How To Stylishly Organize Your Home Office
An organized home office is one of the keys to being efficient and productive and not side-tracked by the million others things you could do (laundry, Netflix!).
Simplifying and organizing your workspace at home, whether that's a dedicated office or a corner in the living room, will keep you on track and motivated to accomplish your essentials.
FIRST STEP:
You'll want to create a system that works for you and your unique needs, such as keeping track of receipts, bills, cards, notebooks and supplies that are necessary but that can clutter up surfaces very quickly and cause angst when they start overflowing or get lost.
Getting them out of sight but also knowing that they are in one safe spot waiting for you when you need them will put your mind at ease so you can concentrate on the important stuff. It also reduces visible clutter that can block creativity.
Suggestions for organizing papers and supplies:
Use a small cabinet, a dresser or a file cabinet to collect all of the papers and supplies together where you can't see them daily but where you can easily access them when needed.
I designate an IKEA chest is in my home office (see the DIY hack here) for all my business and personal financial/day-day stuff.
One drawer contains all of my business cards, note cards, tape, string and everything I need for packaging parcels for orders and printing up invoices and proposals for clients.
Another drawer has 3 baskets in it for separating mail, bills/financial papers and receipts to save.
The third drawer keeps paper, envelopes, paper clips and other general supplies.
On top of the cabinet I allocated a small decorative box to hold all of the the cards I get from networking with others in my industry.
Pretty baskets, jars, trays and antique boxes on my desk and top of cabinets contain small supplies like pens, paper clips, tacks, elastics, post-it-notes, and thumb drives.
I also keep a carry-around accordion file box with labelled slots for all of my financial records and things like insurance policies, health records and warranties that I need to keep longer-term. It's easy to pull out all of the necessary papers when needed.
One other thing that I've always done is use textured baskets to hold all of my wrapping paper and wallpaper and fabric rolls, as well as all of the catalogues and magazines I need for work. It's a pretty way to have a handy spot for these needed tools.
Have I convinced you of the merits of an organized (and stylish) offce space? Spend the weekend getting these things organized and you'll have a more productive year, I promise.
