1. Keep Your Work Space Tidy :
I talk about it all the time but it seriously makes a difference to your productivity and mental health. Take time either at the beginning or end of the week to have a quick clear up. Most of the time just putting a book back on a shelf can make a massive difference. Ensure everything has a home in your office, a place it actually lives this reduces the chances of things just piling up on the desk. Invest in crates and boxes, I store most of Charlie Moo’s stock in lided boxes with labels. That way I know where it is but visually it’s not stressing me out. Daddy Moo works in a residential home once a week (gardening) they have their fruit and veg delivered in crates perfect for tidying up clutter. You can also make your own storage boxes using cardboard boxes and fabric : Fabric Covered Storage Box
2. Personal stuff :
If you have limited space do you really need that photo of your child? I mean come on you work form home you’re probably only meters away from 100’s of photos of your child. Anything not related to your business needs to leave. Be brutal. If you feel like de-cluttering is an impossible task take it one step at a time. Set a timer and work for 15 minutes a day just on de-clutter or start with one shelf, one draw and work your way through. You won’t feel overwhelmed and you’ll be surprised how quickly you banish unnecessary clutter and produce a calm, tranquil working environment.
3. Off Premises Storage :
Hire business storage solutions. If your home based business is leaking out of your space and into your home or maybe your just way to over stocked, think about hiring storage. Most places offer short term or long term storage regardless of the business size, which is handy for us one man bands working from home. Business storage is ideal for all manor of things from unused office furniture to documents and archive storage. Daddy Moo has a yard to store his plants and gardening equipment, I seriously think I’d go crazy if we had to home his business as well as mine.
4. Go Paperless :
Paper is the bain of my life it’s everywhere! I store a lot of data online using Dropbox or cloud storage to limit my paper usage but I still have loads coming out of my ears. I’ve taken to using the 4 D’s technique to deal with paper.
- Do It : Deal with the paper straight away. If it’s an invite dairise it. School slip fill it in. Invoices pay straight away. Get that paper dealt with and out of your life.
- Delete It : Or with paper shred it. I shred daily, you can put shredded paper in the recycling bin or use for animal bedding or like me pass on to your Mother in Law to make paper bricks for her wood burner. I feel like this makes me happy to knowing my paper isn’t ending up in the bin or landfills, paper can take from 2 weeks to 5 months to decompose.
- Defer It : Use office trays to systemise your paperwork. Set time each week to go through the trays and go through step 1 & 2 again. Do it or delete it.
- Delegate It : If you can pass the paperwork on to another member of staff (or parent) to deal with then do it.
5. Utilise Wall Space :
I’ve mentioned this before as my shelves sit just under the ceiling which in effect is dead space. I also have my Teacherboard homing my 2017 Goals. Meaning I can visually see them everyday and I don’t have paper notes cluttering up my office. I’ve seen people hang clipboards on the wall too instead of filling shelves up with paper.
Sadly organisation is something you have to work at as before you know it you can’t move for clutter. What ways do you keep your business and home office organised?
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