The Home Office Organizing Process

Just to recap for those who might have just discovered the Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge…so far this month we’ve put our system in place for organizing tax documents, revamped our reference file system, and decluttered our home office space. This week will be the most fun of all as we walk through all of the necessary steps to organize & maintain your home office space.

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The Home Office Organizing Process

Maximize Storage Space

Before you return your KEEP items to the home office, now’s a great time to really take a good look at the room from a space planning perspective (you actually did this during the Evaluate step in last week’s decluttering assignment). 

Is there any way you can modify the space to max out your storage potential?

Is it time to add bookshelves or cubbies?

Could you increase your filing space by using a rolling file cart under your desk area?

Could you take full advantage of an upper wall by adding a bulletin board, or better utilize a closet with the addition of adjustable shelves?

My husband’s home office had an alcove on one wall that we used to store office supplies using a variety of storage containers. When we overhauled this space a few years back, we decided to add adjustable shelving and lower the alcove ceiling so that we could transform it into a closet.

Containerize

There are so many awesome storage tools and containers that you can use to organize your like categories of items together and create various storage zones within your home office area.

{Brian’s office closet BEFORE we containerized and create storage zones}

Use drawer dividers/organizers in your desk drawers to keep pens, note pads, and binder clips organized. Clear plastic shoeboxes, photo boxes, and storage cubes are great for corralling office supplies by category.

{Using storage cubes to contain and separate office supplies}

{Here’s what our office closet looks like with the doors installed}

Of course, paper management is a huge component of home office organization. Consider the following organizing tools for keeping your papers in check:

• Magazine Files  – use to group reference materials together (e.g. manuals, trade magazines, etc.)
• Clipboards – use to group active project papers together; they’re easy to grab for working on the go
• Binders – use to group active project papers and handy reference papers 
• Bankers Boxes – use to store archival/inactive papers and free up file drawer space
• Desktop Files– use to store papers that require action
• Vertical Wall Pockets– use to store active project papers
• Letter Trays– use to store forms/marketing materials (if you run a home-based business)

 Label

Once you’ve got all of your items contained, I highly recommend labeling those containers!

Not only does it bring a polished look to your space, but it also increases the probability that everyone who uses that space will return things to their proper home.

{Labels are a must when using containers that don’t allow you to view the contents}

When it comes to labeling, there are so so many options to choose from! I cover labeling options in this post.

Maintaining Your Organized Home Office

An organizing project is never complete without a plan for how you will keep it in it’s current state of awesomeness. Take a moment and ask yourself, “what are the recurring tasks that I need to complete in order to keep this space organized?”

I’ve created a free Organizing Maintenance Checklist printable for you to jot down those recurring tasks:

Typical home office maintenance tasks include:

• process mail
• pay bills
• declutter desktop
• file/shred
• purge reference files
• declutter office supplies.

Determine how frequently you need to complete these tasks. Whereas processing the mail should be a daily/weekly task, tasks such as purging your reference files can be tackled on a less frequent basis (yearly).

In the coming months, work on creating these new maintenance habits and routines by using the maintenance tips describe here. It’s really helpful to schedule those less frequent monthly and yearly maintenance tasks in your calendar too.

Your Assignment for this week:

1. Explore options for maximizing storage space in your home office area
2. Purchase additional storage products if necessary
3. Put items in your KEEP pile back into the space using basic organizing principles
4. Label item “homes”
5. Establish a maintenance routine for your home office area & schedule maintenance appointments in your calendar

After you’ve completed this week’s assignment, share a photo of your newly organized home office space on Instagram (use the hashtag #OrganizeandRefineChallenge and don’t forget to tag me). Can’t wait to see it!

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This post is part of the Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge