Do you share this organizational issue? Is the most challenging area of your home keeping a small home office/desk area neat, tidy, and contained? I’m over here waving my hand’s, jumping up and down. This is the single, most organizationalIy challenging area of my home. I constantly struggle to keep it tidy and contained.
I know how lucky I am to actually have the space for a small home office/desk, but I have to confess, it’s the ugliest eyesore in my home. Except maybe my teenagers room, but that’s a conversation for another day. Add the fact that it’s in the main part of our living area, front and center…sigh. Nothing brings down the look of a room more than a messy desk right smack dab in the middle of the room…UGH!
As much as I would like to be able to lay all the blame on my husband and son, as you can see I am just as guilty of laying all manner of clutter on this horizontal surface. Once just a single item that doesn’t belong appears…as soon as you set it down, it becomes a clutter magnet. Its mystical powers of attraction kicks in the instant it makes contact with that horizontal surface!!! Clutter suddenly appears seemingly out of thin air. ARGH!!!!!!!
Today I’m sharing some areas of my home that I’m not proud of and few have seen because the clutter is mostly contained behind cupboard doors. With tax time just around the corner I figured now is the perfect time to get my home office space organized. Will you be joining me?
Step 1: Identify the cause of the clutter.
Think about why this particular area is so problematic for you. Take a picture of this eyesore. Sit down and really analyze the space. Take a good, long, hard look at what you’re storing there and how it’s being stored.
TIP: Designate a shallow desk drawer as a charging station for your electronic devices. Run charging cords from a wall outlet up and into the back of a drawer. Hold cords in place with clips mounted inside the drawer. Charge all your electronic devices (phones, tablets, laptops) inside the drawer out or sight. No more ugly, tangled charging cords to look at.
The two things I noticed right away about my space? It’s a really unattractive looking organizational system that I have in place. Plus it’s abundantly clear that the system isn’t adequately containing all the paperwork; the files are crammed full, the bins and files are stuffed full which then spills over into piles of flotsam and junk on the desk.
In order to get organized for the last time it’s important to really take a good hard look and identify what is actually causing the problem. Sure you can go out and purchase a bunch of pretty office storage bins. Pop everything in those boxes and call it a day. You will be kicking yourself when you need to go back and actually find something. You will spend an inordinate amount of valuable time, frustrated, searching for what you need. And it will happen when you don’t have the luxury of extra time on your hands; it will cause you even more stress.
Let’s stop just straightening and let’s actually get organized with a system that works for you.
Tax time, where are those receipts? Paying bills? Can you find this months electric bill? School registration time; do you need proof of residency paperwork? Refinancing; where are those W-2’s from last year? What about your tax returns? Can you get to them? Does your filing system allow you to find items you need quickly and easily?
TIMESAVING TIP: When filing items think about where you would most likely look for that item when you need it in the future. That’s where you need to file it! Your filing system should be customized in such a way that it works and makes sense to you.
No matter how many cute cubbies, bins and and racks you purchase, until you actually address what’s causing the clutter, you will just continue to struggle with keeping the paper monster contained. Straightening up the space over and over and over again…
Below are the top issues I identified as the areas that create paper clutter for me. Maybe you can identify with some of them or maybe there are other factors that are contributing to your paper monster. Take a little time to really be honest with yourself and write them down.
- Procrastination – I hate dealing with the mail so unopened mail piles up.
- Inefficient Storage System – not utilizing space efficiently/storing stuff that doesn’t belong there.
- Unattractive – office space is messy and just plain ugly.
- Current System – not simple or easy to maintain, no place to put papers that need attention/action (a phone call, internet research time, verifying a questionable purchase on your bank statement, something that needs to be read, or requires a decision).
Step 2: How much time will you realistically set aside to keep your office space organized.
The next thing you need to do is determine how much time you are honesty willing to spend each and everyday to keep your desk tidy. 30 seconds? One minute? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? Or maybe you honestly know you will only spend at most, 5 or 10 minutes once a week. This will make a huge impact on the type of filing and organizational system you establish. It’s really important to be honest about your true habits and what you know in your heart you will honestly commit to each and everyday.
If you are willing to spend just 5 minutes a day dealing with paper, you don’t really need to designate a large area for unopened mail, notes from school and other paper that needs your attention within a few days, a week, or at the end of the month. If you are a procrastinator like me when it comes to dealing with the mail and other miscellaneous paperwork you may need a larger area in your storage system for containing all this paperwork.
WARNING: Don’t create such a large “in-box” that you end up enabling yourself to procrastinate even longer when it comes to dealing with important paperwork that requires follow up.
I know that I will commit to about 5 minutes of time a couple times a week to work on my office area, with a larger chunk of time at the end of the month to file and organize when I pay the bills. This is a schedule I know I will be able to stick to. It’s actually what I currently do.
Step 3: Purge-purge-purge.
We can all straighten and tidy up an area, but unless you declutter and get rid of those items that you really don’t need, you are going to be in the same messy place again in just a few weeks. Get off the constant straightening, organizing roller coaster and get rid of those items that you honestly don’t need any longer.
Most paperwork that is over a year old can be discarded except for tax returns and a few other important items; i.e., home purchase paperwork, rental or lease agreements, title, insurance policies, deeds, birth certificates, marriage license, social security card, and passports.
This step in the process took me the longest. I spent several days going through all our files and paperwork shredding what we no longer needed to keep. Yes it was tedious, but I kept plugging away at it over the course of several days until I was finally done. What a huge weight off my shoulders! And a huge sense of accomplishment that came with it! Do it! You will be so very happy when you get to the end!!!
Step 4: Look around for creative organizational solutions.
While I was in the laundry room folding clothes this week I started looking around and realized that it is another area of my home that is not being used to its full potential. There’s loads of space filled with items that could easily be stored in the garage or a hall closet, lightbulbs, rags, extra cans of spray paint. Maybe if I cleared out the space, it could then be used as a home office?
Instead of using the built in desk area as our home office I decided to utilize a poorly used corner of the laundry room that’s just a few steps away from the desk. Not only is it easily accessible, it’s got more usable storage space, and it’s also not front and center in the main area of our living space. I can easily close the door to the laundry room and not have to look at it, but I have everything I need close by, right where I can easily get to it.
Take a second look around your house. Do you have a space that isn’t being utilized to it’s fullest potential that could be repurposed and used as a small home office space? Maybe you have a small corner of your kitchen you could use? A linen closet that could be reorganized? Perhaps you could add some shelves in a hall closet that could be used as a home office space?
Step 5: Build or purchase organizational items that meet your needs.
One you have found a designated office space and purged unwanted items you can easily see what’s left and needs to be stored, and how much space you have to store those items.
Now comes the fun part for many of us, buying or building the organizational containers for our office space.
I recommend setting up an easy 2 drawer filing system. If possible keep it all together in one area. An easy to maintain system for paid bills is to create 12 files, one for each month in one drawer. File all paid bills, bank statements, etc. in each month. Shred the bills and statements from the previous year each month as you file away the current months bills and statements. This system will ensure you never out grow your filing system. Bonus points if you go electronic and no longer need to store some of those bills and statements.
Set up the second drawer for longer term storage and important papers. I have a file for each member of the family. It contains their birth certificate, passport, diplomas, social security card, any important medical documents, immunization records, etc. When my oldest son moved out I gave him his file to take with him.
Other files you may need to create for long term storage:
- investment statements,
- work related documents,
- school documents
- receipts for major home purchases,
- tax returns,
- homeowners or renters insurance policy,
- auto insurance policy,
- owners manuals for appliances, large household purchases and electronic devices.
If you are the type of person that needs to leave paperwork out so you see it to remind you that you need to deal with it, consider storing it vertically instead of horizontally. Tack it up onto a cork board so you can easily see it but it’s not cluttering up another flat horizontal surface.
Something utilitarian like a cork board doesn’t have to look utilitarian. You can easily make a tack board that works with your decor. Check out this step by step DIY: How To Make A Charming Home Office Tack Board to see how I made this one.
Now take a look at what’s left to store away and go out and get yourself some pretty and attractive bins and organizational systems for what’s left.
There is no judgement here, we are just trying to set up a system that works with your natural tendencies. Remember we are trying to establish a system that works for you specifically. Your system may look very different than mine, and that’s ok! If it works for you, keeps you organized, allows you to find needed items quickly and easily, and reduces your stress level, then you have created a system that you will be able to keep and maintain in the long term. That’s a HUGE win!!!
I love using the laundry room right off the kitchen. It’s in a central easy to access area of the house. Half the shelves were already being used to store paperwork, albeit inefficiently. It just made sense to get this underutilized space in an easily accessible area of my home set up to function much, much more efficiently.
TIP: Be sure to label boxes and bins clearly so you know what they contain at a glance.
A few more tips too keep in mind as you organize your office space.
- Keep the items you use most often front and center and within easy reach. Store items you use less often on the top shelves and harder to reach areas.
- Set up a system that makes putting items away easy to do.
- Keep unattractive storage behind close doors and display the pretty items where you can see them.
- Invest in a good paper shredder to quickly dispose of unnecessary paperwork.
It took a couple weeks to get my home office space and desk organized but it was well worth the time and effort.
Honestly? The hardest part is getting started. Once you get going and set up a system that works for you you will wish you had done it a long time ago! I love that I can now display all of my cookbooks that were previously stored all over the house in various places. I could never find what I was looking for when I really needed it; so frustrating.
All the mail and files are now neatly stored in the laundry room close by, but not front and center any longer. Now when I walk through the house everything makes me smile. My desk no longer makes me cringe. Go on, jump in and do it!!!! You will be so glad you did! I’m hoping some of the ideas I shared with you inspires you to finally jump in and get your offie organized. I want you to create a home that makes you smile when you walk though it, not one that makes you stress out and cringe! You CAN do this!!!
Let me know what your office looks like once you get it all set up. I would love to see how it turned out for you. Who knows, I may just steal some of your ideas! LOL! So many of my readers are so cleaver and so very creative!!! I’m dying to see all the creative solutions you come up with that I never even thought of.
Did You Try Any Of These Organizational Ideas In Your Home?
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