With so many people working from home, now is the perfect time to learn how to declutter the home office to increase productivity. If you’re blessed to have a dedicated space to call your office or if you have to create a place to work, there are steps you can take now that will produce instant results. Let’s get started! 🙂
Declutter the Home Office
A home office can be designed for the work-at-home employee, and also for the person who pays the bills, keeps records, answers mail, and e-mail. Home offices can also be used by and designed for students.
The first step to declutter the home office to increase productivity would be to figure out what your needs are. Think about what type of furniture, equipment, and privacy you’ll need and whether visitors will come into the office.
If you are creating an office in the corner of another room, try to blend the workspace with the rest of the room and try to keep it clutter-free. An option to disguise your office would be to use a workstation armoire. The doors open and it has shelves to store your equipment and supplies.
An office can also be placed inside a closet. The closet should be at least 24 inches deep and you may have to add an electrical outlet. Use a stock desktop and install shelves to hold your supplies. Add a file cabinet, paper trays, and a message board to customize the office space. For a file cabinet, you could use a storage ottoman, side table, or wooden box instead of an unattractive file cabinet.
If you have a room that is used only as a home office, you have more flexibility in organizing and decorating it. Invest in furniture that maximizes storage (you’ll always need more storage than you think!) and keep everything you need within reach of your chair-no farther than 2 feet away. Keep books on your desktop or shelf and files in a file drawer or box near your chair.
Supplies You Will Need
Use the drawers to store pens, pencils, stamps, and paper clips. A drawer divider will help keep things in order inside the drawer. You could also use a desk organizer to store these items on the desktop.
Tame the wires of electrical equipment by running them up the leg and holding them in place with Velcro strips. There are also wire organizers that can be purchased to help keep them out of the way.
Place a tray or hutch on the desktop to keep papers organized.
A trash can and a shredder in the office will help keep the desktop from getting cluttered. Trash or shred any papers you don’t need.
Cardboard containers work well for hidden storage and magazine holders are great for holding magazines upright. When the magazine holders are full, begin purging old issues to reduce clutter.
After you declutter the home office, you will have more time for working and spend less time searching for items or papers. When your home office feels good to be in, you’ll become more productive.
Which tip do you plan to implement when you declutter your home office? Feel free to leave your thoughts and questions in the comment section below. 🙂
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Great tips! As a telecommuter working full time from a home office I appreciate these tips!
Hi Tierney! I’m glad you found the tips helpful! Have a great evening!
I love your tip about if your workspace is in another room to make sure it blends with the rest of the room as well. I especially love your emphasis on keeping it clutter free. It’s very easy to pile a lot of papers in your workspace. Next thing you know your piling other stuff that doesn’t even belong in the workspace.
Hi Ivy! I’m glad you found the post helpful! 🙂 ~Leigh
I needed this!
Glad to help!
Great tips! I just found your blog and really like it – organizing is something I love to do, too : ) And the office space in my home is next on the list!! It’s become the ‘throw random things into’ space…it’s not pretty! My first step was organizing a file system for mail (which was always piling up). Hopefully I’ll get to a next step soon!
Hi there! It’s always nice to meet another kindred (organizing) spirit! I’m glad you found this post helpful and right on time for your next project. Thanks for stopping by and welcome aboard! 🙂