Organizing Your Cluttered Home Office

 

Home based business owners have the tendency to slip into messy office habits.  Having a cluttered desk can slow down production which will eventually cost you money.  By the time you realize that there is a problem you may have already lost money.  If you take a look at your office and see that it is cluttered with coffee mugs, files and random papers, a cleaning is well over due.

 

The good news is that you can start that clean-up effort immediately.  There are a few simple things you can do to start organizing your home office right now.  The first thing you can do is locate three things and throw them out.  You probably could track down a number of other things to throw out but start off with three things.  Get the recycle bin out and get rid of those old invoices that you logged into your computer weeks ago. How about those old calendars from the previous year?  Anything that has no purpose can go in the recycle bin or the trash.  Start off with three items and move on through the rest of the clutter.

 

Clean out a filing cabinet.  Filing cabinets can become cluttered and full of statements and files you do not need. It is common to shove things you don’t need into filing cabinets.  While you need to keep business records for six years, you do not need to keep miscellaneous files and clutter.  Get rid of everything that you do not need and organize the things that you do.

 

Set up a filing system that allows you to keep statements you need for tax time in one place and files you need on a regular basis in another area.  You don’t want to mix files that you are storing with files that you will be using regularly.  This can cause confusion and major clutter.  Designate file cabinet drawers to serve specific functions to keep organization constant.  If you don’t let things fall into disarray, you will have a better time keeping things in order.

 

Be sure that you are using your shredder on a regular basis.  Paper equals clutter so whenever you can get rid of paper, do so.  Electronic statements for bills can be kept on your computer and printed when necessary.  This is also an easier way to keep statements in order.  You will be able to store them in one electronic file instead of having a file cabinet drawer stuffed full of them.

 

Keep old files in a storage box in another part of your house.  Keeping files in the actual home office is not a good idea.  Use a corner in your garage to store old files.  You will be able to get to them when necessary and keep them out of the way when you don’t need them.

 

If you have a bulletin board or message board give clear it.  Get rid of those messages that you don’t need any more.  Often bulletin boards become cluttered with messages that have expired or are random.  Clear off the board and try to keep in mind what it is intended to be used for.  You want to make sure that your work space is productive and the area you have for your home office is really dedicated to work.  Stop putting notes about your kids’ soccer games on the work bulletin board.  Having a picture or two of the family can be encouraging and should not pose a problem.  However you don’t want to have a bunch of personal items on your work bulletin board.