Optimize Your Space to Optimize Your Time: Tips for an Organized Office Space

It’s the perfect time of the year. The sun is still shining, but fall is swooping in with cooler days and even cooler nights. Summer is officially over, which means it’s time to refocus on staying productive at work.

We spent so much time over the summer dreaming of being anywhere but our desk — enjoying the beach, the sun, the warmth. Fall brings weekend festivals, apple picking, and pumpkin everything! Staying productive during the work week will free up time and energy to go and enjoy fun filled weekends.

Organizing your office can be simple — if broken up through tasks and days. You don’t have to deep clean a whole desk, let alone a whole office in a day. By focusing on a little bit at a time, organizing an office can (and will) lead to a more productive you.

Continue reading for tips on organizing office space.

Purge

Evaluate one area of the office at a time. Ask yourself these questions to see if things are worth keeping in the area or at all.

Have you used it in the last 6 months? Will you need it in the next 6?
Does it work? If not, is it repairable?
Is it taking up unnecessary space?
Is it covered in dust?

Don’t limit the items. Purging includes getting rid of furniture, supplies, décor, knick-knacks, etc. If it doesn’t do anything to help, it is harming. Tip: Replace dead plants with low maintenance indoor plantsto boost brainpower and clean indoor air.

Label

Adding labels to files, drawers, baskets, and bins will not only cut down on the amount of time it takes to put things away, but it will help others find things when you aren’t there. Taking the extra time to get labels set up will save you headaches and stress, later.

Scrub

While everything listed above helps to clean off your desk, taking everything off and cleaning the dust and debris off will make a great blank slate. After giving your desk a nice wipe down, only put back the everyday items – everything else needs to find a new home.

Piles

Now that your desk is cleaned off and ready for you to work, it is time to tackle the piles of paper you have. File each paper where it should be or throw it out if it is finished business. Don’t hold onto papers that aren’t needed anymore. Get in the habit of only handling paper once, twice if you need to follow-up on something later.

This goes for mail as well. If you’re the type to throw mail into a pile to sort through when you have time, stop. As mail comes in, deal with it and get it off your desk. This will allow you to get a small task out of the way while keeping clutter away from your newly clean space.

Computer

Now that the office space around you is nice and organized, it’s time to turn the focus to the computer. Being productive often times means being on the computer for long periods of time. Having a messy computer will slow you down.

How many icons are floating on your desktop right now? Too many. Often we get into the habit of saving work in progress to the desktop to be able to grab it quickly. But when it’s done, it often ends up living there for months. Clear out any desktop icons that aren’t necessary to be there. Create a folder of projects you are working on to combine and reduce clutter.

Once the desktop is tackled, don’t forget about email. Be sure to clean out your inbox to reduce stress and have a clear understanding of what is needed to be done. Create folders to keep your inbox clean and make it easier to reference saved emails easily.

Tidy

This is the easiest part! After the office space is clean and clear of clutter, keep it that way. At the end of the day tidy up the office quickly so the next day will be a clean start.