Like your home, your home office needs to get rid of the excess clutter. Those loose scattered papers on the tables and desks. Those huge piles of papers lying inside and on top of each filing cabinet and closet office supplies that are unused. You need to look at these items and decide what needs to be completed. I call this spring cleaning. However, this task must be done more than once a year. These steps will make you more productive in this process. Come along and try it.
Eight steps to a home office spring cleaning
Remind yourself to schedule time to do this.
First things first, if you have issues remembering to clear the clutter in your home office because you are just too busy, add recurring appointments to your calendar that would remind you to schedule a time to do this every four months or so. Clearing out papers can be daunting but must be done to create a functional, productive home office.
Decide on when you are going to do this.
Add this date(s) to your calendar. If you have others who use your office, make sure they know the dates and ask them to help. The more people who know where things are in the office, the quicker this task will go. You will be able to get the answers to someone else’s papers quickly instead of waiting for them to come into the office.
Make a list of the areas to tackle.
Where to start, you may ask. Look for those areas that haven’t often been visited. Ask yourself, “Where haven’t I looked in the last three months?” The areas to visit may be in your permanent file in your back closet or your office supply closet. Start there. This area is most likely to be the area you have little or no attachment to and will be the easiest to look through and purge. Go through one item at a time. Decide if you will keep it or trash/recycle it. For the saved things, be sure to sort them by like items and find appropriately sized containers to hold the small loose items.
Clear out computer files.
The next area to purge and clear out is your computer files. Check your desktop, are there any files you do not use? Do you have any folders that should be removed and stored somewhere else? Do you use all the software on your computer? Remove them from your computer if you don’t use them anymore.
Clean out your bags and briefcases.
Another area to clear out is your bags and briefcases, do you need everything in these bags? Do you have items in them that unusable?
Clear out any paperwork that is not business related.
Having personal papers mixed with business can be cumbersome. By creating a space just for your business papers and an area for your other papers, you will be able to get to the ones you are looking for quickly and easily. Desk bins
Create a space just for your home bills.
It can get quite confusing when you have your personal bills mixed with your home bills. So, making a space that will hold each of these separately will speed up paying bills.
Review your office supplies.
There is probably some supplies you don’t use any longer. If there is going through them now and donating or recycling them will free up a lot of space. Check public and private schools to see if they may want the office supplies.
After tackling these areas, you will be on your way to clearing the clutter in your office and allowing yourself to make room for the new and fantastic opportunities that will come your way when you remove your home office clutter.
Visit these other posts from Sabrina’s Admin Services and other experts that delve even further into spring cleaning your home office.
Spring Cleaning Digital Files Like a Rockstar
How To Easily Spring Clean Your Cloud Files
7 Earth Day Activities For Your Small Business
Benefits and tips to review and revisit paper files each year
Clear Office Clutter in Three Easy Steps
Feng Shui Tips for Clearing Clutter
Please note these are affiliate links through Amazon and at no additional cost to you, I will earn affiliate fees if you decide to make a purchase.
When I began working from home full time, I had to add “clean office” to my weekly(?) task list until it became a habit. Then it was just “empty in tray” – until I got rid of the in tray altogether. Now I’m forced to deal with everything as it comes in.