5 Tips to Organize Your Home Office

Are you losing in the battle against clutter? Here are 5 tips for reclaiming the organization you crave.

1. Dive in.

To be sure, a cluttered desk and office can be very intimidating. So start small. There's no need to wait until you have an entire weekend to devote to organizing {when exactly is that likely to happen?}. Pick a drawer, shelf or pile and dive in. If you can only devote 30 minutes here and there, that's OK. You're still one step closer to an organized office. And, you may just find that the sense of accomplishment in knocking down a pile of two-year-old magazines will spur you on to tackle three more piles.

2. Exit the paper trail and get on the information superhighway.

Many times, we hang on to pieces of paper that contain information that can be easily accessed online. With tools like Evernote, there is no longer a need to bury ourselves in paper articles that we may read "someday". You can easily create an online filing system of notes, bits of information, web page bookmarks, recipes, and articles that you'd like to read or may need to reference in the future.

3. Be a discriminating sentimentalist.

For personal mementos, create a storage system for keeping only those items that you will truly want to look back on in years to come. You don't need to keep every Snoopy greeting card that your great-aunt Sally sent you that just says "XOXO, Aunt Sally" under a commercial greeting. You will want to keep the hand-drawn greeting card from your daughter that says "You're the best Mommy ever" {which could prove to be a useful reminder during those rough teenage years}.

4. Maximize surface area.

A clean and clear work surface helps to keep stress levels low and productivity high. To the extent possible, keep computer equipment off the desk. A keyboard should be stowed in a keyboard tray under the surface. A flat-panel monitor takes up far less space than those clunky CRT monitors. {See programs like Best Buy's e-cycle for ways to recycle.} A printer can be housed on a printer stand or on top of a filing cabinet.
Small desk tools and supplies, such as a stapler, tape dispenser, paper clips and sticky notes can be stowed in a drawer. Supplies that you need to access less often, such as file folders and computer paper, can be stored in a cabinet.

5. Make it pretty.

Head to your local stationery store and stock up on some attractive desk accessories that will give you the inspiration to get your home office space organized and the motivation to keep it that way. Things like file folders, magazine boxes, photo storage boxes, binders, and notebooks are available in so many attractive patterns and colors. Make a fashion statement and express your personality through the home office accessories you choose.
With a bit of effort, your home office can be both a haven of productivity and a pleasing, motivating place to spend your time.

{© 2012 Blog Boutique | Holly of Salutations | Photo © Kikki.K}