With more and more of us working from home, your home office should be as functional and productive as a traditional work office. It can be a challenge though to separate your home and work life. Studies show a cluttered workspace can increase stress and decrease productivity. If you’re finding you need to declutter your home office space, here are some of our top tips for creating a tidier and more productive work space in your home.
- Remove items that don’t belong in the home office
Everything in your home office should be about your work, so whilst it can be tempting to use the home office as a dumping ground for the hoover, washing and yoga mat, try and ensure your home office is exactly that, an office space.
- Organise your paperwork
Even in our digital age, paper is the number one clutter on desks. If you can’t completely ditch the paperwork, then a simple system for decluttering paperwork is 1) file 2) take action and 3) recycle or shred. Firstly, file paperwork once you’ve dealt with it and choose a filing system that works for you. Then take action on paperwork that needs to be dealt with and then finally, recycle or shred any paperwork that you can get rid of.
- Tidy your office supplies
The next most noticeable clutter is office stationery items, so whilst your workspace doesn’t have to be completely bare, it is helpful to have a desk organiser which allows you to keep a few essential items close by and then store the rest in drawers. Just make sure you don’t turn your drawer into a junk drawer!
- Evaluate everything on your desk/in your cupboards
Go through everything on your desk and in your cupboards and ask the following questions.
- Does the item have a purpose?
- Are you keeping it because you need it, or you might need it?
- Did you even remember it was there?
That should help you decide what you need to keep and what can be disposed of or archived. And once you’ve decided what you’re keeping, then give everything a ‘home’ – if things don’t have their own space, your desk becomes a home for everything!
- Tidy your desk at the end of every day
Spend five minutes at the end of every day tidying your desk. Starting your day with a messy desk is only going to get more chaotic as the day goes on, so make sure you commence with a clear and tidy workspace.
- Clean as you go
An office workspace should be cleaned at least weekly, so don’t neglect vacuuming and dusting your home office, making sure you clean your laptop as dust and debris can cause your laptop to overheat and germs can live on computer keyboards.
- Rent a storage unit
If you need to create more space at home to dedicate to your home office, a storage unit is the perfect place to store these items. Similarly, if you have important documents that you need to archive and don’t have sufficient space at home, then you can keep them safe in self-storage.
Decluttering and productivity go hand and hand, and these small steps to help maintain a clutter-free and organised workspace, will allow you to fully focus on your work.
Have you got any more tips to keeping your office tidy and clutter-free, follow us on Facebook or Twitter or email us and let us know your top tips!
