. Spending hours hunched over a computer or bent in a weird way puts a ton of stress on our bodies and over time, can create lasting effects. Save your back, hips, neck and other key joints by investing in an ergonomic chair. There are so many on the market now and the heavy price could save you hours of physical therapy and even surgery later on.
8. Decorate
After all of the organizing and cleaning – it’s time to make it fun! Make your space a place you want to be and curate it to your taste. Adding fun colors, objects with meaning and pictures of loved ones can all make it a place that’s fun and comforting as well as one for discipline and work.
After all of these steps we hope your work-from-home routine improves and you’re able to find more fun and clarity of mind in your home office.
What tip worked best for you? Leave us a comment below and let us know!
** When throwing out your office junk – donate what you can and throw away e-waste responsibly please!
