Ten Steps to Clutter Free Your Home Office
You have decided to work from home and you find it is easy as you save commuting time and you are your own boss.
But at the same time you find that your home office desk and the space has become an utter mess where you have to really dig in to find either simple stationery or your cell phone.
So how do you get rid of the clutter and maintain a clean space for your home office.
Well here are few tips that will not only help you to clean the space but also will help you in keeping the place clean everyday day after day.
1.
Organise Just because you are your own boss and there are no colleagues to comment on your organisational skills, does not mean that you can be disorganised about your mail, papers, and other things.
First step towards clearing the clutter from your home office to being organise, organise what you need, you don't need, might need in the future, use everyday hence forth.
2.
Sort out everything After you have organised everything now is the time to sort from those organised things.
Yes the key is to sort out till you feel that there is nothing left to sort out and everything is important to you in terms of your business.
However it does not mean that you will keep everything.
If there is a paper cutting that you have not viewed in long time chances are it will never be viewed again so throw it out.
Also keep only that information which you feel is not easily available on the Internet.
Anything that can be found on Internet should be thrown out as waste.
3.
Group similar items After you have sorted out now is the time to group the similar items together.
Your unpaid bills, official documents, electricity bills, and any other documents should be grouped differently.
Group the smallest items together so that next time when you need a board pin or a pen or a paper clip you don't have to dig it in your drawer.
4.
Use colour coded files Once the all the important papers have been sorted and grouped you can store them in different colour coded files so that they are easy to retrieve when you need them in future.
You get different colour file folders as well to stack your important papers and documents.
5.
Wheel furniture Since it is your home office and you want to keep it neat, tidy and more spacious you should go for wheel furniture.
Like an office chair with wheels, or a trolley with wheels to keep your files or papers.
Wheel furniture is easy to manage if you have a limited space or if you want to carry it to another room.
6.
Avoid foldable tables/ desks No matter how tempted you feel to have foldable cupboards, tables, or study tables avoid them like a plague.
Simply because of their ease to fold them they end up being the most disorganised part of the home office.
Hence go for normal sturdy office tables or study tables that can be used as an office desk.
7.
Keep a backup Try to keep a backup of all the important files stored in a CD, or scan all the important papers and keep them on your mail or on your website where they are easily available when you need them.
8.
Recycle the unused stuff Have you got loads of spare stationery? Don't throw it.
Instead give away the spare stationery to the schools or institutions that for the lack of funds are not able to buy the basic stationery.
They will appreciate your donation and the stationery will be used by some needy person.
9.
Judicious use of space Even if you have lots of space to keep everything it is advisable to keep sorting everything once in a month to sort out things that you don't need and to make a judicious use of space to give a neater look to your home office.
So if you have overhead cupboards use them to keep the files, or papers that you don't need at a regular basis as compared to the ones that you will need on a daily basis.
10.
Ten minutes rule Once your home office is in order ensure that you spend just ten minutes everyday before you finish working and clear up the desk, shred all the unwanted paper and keep everything back into their proper place.
This practice will save your time next day and with a clean desk in the morning you will be able to achieve more.
Follow these simple steps to keep your home office clutter free.
But at the same time you find that your home office desk and the space has become an utter mess where you have to really dig in to find either simple stationery or your cell phone.
So how do you get rid of the clutter and maintain a clean space for your home office.
Well here are few tips that will not only help you to clean the space but also will help you in keeping the place clean everyday day after day.
1.
Organise Just because you are your own boss and there are no colleagues to comment on your organisational skills, does not mean that you can be disorganised about your mail, papers, and other things.
First step towards clearing the clutter from your home office to being organise, organise what you need, you don't need, might need in the future, use everyday hence forth.
2.
Sort out everything After you have organised everything now is the time to sort from those organised things.
Yes the key is to sort out till you feel that there is nothing left to sort out and everything is important to you in terms of your business.
However it does not mean that you will keep everything.
If there is a paper cutting that you have not viewed in long time chances are it will never be viewed again so throw it out.
Also keep only that information which you feel is not easily available on the Internet.
Anything that can be found on Internet should be thrown out as waste.
3.
Group similar items After you have sorted out now is the time to group the similar items together.
Your unpaid bills, official documents, electricity bills, and any other documents should be grouped differently.
Group the smallest items together so that next time when you need a board pin or a pen or a paper clip you don't have to dig it in your drawer.
4.
Use colour coded files Once the all the important papers have been sorted and grouped you can store them in different colour coded files so that they are easy to retrieve when you need them in future.
You get different colour file folders as well to stack your important papers and documents.
5.
Wheel furniture Since it is your home office and you want to keep it neat, tidy and more spacious you should go for wheel furniture.
Like an office chair with wheels, or a trolley with wheels to keep your files or papers.
Wheel furniture is easy to manage if you have a limited space or if you want to carry it to another room.
6.
Avoid foldable tables/ desks No matter how tempted you feel to have foldable cupboards, tables, or study tables avoid them like a plague.
Simply because of their ease to fold them they end up being the most disorganised part of the home office.
Hence go for normal sturdy office tables or study tables that can be used as an office desk.
7.
Keep a backup Try to keep a backup of all the important files stored in a CD, or scan all the important papers and keep them on your mail or on your website where they are easily available when you need them.
8.
Recycle the unused stuff Have you got loads of spare stationery? Don't throw it.
Instead give away the spare stationery to the schools or institutions that for the lack of funds are not able to buy the basic stationery.
They will appreciate your donation and the stationery will be used by some needy person.
9.
Judicious use of space Even if you have lots of space to keep everything it is advisable to keep sorting everything once in a month to sort out things that you don't need and to make a judicious use of space to give a neater look to your home office.
So if you have overhead cupboards use them to keep the files, or papers that you don't need at a regular basis as compared to the ones that you will need on a daily basis.
10.
Ten minutes rule Once your home office is in order ensure that you spend just ten minutes everyday before you finish working and clear up the desk, shred all the unwanted paper and keep everything back into their proper place.
This practice will save your time next day and with a clean desk in the morning you will be able to achieve more.
Follow these simple steps to keep your home office clutter free.
