Organize Your Home Office and Increase Productivity
KC Kudra
If you are fed up with your office space, have to hunt for a pen like you are on safari, and spend more time hunting for documents than working on them, this article is for you. As you forage through the "one week ago" pile, and try not to topple the whole thing into an unworkable mess, read this article for tips on how to reverse and improve your home office world.
Every home office deals with excess paper and whether you are running a small or large business, it is still something to contend with, and one that gets worth when there is no organization.
So, how do you regain control of the paper monster that is cluttering up your business?
Space Is Essential
One of the largest problems with staying organized lies in the lack of a system and not having enough room to effectively implement the system.
If you organize a drawer, take everything out and replace it in the drawer but still have no space to put anything else in that drawer, you have pretty much wasted your time. The un-filed pile of papers remains and will simply grow again.
Be certain to have at least a quarter to a third (more if possible) of growing room when implementing a system. You may need to change over at some point, but having some extra space will encourage you to keep up with the organizing.
This system includes everything from architectural drawings to products and documents you accumulate in the course of doing business.
Purge unnecessary papers. It will allow for more space, and help you avoid scrambling through miscellaneous paperwork looking for important documents.
Keep It Simple
Keep It Simple. When it comes to filing, the simpler the better. If you make it too complicated, you will not keep up with it because it is too hard to follow. Consider color-coding, but do not go overboard with the number of categories. Use general topics like "Projects", "Correspondence" and "Expenses", or something similar. Not too many of them or you will get lost in your categories.
For filing of large groups of clients, projects or invoices, use a single drawer for each group of related files. A tall filing cabinet can even be divided into alphabetical or chronological systems.
Another class of things you will need to make room for are the things that you refer to daily or even hourly. A posting board or corkboard near your desk would be in order. You can hang things like phone lists, ?To-Do" lists and appointment calendars in one central location for easy reference.
Maintenance
A good filing system will only work if you work at it. While you may find a smaller system easier to handle, it does not matter the size if you do not work with every day. Keep important, ever-changing items near you, then when they are no longer critical, transfer them to a permanent home in your filing cabinet.
The system will also work for stuff that you need off and on as the project you are working on progresses. Things like price lists, if you're dealing with products, lists and articles that you need to add to a website, rewrites and the like. If you need to refer to it continuously, then you want it close.
Style of Filing
Take a realistic look at how you file and consider the filing system. It might work better if you use labeled boxes or storage boxes if you tend to pile papers. This might be in addition or replace the standard filing cabinet. You need to find something that makes you feel comfortable, something you want to work with so that you continue to maintain it.
All Things Need a Place
Every piece of paper, each pen or pencil, the stapler and staple removers, post-it notes and the like need a place to sit. When you use them, replace them. Do not allow clutter to pile up around you or your business efforts and productivity will slow. You want to recognize ways to keep yourself as organized as possible in order for your business pursuits to go smoothly. Be sure and give yourself a little reward for keeping your system going, too!
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