Rid Yourself of Office Clutter

Looking for a simple way to work more efficiently?

The best thing you can do is to rid yourself of office clutter. Being organized saves you valuable work time. Not only will you make a good impression on any clients who visit your office, but your co-workers will be much happier. Nobody enjoys working with someone who is constantly unorganized and messy.

So how do you de-clutter your office? Start by analyzing your office layout.

  • Have you enough room to move between your desk, the filing cabinets, and to the door?
  • Is your desk the right size to work comfortably at, or do you always feel cramped?
  • If you have a small desk, do you have enough room for a small table that can be a second work area?
  • Is your chair a comfortable height, both for writing and computer work?

Get the furnishings correct first.

Next, look at the arrangment and location of the necessary office machines, such as a fax machine, a printer, the phone and a copier.

Is it easy to reach those from your desk, or do you need to get up and walk across the room to use them? Are some of them taking up valuable desk-top space? Why not put all these essential machines on their own work shelf or cabinet, next to your desk. That will help free up desk space. Plus, if they are on top of a shelving unit, you will have more shelf storage space for paper, files and books below them.

Do you need to go back and forth to a filing cabinet for files? If so, the best place for your filing cabinet is directly behind your desk and chair, so you can roll your chair back and forth, or swivel it to access files. Leave enough room to make access easy with the file drawers open.

Now, what about your desk top? This is one area that often gets unorganized and cluttered. Think about what you actually need on the desk top.

If you have paper files that you constantly work with, make sure they are in labelled folders, and put the folders into a step file holder, so you can find things at a glance. Have you a stacking tray labelled IN and OUT, to hold current papers and mail? These are great for keeping your desk top neat and organized.

Look into the state of your desk drawers. Many of us have a ‘junk’ drawer that seems to hold everything, yet we can never find anything.

Get some plastic trays that fit into the drawer from an office supply, and organize your necessary supplies. Sort all those loose pens, paper clips and tacks, and put them into their own tray. Wind the cords, and fasten them so they don’t get tangled. Anything that does not belong should be either thrown away, or put into its proper place.

Once you have organized your office, it should be simple to keep it that way.

Always take a few minutes at the end of each work day, making sure everything has been put away, and your desk top is cleared.

By taking this one final step, you will prevent your work space from getting out of control and cluttered again.