Organize Unclutter 2008: March - Week 1

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March’s goal is an organized and uncluttered home office. Read the original post here >

This week we will clear off the top of our desks, organize drawers/cubby holes and the supply closet, and start putting papers in general piles. The paper organization will continue for 2 more weeks because it is the biggest clutter of a home office that most people have (myself included). So if you get behind this week, you will have time to get your paperwork in order. If you don’t have much paper clutter, there will be other tasks you can accomplish during these weeks as well.

We’ll have 4 tasks to accomplish this week. Ready? Great! Let’s start!

Note: Whether you have only a small area or a big home office being used for your home business, remember that you need to customize this month’s tasks to fit your particular situation. Use what steps you can, adapt other steps, and leave out what you don’t need.

Tools you will need:

• A clear working space: a card table, desk top space, kitchen table, etc.
• Masking tape or post-it notes and a pen
• 4 empty boxes or heavy-duty trash bags

Label them “Keep”, “Donate”, “Trash” and “Recycle”. If you plan to hold a yard sale or sell online, include a “For Sale” box. Get boxes from your supermarket or local liquor store.

1. Designate Areas

If your home office shares space with some other purpose, consider what the primary purpose of your space is and the secondary purpose.

Be sure to have each area clearly defined as to what their purpose is. If you have your desk in your living room (as I do), keep your desk clearly defined as your home office area. Living room items need to stay in the living room defined space.

If your home office is also your 3rd bedroom, can you sell the bed and get a futon to open up space?

Consider what you can do to define your space and maximize each area’s purpose.

2. Clear off that Desk

Take everything off the desk. Put these items in a box to sort through.

Spray it down with furniture polish or a cleaner. Wipe down the top, sides, and every exposed surface.

Empty all of the drawers. Also, put these items in a box to sort through.

Go through your desk supplies. Do you have pens with no ink? Do you have 20 yellow highlighters? Dump, donate, recycle all broken, used, or duplicate of items.

Now put back your desk supplies in an organized fashion. Use containers to organize items in drawers. Old showboxes work as well as purchased commercial organizers. Don’t put back papers yet. We’ll be tackling that later.

Typical desk supplies include:

calculator
large/small paper clips
letter opener
paper shredder
pens and pencils
post-it notes
rubber bands
scissors
stapler, staples, and staple remover
tape and tape dispenser

Now as you put your desktop computer, printer, etc. back on the desk, take the time to make sure the cords and cables are neat. Use twist-ties, cable ties, or velcro strips to keep your cables neat and organized. Here are some commercial items you can purchase to organize your cables and cords >

As you place your printer and file cabinet back near/on your desk, ensure they are within reach of your chair.

Good job! Now your desk is clear and only essential office supplies should be on your desk. :)

3. Clear out the Supply Closet

For people who homeschool or have home businesses, they usually also have supply closets. Extra office supplies may go here as well as homeschooling supplies as well.

Clear out the closet. Put these items in a box or lay them out on a clear table or counter.

Go through the items and discard anything broken, old, not used, etc. Recycle and donate whenever possible. If you haven’t used it in over a year, ditch it!

Using purchased or homemade containers, organize your supplies in a logical fashion. In my homeschool supply closet (which also houses my office supplies), I have a cabinet with doors that I got from Freecycle. Each shelf has something different: the top shelf has painting supplies, the 2nd shelf has craft supplies, the 3rd shelf has toddler-safe crayon/markers/colored pencils, and the 4th shelf has old magazines for collages and coloring books. I also have an upper shelf that has my office supplies as well as art drawing how-to books. To the side, I have a paper organizer for construction paper. Here is a picture >

4. Begin Gathering Your Papers

Now the fun begins!

Paper organizing is tough. I know I tend to get caught up reading what I come across and remembering other times. THIS is NOT the time to do that! We are not going to look at these papers. We are simply going to glance long enough to determine what pile these papers will go in!

On your cleared workspace (I’ll be using a card table set up temporarily near the desk), place post-its or masking tape at intervals on the table. Label each one:

“To Do”
“To Read”
“Paid Bills”
“Insurance”
“Statements” (this will include bank & credit card)
“Real Estate” (mortgage or rental agreement)
“Automobile”
“Hobbies”
“Old Taxes”
“Current Taxes”
and a separate pile for each member of the family.

Sort your papers into each of these broad categories. As you do this, ask yourself:

“Do I need this?”

“Is this online?” (many recipes, articles from magazines, statements, etc. can be found online now)

“Does this belong to someone else who wants to save this?”

Use this Records Retention list to go by for determining if you need to keep something or not.

Whew! Take a break! Next week, we will begin sorting through each pile and putting related papers together. We will also begin setting up a filing system.

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