Organize Your Home Office and Increase Productivity

Is your home office space affecting your productivity? Do you hunt for pens and pencils continuously? Is your document search an exercise in frustration? Are your papers a chronological stack of filing that is impossible to successfully navigate? Do you have an irrational fear of a paper flood catastrophe if you look for something at the bottom of the pile?

First, take heart. Every office - home or otherwise - has to figure out how to deal with paper, pens, and clutter. Creating and maintaining an organized space is just part of the job.

So, how do you regain control of the paper monster that is cluttering up your business?

Space to Organize Is Essential

One of the largest challenges of staying organized is the ability to set up a system where you have room to grow. Space is essential.

If you have spent the better part of a day cleaning out a drawer and replacing the items in organized, labeled files, but you cannot squeeze a single extra sheet, of paper, you have wasted your time and the un-filed papers will grow again.

Try to clean out and throw out enough to have a quarter or a third more empty space so that when you implement your new system, there will be space to expand. You may need to tweak your system, and having the extra space will encourage you to continue to organize.

This system includes everything from architectural drawings to products and documents you accumulate in the course of doing business.

Adding home office desks and storage organization items will go a long way towards making your organization implementation successful. Set aside time to get rid documents that are no longer relevant. This will allow for more space. Invest in a scanner and make PDF files out of things that can be stored electronically.

Simple Filing System

Keep It Simple. When it comes to filing, the simpler the better. If you make it too complicated, you will not keep up with it because it is too hard to follow. Consider color-coding, but do not go overboard with the number of categories. Use general topics like “Projects”, “Correspondence” and “Expenses”, or something similar. Not too many of them or you will get lost in your categories.

When filing large groups of things like clients, projects, and invoices use a single drawer for each group of files that are related. Using a four or 5-drawer filing cabinet is good in that it can be divided either alphabetically or chronologically.

For items, you refer to daily or even hourly; you might consider a posting board near your desk. This is a great idea for phone number lists, ‘To Do’ lists, and appointment calendars.

Maintenance

A filing system is only as good as the upkeep. You may find it easier to have a small system of files located on or near your desk and daily or weekly transfer the items into their permanent home.

You will find that this works for current project lists, product pricing, and things of that nature.

Style of Filing

If you want to realistically keep up a filing system, labeled boxes might be a better fit. You might want to alleviate the piles of papers and sort them into boxes when you are done with them. I had a friend who invested in a really good scanner, and digitized everything, then threw the originals away. While that might be a bit excessive, it just goes to show that different filing techniques work for different people. Whatever you decide, keep it up and purge your papers occasionally and the system will work like a charm for you.

Everything in Its Place

It is an old saying, but all too true. Everything must have someplace to go back to. Avoid loose pens, pencils, papers cell phones, glasses and so on. Find a place to put them when you are finished with them, then put them back when you are done. Do not forget to reward yourself for a job well done, and keep your system going!

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