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Your home office is for sure as important for working, as the kitchen is for eating and the bedroom for sleeping. Don’t underestimate the need to have an organized office at home. Either you spend all your working day there or only some hours when managing household documents, organizing your home office is a must.Let’s find out some useful tips on how to organize a home office together so that you can avoid that stress in the future.
You need to realize now that you need to organize such a place for working at home just the same way you have one at your workplace. Empty coffee mugs, unnecessary paper sheets, and piles of documents must find their right place here, too. Don’t wait for the day when you will need that precise document and you won’t be able to find it in all that chaos.
How to organize a home office in a clever way
Transform your working desk from an impenetrable labyrinth to a clean friendly place. Forget about the cluttered drawers and the lack of space with these easy-to-apply tips and tricks. Thus, working will be less stressful and more effective.
Use a lot of accessories
Image source: Kathryn J. LeMaster Art & Design
Think it like this: if you have your desk organized, you don’t need to work much more on how to organize a home office.The desk is the nucleus of the office you work in. That’s why organizing it first will give you a feeling of relief. How to do that? The answer is the desk accessories. When buying them, think not only about how they are going to look in your office but also on how you will use them.
Create more space when organizing home office
Image source: Lauren Nicole Designs
If your desk isn’t enough to store all the things you have, there’s a practical and pleasant solution to this problem. You can hang a shelf above the desk. It will be the right place for the sheets you will need later, for books, or motivation pictures and frames. Transform it on and on. Be creative!
Get rid of the piles
Image source: Britt Newman Design Concepts LLC
We know that maybe the biggest struggle is to get rid of the number of paper sheets laying on your desk and not only. But apply the ‘Rule of Three Possibilities’ to solve this problem. For each sheet of paper, there is only one possible action to take: throw away, store or take action. There’s no ‘leave it for later’. Make the process funnier by adding a color-coding.
Consider buying a filing cabinet
Image source: transFORM Home
Don’t store your documents on the desk anymore. It is not only uncomfortable but also unsafe. If your office is large enough and you have some extra budget, buy a filing cabinet.
It will hide all the extra sheets you can’t find a place for and, at the same time, protect the ones that are important. There are also cabinets with a reliable locking system. Some extra protection is always welcome.
Divide your desk
Image source: transFORM Home
You should divide your desk into different sections. Dedicate one side to accessories, such as the lamp or the pencil cup. Spreading them all over the surface won’t help. Apart from this and the area your desktop occupies, there should also be an empty space for writing.
Cross the odd one (or more) out
Image source: Rossington Architecture
Every organizing process starts with throwing away at least three things that simply don’t belong to that place. This is what should happen with the old pen, last year’s magazines, and old newspapers from your office. What about that empty mug? Put it directly in the sink, not on the desk.
And these are only some examples. There may be more than three things you need to get rid of. This will radically ease your work.
File the folders by the color
Image source: Jennifer – Rambling Renovators
Color coding is not childish. On the contrary, it is very efficient. Here you are some suggestions on how to color-code your folders and sheets so you won’t search for that one file for ages anymore. Choose a blue folder for family identity documents, a yellow one for finance issues of the household, and also a red one for pet’s documents.
Moreover, dedicate some time to label each file. You’ll be grateful you did this when you realize how much time you save when searching.
Serious matters need serious measures
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You need to get something done by the end of the week and you can’t get yourself together? Don’t panic. We have the solution. All you need is a large box.
Look at your desk. There are for sure a lot of items you don’t need for this urgent job and which will distract you. Therefore, the first step is to put everything you won’t use for that precise task in the box. Put the box away from your way but keep it somewhere around you, so it remains accessible.
Now you can start working. Although you would say there isn’t such a big difference, you’ll notice you can better concentrate on the urgent issues.
As the box is always near you, you can always use the items from it, if necessary. But that copyholder you barely use won’t occupy vital space from your desk anymore.
No duplicates on your desk
Image source: Aesthetic Outburst
This may be the simplest rule from this list. Don’t save the old items if you’ve already bought a new replacement for them. It works with the working desk the same way as it is with the closet. When you have a new coat, you get rid of the old used one.
Solve the cable struggle
Image source: Designs Australia
We know one of the biggest struggles when thinking on how to organize a home office is trying not having so many cables all over the office. It’s a real challenge not to trip over them every time you enter the room or leave the desk. Apart from this minor risk, they make the place unsafe in case of an emergency. Not to mention how disorganized the office looks when cables hang everywhere.
What you can do is switch to wireless connections for your mouse, keyboard, or speakers, or simply throw away electronics you don’t need when working. Thanks to the evolution of the technology, you can also use a single USB cable for more devices, which is a huge help in decluttering the office.
Consider labeling the cables, too. Thus, you’ll know from the beginning which one to follow to get the phone charger or the printer cable. Be creative, make it cute and it will add some color to your office, too.
Don’t forget about the walls
Image source: Collins Design-Build, Inc.
Change your way of looking at the available space in your office. Try to go vertical and you’ll find so many opportunities. Apart from the shelves that we’ve already talked about, there’s always the possibility to hang some schemes, pictures, or tables on the wall.
This will not only help you save space on your working desk but will also make it easier for you to skim through all the materials you have.
Divide your drawers
Image source: YAM Studios
Different office items should have their own sections in the drawers, too. Use some cardboard to separate sections inside it and give to the pencils, sticky notes, and the memory sticks their own compartment.
Final thoughts on how to organize a home office
When you already have a lot of tasks to get through, the last thing you want to happen is to get stuck in the cleaning process and lose precious time. That’s why you have to make it a habit from trying to keep your office clean. Remember the old saying, which we agree with: “Tidy office, tidy mind”.
A clean office on the outside means a calm and a distressed soul in the inside.There’s no better time to start cleaning than NOW. Just take an overall look and the things that aren’t in their place will show out. Once you make the first step, half of the work is done.
On the other side, try to strike a balance between organizing and keeping things accessible. You don’t want to become that over-organized person who makes a folder for every sheet of paper and dividers for every item. That’s too much. You will not only lose precious time but also a lot of space.
Finally, when organizing your home office, don’t forget to save things that keep you inspired. Different frames with motivational quotes, family pictures or nature views may bring some life to the working place. This will boost your productivity and make you feel at ease in your organized home office.
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