Scientists have proven that we are more productive when we are working in a clean and organized office. Some of the reasons for this is that when the office is disorganized it can be very distracting and disrupting your mental state of mind. If you walk in an office that is disorganized, you will feel stressed and this will decrease your focus and productivity.
The steps below are just a few simple tips that you can follow to help you keep your office clean and organized. In case you are wondering how and why it looks so difficult to do this, here are some 10 easy tips you can use:
1. Create more space for storing
When you have a small storage space in your office it becomes nearly impossible to keep everything clutter-free. Having that in mind, we recommend you to clear our existing storage cupboards, drawers and have a look at what needs to stay and what needs to go.
Once you have created more space to store or to organize your items, you will be one step closer to the goal to keep your office organized.
2 Deal with clutter immediately!
Before you realize, your office will be cluttered again, as your are working there on a daily basis and most people do not organize the office at the smallest form of clutter but allow it to accumulate over the time, thus the office gets even messier. By observing what happens in your office and what causes the clutter you can be better prepared to deal with it.
3 Create a filing system
We live in a digital age where paperwork is done less, still at times it is required to do some filing, which needs to be done in an efficient and organized manner. Here is how:
- Scan all papers to store them digitally and dispose the originals if they are not required.
- Store all papers in different categories
- Use different folders for papers that are related to: 1) meetings, 2 ) waiting to receive a response, 3) are on attention
- You can store papers that need to be archived in storage boxes, so that they do no collect dust
- It is best to file papers on a daily basis or at least on every 2-3 days to avoid piling up.
4 Tackle the cables
The office can become quote chaotic when it comes to the cables of the different appliances that you are using on a daily basis. Not only they make the office look untidy, but they can also get in your way and become tangled. To sort this issue, you can choose from various cable organizers to keep them together in a neat way.
5 Throw away useless items
If there is something which you no longer use or there are multiple things that only gather dust and don’t really belong in your office, get rid of them! Useless items, not only contribute to the clutter, but they also make a the cleaning a lot harder and time-consuming than it should be. Home offices in particular, where you bring items from other rooms in your house can quickly pile up with items that do not belong there. You need to get rid of them on a daily basis.
6 Keep all essential items closely
When you need to use items on a daily basis, they need to be within your reach and thus it will be more likely that you will place them back in place. It is best to make sure that you have desk drawers and cupboards to store all essential office items, so that they do not end up placed on your desk though.
7 Work zones
This one depends on what amount of space you have in your office. It will really help if you can establish work zones so that you are not doing everything at your desk. For instance, in case you have a sofa with a coffee table next to your storage cupboard, you can use this space to do some reading. Another corner of your office is your area where you keep your supplies, where you can have a cupboard for your supplies to help you stay organized. By creating different work zones in your office, you will make sure that you are doing all task that are related to your work in one place and you do not mix them up.
8 Organizing
Organizing tools can be very helpful when you are using your home office. They keep all papers and other items in order and easy to find. Whether it comes to storage bins or baskets or dividers and box folders:Â all you need to do is to take a look at your office and see what organizer is required for each item.
9 Regular Cleaning of your office
It is very important to have a clean office for sanitary reasons. Regular deep cleaning will help you stay motivated to keep the office organized. In case you do not have time to do this, they are plenty of professional cleaning companies that you can hire to help you out. Most companies offer daily, monthly, weekly and fortnightly cleaning, as well as one-off visits.
10 Organize everything on a daily basis
Keeping your office organized is not very difficult unless you lose focus on the task. To manage the office property, all you need to do is to take a couple of minutes every day to quickly organize your desk before you leave your office. This is easy once you create storage space and get rid of useless items, as well as use some office tools to organize your items.
Whenever you feel that your office becomes a mess again, just come back to these simple tips and start checking them off to keep your office clean and organized!
