The pandemic has forced a lot of us to work from home and just like that, you now have a home office. Having a dedicated space for work at home can allow you to focus, get you into ‘work mode’, lessen distractions, and help establish boundaries between work and life after work. This coming March 9th is Organize Your Home Office Day, so we figured we share some ideas on how you can keep this space all sorted out.
Before you add to cart those cute rattan storage containers, you need to do the first step in organizing any space—decluttering.
Here are the things to toss out of your home office.
Paper
Having so much unnecessary paper is the most common reason why your space is all cluttered. After clearing out the obvious trash, go through every piece of paper in your office by using the System of Three: shred/toss it, file it or take action from it. Expired coupons, old receipts and the like are just taking up space that you can allow for other important things.
Outdated tech
You probably won’t be needing a floppy disk any time soon. Or that software disk and manuals that’s decades behind. They’ve served their purpose and will be of no use anymore now, perhaps it’s time to let these things go.
Cords and cables
We too are guilty of having collected cords over time ‘just in case’ and more likely, many of these cords are already outdated and aren’t even usable anymore.
Broken equipment
We are talking about that old laptop and printer you still have even though there is zero chance to revive it. Also, why do you still have those ink cartridges? Let go of these sad remains, you’ll be fine without them. Check in with your local area on how you can dispose or recycle these items.
Broken Pens
It’s just causing you frustration when you absolutely need to write down something quick, and you happen to grab the pen that doesn’t write anymore. So toss them up, you’ll be happier.
Alright, now that you have some more breathing room in your newly decluttered office space, we get to the fun part – storage. The key here is to have things of the same category in the same space. Example, all your papers in a file cabinet. Stationary supplies in a drawer. Books on shelves and so on.
It is best to tuck away things that you are not always using and have those you are using everyday within reach or in some sort of open shelf.
Here are some storage tips and ideas for you.
Set up a filing system
Keep track of vital documents and other papers (like bills this month, family documents, your kids’, medical records, etc). Sort all of your documents into categories, place in a folder, box or what have you and label them. Setting up an organized system right away will help you keep it well-managed in the long run.
Image by John Grenan
Get creative with containers
It doesn’t mean you need to shell out some money to get yourself decent containers or bins to sort out your stuff. Take this old utensil organizer that now serves as an office knick-knack storage.
Image credit Joe Lingeman/Kitchn
Or try this cheap stationery holder made out of a shoe box and tissue paper tubes.
Keep cords in a cable box.
You need your devices’ electricity to function, but who likes the cluttered look of a bunch of cords? Easy solution—keep your cords from killing your desk vibe by organizing them in a cable box.
Arranging your books
It is totally up to you which way you want to sort out your books. You can follow the trend and arrange them by color. Some people like to flip their book so the white pages are showing and give a monochromatic, minimal look. What matters is that they are in the same place for better storage.
Image by Michael J Lee
Having an organized home office isn’t just about the aesthetic—it’s also about function. We hope the tips above help and if you need tips in organizing other parts of your home, we have those in store for you too in our blog.
