When you are a busy mom – or dad – who also works from home, organization can be a nightmare. But it’s essential that you take steps to keep on top of clutter and documents, or you run the risk of wasting huge amounts of time in the future. And let’s face it – time is something few of us have a lot of!
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[ctt template=”4″ link=”28M7b” via=”yes” ]Here are some excellent home office organization hacks for busy home workers. They will help you clear, declutter and maintain your office at home and get it into perfect shape.[/ctt]
With this in mind, I thought I’d share some excellent home office organization tips. Hopefully, they will help you clear, declutter and maintain your office at home and get it into perfect shape. Let’s take a look at some of your options.
Declutter
The first step is simple – although time-consuming. Purge everything that doesn’t belong in your office, from kids toys through to personal papers. Make sure that the only things in there are to do with your work, and find a home for all of it. Invest in some storage solutions if necessary – IKEA sells a lot of clever office storage systems.
Color coding
It's a good idea to color code your filing system and make sure everything goes into the relevant folders. Try using colors that remind you of what they represent. For example, a green folder could be for all your financial affairs (green for money). Red signals emergency, so perhaps you could use this folder for all your medical information – or perhaps your ‘must do’ list.
Document software
Of course, you can get rid of paper completely. As www.lucion.com point out, there are plenty of document saving programs out there that can help you keep on top of your correspondence, papers and physical notes. All you need to do with these types of software is scan your document and save it to your preferred program, to be opened up again whenever you need it. This kind of thing is great for everything from invoices to receipts – and you can discard the paper version once you are done.
Schedule
Want to know the most important part of keeping your office tidy? Stick to a schedule. If you give yourself 30-60 minutes a week to keep everything ship shape, you ‘ll find it improves your productivity to no end.
Tidy your wires
Look at the back of your computer terminal. What do you see? A lot of home offices suffer from ‘spaghetti wiring’ – tangled and messy wires everywhere. As www.smallbusiness.chron.com points out, not only is this distracting and dust-gathering, but it can also be dangerous. Those wires can wear down, and possibly give you an electric shock – so keep them clear with a wire tidy or a cable tie.
Buy a monitor stand
Monitor stands work on two levels – if you’ll excuse the pun. Not only will it lift the screen up to a better eye level for your posture, but it’s also great for making cleaning easier. You will be surprised at the amount of dust your computer or laptop picks up, and using a stand will help keep things looking better – and feeling healthier.
Do you have any organization tips to share with home offices? Share away in the comments section!
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Paper Correctly says
A well-organized working space is surely needed, especially when you work at home and literally make money from this place.
Yoshiko Flora says
I find it helpful when you said that a person that owns their home office should remove anything that does not belong there such as children’s toys to personal papers. In addition to that, one can also rent a local storage facility to store the extra stuff as soon as possible. Doing this will help a person free their home while finding a safe place to protect their excess items from the elements.
Tim Yaotome says
I am glad to have read your tip that one should get rid of kids toys to personal papers in order to keep one’s home office clean. In my opinion, if a homeowner wants to keep them for future use, they can opt for renting a self-storage unit. Doing this will help them free up space in the home and keep the extra items well-protected from the elements at the same time.
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admin says
Yes, I agree, thanks for stopping by.
Jim Allen says
Thanks for the tips. I recently started working from home, and keeping my workspace neat is important. Your suggestions to declutter and organize are spot on. Thanks!