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This is a collaborative post. All opinions are my own.
How many of you work from home? It's becoming more and more common for corporate employees to work remotely at least part of the time, and if you're self-employed then your home is likely your main office. Working from home is (mostly) fantastic, and I hope it's a workplace trend that will continue to grow as businesses see how it improves employees' mental health and their own bottom dollar. On the employee side, there's no getting dressed in uncomfortable work clothes, no wasting time in a commute, no dealing with office politics, and the flexibility to work around family commitments and doctor's appointments. And on the employer side, there's no need to pay rent on a huge office space complete with desks and desktop computers for each employee. What's not to love? Ok, there are a feeeew downsides.
One of those challenges is creating your ideal home office space. Not every house has enough square footage to dedicate an entire extra room to your office. If that's the case for you, most likely you'll be carving out a corner of another room like the kitchen, dining room, living room, or bedroom--or your office may do double-duty as the guest room when people come to visit (hello holiday season). Either way, keeping this space clean and tidy is vital for your productivity and for making sure work clutter doesn't infringe on your personal life. So here are some tips for an organized home office space, so you can get all the benefits of working from home...without having work take over your home! Right now is the perfect time to tackle this, so you can start the new year with a fresh and clean office.
Declutter
The number one culprit of an untidy desk is often papers: old to-do lists, memos, completed contracts, junk mail, and other clutter you haven't dealt with. Start getting back to ground zero by having a good old fashioned clear out. Remember to separate out confidential items as these will need to be burned or shredded.
Digitize
While you are clearing out all your old paperwork, it's time to start digitizing. This will take a little time on the front end, but will save you so much space and time in the future. Take photos or scans of important documents that you wish to keep and then dispose of the hard copy (unless it’s essential that you keep it). Record all of your expenses digitally in folders online to clear up that drawer filled with receipts and to help you when tax season comes around. It'll be much easier to find those important documents by searching for them digitally, than by desperately pawing through piles of physical paper. Your future self will thank you.
Store
Next, it's time to store the items that you have left. If your home office is a small space, make good use of it by adding shelving to the walls, buying a desk with built-in drawers, and purchasing files or folders which can be neatly stacked together. After steps one and two, you should only have essential physical items left, so hopefully this step isn't too overwhelming. Remember to label everything clearly as you store it and try to use some kind of logical filing system, whether it's by date or alphabetical, to help you find things in the future.
Clear up your digital space
Your physical home office space is often only half of the work. It's important to declutter your computer and online space too. Make use of cloud storage facilities which host your documents online. This will clear up your device’s memory which can help to speed up Mac and Windows computers if they are running a little slow. Go through all of your folders and files and ensure they are named properly. This can take time but will massively speed up your search processes later on.
Create a routine
Whew! After going through all that effort, you'll want to make sure your home office space stays clean and tidy. The easiest way to stay on top of your home office organization is by making it a part of your daily routine. Use the last 10 minutes of each workday to go through all your paperwork and mail, file away what you're done with, and trash anything you don't need (digitally or physically). Make it a habit to leave your desk clear and ready for the next morning. For those of us that are messy by nature, maybe this should be a resolution for 2020?
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Building a home office is incredibly rewarding, especially now with so many people working remotely, like you said. Being able to move work to digital media creates a more seamless ability to complete day-to-day tasks.