12 Simple Home Office Organization Tips You Need To Try
Are you fed up with an organized mess in your home office? Are you looking for simple home office organization tips that actually work?
I hate working in a mess and I spend so much time organizing my home office, so I have a few ideas that will help you get your home office straight.
If you are wondering how to organize your home office you might be surprised that using systems will help tackle your home office and get it looking and feeling amazing.
Finding office organization tips that work is one thing. Making these tips work for you is another, you don’t want to make your life more complicated that’s why everything has to be simple and easy to implement.
Get Your Home Office Organized
Having an organized office will reduce stress and it will allow you to find the items you are looking for with ease. You will know where things are and what to do with new items as they come into your home.
You will be in control of your office and not your office in control of you.
You can take these tips to work too. Organization in the workplace will set a great example for other colleagues as well as your managers too.
Why Organize Your Home Office
Creating the right systems that work for you and your family is so important. There is nothing worse than wasting time looking for a document because they don’t have a place in your home.
Getting your home office organized and storage sorted out will be time that is well spent. It can even save you money as you will be able to compare prices of quotes for different businesses without hunting out last year’s paperwork.
The Basic Organizing Process
You have to start somewhere and for many people this is the most difficult part, finding that gap in all of the stuff where you can start to clear a path to organization and a tidy office.
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- Starting with your desk is something that I always suggest it’s often got the most on that are just random items. Start thinking about the different categories that you need, putting like items together. The beginning phase of organizing is working out what you have and what you need to do with it.
- Planning is something you need to think about when it comes to organizing any space in your home, not only do you need to have a plan of action but you also need to know when you have time to tackle an organizing project as often they take time. It allows you to think of the tasks you need to do and find the time in your schedule to actually get things done.
- Finding the right label for the task, labeling helps replacing items to where they belong as well as making it easy to find items too. This might require a few different options of labels.
Labels To Help You Organize
It’s weird for so many people at the number of different labels that you can get for your home, especially your home office.
Let’s look at some different labeling options that are open to you:
- An in-line handheld label maker, you type in the letters and it prints out a label that you peel off the backing and stick to the item in question. There are a number of different versions but I use the Dymo option with the different colored tapes and sizing of the letters.
- A Cricut Machine, I have the Explore Air 2 in mint green and this is amazing and cutting and creating fancy labels for different areas of your home. It does take more time to create but you can make them any size and they are pretty too.
Finding Simple Systems That Work
You have to find ways to make your home office work and that is as simple as creating rules for when things come into your home. You have to know what to do with them, this is the most crucial part of organizing, putting into place something that keeps the system alive and happening.
You need systems in your home office. You need to know where things belong and if an action needs to happen, you need to know where to put something so that action is taken and not forgotten about.
- File organization has to make sense to you. Sometimes, you might take over someone else’s systems when you move to a new job or you might have people telling you the best way to organize, you have to go with what works for you. It could be alphabetical or daily, it’s finding the right system that you feel comfortable with.
- Usining colour in your office for coding, whether it’s in your planner or filing system using colour can help identify the folder or note depending on the colour. This makes recognizing what you are looking for easier. However, some people aren’t able to work with colour in this manner so don’t feel that it’s a necessary part to organizing.
- Labels are so important when it comes to files and organizing paperwork, the better you label something the easier it will be to find it when you are looking for something.
- Declutter your home office, this is going to reduce the amount of homes you need to find. Don’t just bin paperwork check how long you need to keep it first.
Organizing Tips For The Home Office
Everything in your home needs a place that they can call home too. It means that you need to find a space in your home where something belongs. This might sound strange to some people but the more you give homes to everyday items the easier it is to put things away.
- So if you have notes for a course you are taking you must have a place to put those notes. You might work best with a notepad and pen or you might find your computer is the place for notes, wherever they are they need to have a home so you can find them again.
- If a system that you are using is becoming more of a chore and doesn’t feel like it is working correctly, then you must work out what the problem is to make adjustments. Don’t keep a system which is no longer working for you, it will mean that you are less likely to tackle the task, and you might let it build up to when the task feels unmanageable.
- To help you keep your time organized in the home office having a timer will help you to remember to take a break which is so important not just when you are organizing. I
How To Keep Your Desk Organized And Clean
You need to have rules or boundaries to make systems work. You can’t implement a new system without taking the time to actually keep on top of the tasks.
There are some simple things to think about in your home office that will help to keep it looking amazing.
- An organized computer is just as important as an organized office. An inbox that is full of unread emails a filing system that doesn’t work is a disaster waiting to happen. Take the time to set up systems on your computer that works for you. You can read all about computer organization here.
- Have a trash or rubbish bin in your office. You might need more than one if you recycle, just remember to use them. You need a place to put the rubbish or the recycling and make sure that you empty these regularly.
- Don’t eat at your desk, while this might seem like an easy option to allow you to continue working, it will have a negative impact on your office, spillages happen and this is always on important paperwork and having sticking computer keys is not professional nor are they easy to clean. It is better for your health and your mind to have a complete break and eating away from your office will give you the break you need.
Related article: Simple And Easy Home Office Ideas
Use These Home Office Organization Tips
These tips will help you become more organized at work as well as at home, it can help your focus too.
You will find what you are looking for easier and this can mean being more organized you might find that you are better able to meet deadlines and appointments because you will have your days planned and organized too.
Understanding which office organization tips that work for you and ignoring those ideas that you know just won’t work will give you an office system that works and not one that you spend time trying to make work.
How you arrange your home office will depend on what you are looking for in a home office, if you are just looking to work from home permanently your home office will look differently than if you just pay bills once a week from your home office.
Making It Work
The simplest ideas are often the best ideas, don’t over complicate something that doesn’t need to be complicated.
I often think about people who jump head first into a new system without taking the time to see if this system is going to fit their needs. Just because a system works for someone else, doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for you.
Everyone is different and have different ways of organizing, you have to find out what is the best option for you before you spend money on a new system that might not even work.
Take your time when it comes to organizing, tackle just one area at a time. This way you will give yourself time to get used to a system before you start organizing another system.
Think about what will work for your family!
Don’t spend money on a new system, unless you are sure that it’s going to work for you and your family.
Simple systems are often the best, the more complicated something is to do the less likely you will take the time you need to continue on with the system.
Take your time, you aren’t going to do everything in one go and remember if something stops working change it.