4 Office Organization Tips

Your office environment directly affects your productivity and how you work. If your workspace is cluttered with documents, coffee cups, and other items that don’t need to be there, you’re likely to feel distracted and anxious when it’s time to work. The worst part is that sometimes if the clutter is bad enough, it’s difficult to figure out where to start cleaning it up. Here are some tips on how to get your office space back into the productive hub it’s supposed to be:

Purge

Start the process by identifying items that can obviously go in the garbage. This includes napkins, old takeout containers, and empty to-go coffee cups. Grab a brand-new garbage bag and walk around your office identifying these items and immediately tossing them. The mess will look more manageable after this step.

Create a space for miscellaneous objects

Every office struggles with a flow of random objects entering its space. There are three main types of these items: things you need to keep (umbrella, travel mug, coat), trash, and important documents. Make sure your garbage can is not overflowing so that incoming refuse doesn’t end up in your workspace. For the objects you need to keep, identify spaces where they can stay. For example, your coat can stay on the back of your chair or hanging on the door. Your travel mug can have space on your desk when it’s full, but when it’s empty it stays on a table near the door so that you don’t forget to wash it.

Get two document trays

Do you have a lot of paperwork that you need to deal with on a regular basis? If you do, you need an organization system for them so that they don’t overflow your workspace. To help with this, buy two document trays from your local office supply store. Place them on your desk and label one for new documents you haven’t looked at yet and another one for old documents that you’ve reviewed and need to deal with later.

Go as digital as possible

Adding onto the issue of overflowing documents, try to digitize your work flow as much as you can (unless you’re someone who needs to hold the documents in their hands). Scan relevant documents into your computer so that you can store them there and access them without digging through filing folders.

Office organization can be tricky since it’s so easy to get caught up in the daily grind. Once we get into the zone of working, we often lose sight of smaller things like maintaining a clean workspace. While that’s understandable, cleaning and organizing your space daily will save you time and energy in the long run.