Easily Reduce Stress The Old Fashion Way – Part IX: How To Organize Your Home Office!

How To Organize Your Home Office:

In the post that follows we’re going to discuss, how to organize your home office. Maintaining organization in every aspect of your life can be difficult at times. If you haven’t been the most organized person, it can be confusing trying to get the most out of your spaces.

However, once you get your own systems down, it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to organize your bedroom or trying to organize your kitchen, you can take savvy ideas from one project to another.

Whether it’s at work or home, continuing to maximize organizational tactics in your office, is a must. The fact is, your environment has a significant impact on the way we work, according to Harvard Business Review.

Clutter Affects You In Several Ways!

Think about how your office or workspace is organized right now. If it’s cluttered and disorganized, are you as productive as your can be? Do you feel anxious or uneasy, just being in this particular space?

The bottom line is, if you’ve worked in this sort of environment for an extended period of time, maybe it’s something you’ve gotten used to. However, every time you spend minutes looking for a lost paper, or document, you are wasting “work minutes”.

On top of this, if we’re talking about a home office, maybe you are wasting minutes with your family by not being as efficient as you could be.

In fact, research indicates that clutter influences individual work performance and wellbeing. Psychology Today states, “clutter interrupts your flow, not only the ability to move, but your ability to think”.

Additionally, clutter may even impact and influence unhealthy eating patterns, mental health, and sleep disturbances.

So , how can we tackle this issue in the home office?

Step 1: Dedicate your Space

If possible, keep your home office separate from your bedroom, living room and dining room.

Dedicate this space for time to concentrate on exactly what home offices are used for. Whether you work at home, or simply spend time in your home office for bills, mail, browsing your computer, it’s hard to concentrate and keep things organized when your office shares a space with another.

If you have no choice but to use shared space, there are ways to maximize and keep things as separate as possible. For instance, using some sort of room divider could be one option to think about.

Step 2: Clear It. Clean It. Toss It 

If you already have a dedicated space then obviously you can start with Step 2. Start from the top down, and begin to empty your drawers, one at a time. Clear it out!

Make sure to have a dedicated space while you’re emptying your desk, to than be able to sort through documents and items after the cleaning.

Next, clean it. At this time, don’t think about where and how you are putting your items back, just yet.

Finally, toss it, throw things away. Are there papers, containers, old stationary, notepads in your home office that you have not used in years?

Consequently, don’t waste time with these items. Toss them out, or donate them. At this time, you should have a blank canvas to work from. Begin to prioritize, one drawer at a time or one space of your home office at a time.

You’ll be amazed at how much space you will save!

Step 3: Smart Desking

Simply put, know your space!

Whether you have limited space or a large home office, think about how to maximize it. Use space saving pieces of furniture.

For example,

• Clear Furniture: Clear chairs or glass desks make a space feel bigger. If you have limited space think about colors, materials, size of furniture, glass vs. wood.
• “Tuck Away” Chairs: Your office chairs don’t have to look like typical business chairs. They can be small, colorful and/or compact. Find chairs that fold away, or that can be stored easily.
• No desk at all: Another cool design option and space saver is to use shelving as a desk, or have a flip-down desk that comes off the wall.

Step 4: Measure

Don’t be afraid to pick up that measuring tape, making sure the furniture pieces you’re using, fit practically. This is crucial when thinking about how to organize your home office. 

Ask yourself:

• would this piece fit better in the corner?
• will this desk hold the supplies I need?
• can I also fit a file system with this desk?
• can I have a desk custom made or find a smaller option?

This goes without saying, do this for every furniture piece in your home office.

Step 5: Office on Wheels 

Another tip is to buy furniture on wheels, or make sure you have some moving coasters under the legs/base.

Try out different ways of arranging home office furniture. With wheels and/or coasters, it makes this process must simpler on you.

Step 6: Use Stations

Dedicate certain spaces in your office to common items. For example, set up a small area just for printing. Additionally, you can have drawers, cabinetry, shelving, or an area to your desk, just for printing materials and accessories.

Choose like-materials or colors in this area to give it a more cohesive feel.

Similarly, you can do the same for a mailing station. Dedicate a potion of you wall space and buy a designer or trendy accessories to hold and sort your mail.

Again, choosing similar materials in each part of your office, will keep your home office looking and feeling more cohesive.

Step 7: Labeling

Stay more organized by using labels. You can purchase cool labels or even purchase your own label maker, getting as creative as you want.

This is an easy way to identify your home office space, while making it look really cool and fun. When working in a home office, you have the freedom of being as creative and fun with this as you want to be.

Step 8: Importance of Filing

When discussing how to organize your home office, you simply can’t leave this concept out.

Whether you keep a filing system on paper, using a filing cabinet, or use your computer to scan and organize your important documents, there is no way to feel completely in sync, without it.

With that said, color coding files and arranging them by categories in alphabetical order, work great for a filing system. The nice thing about this, is you can create new categories or files and add them as needed. 

Step 9: Neutral Colors & Pops of Color

This next idea is personal preference. However, an easy way to keep your home office relaxing, but at the same time fun, is using neutral wall colors while also adding wall art or a focal point, for a pop of color.

This keeps things cohesive, but fun at the same time. You’re space doesn’t have to be boring, and by adding in pops of color or even bringing in some elements of nature, can make it much more inspiring.

Furthermore, with neutral colors, it’s easy to change the look and feel, and bring in new furniture pieces without changing the entire scheme or design.

Step 10: Vertical Space

A common theme in all of our blog threads about organization, has to do with the use of vertical space.

In your home office the use of wall space, shelving, and peg boards can be used to maximize your space. Don’t focus on your furniture pieces to store all of your essentials, use your vertical space, get creative.

Adding in a custom piece for your walls can bring another fun, but also practical element into your home office space.

Final Thoughts!

We want to thank you again for checking in with us here at RN to Zen. We appreciate your feedback, and make sure to share this and any other post and/or ideas you find on our site on your social media platforms.

Resources:

• https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-case-for-finally-cleaning-your-desk
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132318307157
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201705/5-reasons-why-clutter-disrupts-mental-health
• https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/clinical/what-does-clutter-do-to-your-brain-and-body