10 No Nonsense Habits To Obliterate Your Home Office Clutter

“One who wants to keep their yard tidy does not reserve a plot for the weeds” ~Proverb

Written by Kevin Tyler Smith. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook

Having a home business has many benefits. For starters, it will let you work from home, which will save you commuting time as well as become your own boss.

Working from home will also mean little or no overhead expenses to take care of.

However, as a home business owner, there is basically one thing that you may find problematic, which is keeping your home office clutter free.

A lot of people think that keeping a home office clutter free is simple to do but it’s really not. With all the phone calls and paperwork you need to take care of, you will see that in just an hour of working, your office will eventually look as if a F2 tornado went through.

If your office becomes so messy that it took you at least 5 minutes to find a simple piece of stationary or a cell phone, then it may be time to get off your butt and get rid of the clutter and maintain a clean working space in your home office. This will not only give you a great looking home office, but it will also make your job a little easier to do and allow you to be far more efficient at that.

Here are 10 simple habits you can easily adopt to keep your office clutter free.

Habit 1: Organize

Always remember that even though you are your own boss and you are not held accountable by anyone else on your organizational skills, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can be disorganized about your files or documents. Organizing your files or documents is the first step in getting rid of clutter in your office. The best way to start is to organize what you need, what you might need, and what you don’t need. This way, you will be able to determine what you should keep in the office and what you should throw away.

Habit 2: Sorting Out Everything

After organizing everything, the next step is to sort out the things you organized. Separate documents or the things that are important to your office and the things that you really don’t need in your office. If you have a backup copy of a particular document in the internet or in your hard drive, you can throw the hard copy away.

Habit 3: Group Similar Items

The third step to a clutter free office is to group similar items together. This comes after sorting everything out. You have to group your unpaid bills, electricity bills, official documents and other documents separately in order for you to find the documents you need easily.

Habit 4: Color Coding

After you sorted and grouped the documents in your office, the next step is to store like documents in different color coded files. This way, you will be able to easily retrieve the files you need in the future and color coding it will help you determine what files or documents needs your immediate attention.

Habit 5: Wheel Furniture

You need to keep your home office neat and tidy and it should also be spacious. This is why wheel furniture is a great alternative. This way, you will be able to move around files in your home office easily. Wheel furniture makes it easier for you to manage your files and documents especially if you have limited space in your office.

Habit 6: Avoid Foldable Desks Or Tables

Foldable desks and tables may be tempting and may lead you to think that they are space savers but they are not. It’s basically the ease to fold them that makes this type of office furniture the most disorganized part of the home office. So, always go for normal and sturdy desks and tables.

Habit 7: Backup

You know that you have important files lying around in your office somewhere. And, you really can’t afford to lose files like this. This is why it is important for you to create a backup for it. Scan the important files that you can’t afford to lose and save them on your computer’s hard drive, CD or DVD, and even in your email or on your website.

Habit 8: Recycle

It is very common for home offices to have some unused stuff lying around. You may have loads of spare stationary or heaps of unused folders that you really don’t want to use again. Donate these things to schools or institutions that need them. It will not only get rid of clutter from your office but you will also make someone happy.

Habit 9: Using Space Judiciously

Even if you have lots of space in your home office, it is still paramount you follow the habits in organizing a home office. Sort out everything at least once a month. This way, you will be able to keep track of your business more efficiently and get rid of unimportant documents that was useful a month before.

Entrepreneurs have a knack of keeping important things even when it’s not important anymore. By sorting out everything in your home office every month, you will be able to get rid of documents that you don’t need anymore and keep your office clutter free and create some more space.

Habit 10: Follow The Ten Minute Rule

Now that you organized your home office and are completely clutter free, follow the ten minute rule. This rule is basically spending at least 10 minutes a day to clear up the desk. Get rid of unwanted paper and put everything back in their proper place. Practicing this after you finish office work will save you a lot of time the next day. Besides, who wouldn’t like to have a clean desk in the morning? This may even entice you to increase your productivity from the day before.

These are 10 habits on how to keep your home office clutter free. By employing these habits, you can be sure that you can keep your home office organized and you will also be able to work much more efficiently than ever before.

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*photo credit: hermannyin