Declutter your Home Office
We will finish our Clutter Cutter Challenge by looking at one of the most challenging rooms of the home to declutter: the home office. Whether you work from home, love craft, have a desk in the corner or a whole spare room, the home office is a difficult space to keep clutter-free.
Let’s work through some of the common problem areas. Begin by tidying the room, taking out anything that doesn’t belong there.
desk
Clear off your desk or workspace and give it a good clean. Then clean your computer, monitor and keyboard. Replace only the essential items. Find alternative storage for as many things as possible.
stationery
I admit to having a weakness for stationery. I love it. I love the beginning of the school year when the shops are full of notebooks and pens. I love stickers and felt tip pens, and I have recently discovered the joy of the brush pen.
Discard your pens and pencils that are dried up or worn out.
Donate the ones that you don’t use anymore.
Keep the things you love to use. Store them in a way that makes them easy to reach and keep tidy.
Put all like things together—pens, pencils, scissors, sticky tape etc. Don’t keep them scattered around the room or around the house. Put them all together in one spot.
Sort through your notebooks and journals. If there are any you don’t like and probably won’t use, donate them.
If you have used notebooks you want to keep, store them in a well-marked container or archive box.
Store unused notebooks you want to keep in a bookshelf where they are easy to access. Commit not to buy any new notebooks until you have used what you already have.
craft supplies
I have always enjoyed crafts. I grew up in a crafting family and have been through the sewing, embroidery, crochet, knitting, folk art, scrapbooking and beading phases. They all require equipment, supplies and storage space.
I used to collect craft supplies I liked the look of and store them, waiting for the right project to come along. It ended up being a terrible strategy. I now buy supplies one project at a time and wait until it is finished before beginning something new.
I decided to let go of a lot of my supplies as I wasn’t using them. I posted amongst my friends on Facebook and gave away my beading, scrapbooking and a lot of my fabric stash. I only kept the few things I truly loved and wanted to work on.
Now I work on one project at a time, and supplies are easy to contain.
papers
Paper accumulates unless we have a good system and process. In this digital age, there are now very few papers we need to keep. Most can be stored digitally.
Have an inbox: a designated place to put all new paperwork to be processed.
Once a week, schedule a time in your calendar to process everything in your inbox.
Scan any papers you need to keep. There are various apps available that are simple to use. I usually use the Notes app on my phone.
Store the images in a place that is backed up regularly and easy to access. You can use a program such as One Note or Evernote to keep your scanned documents organised or use folders in Google docs or Dropbox.
For anything time-sensitive or calendar-based, enter the details in your calendar and set a reminder.
Process everything in the inbox. Pay the bills, sign the permission slips, scan the receipts. Don’t save it for later. Make a habit of processing your inbox at least once a week.
digital clutter
Tidy up your desktop icons. Put documents into folders.
Tidy your apps. Remove any apps on your phone or tablet you haven’t used in a while. You can download them again if you decide you need them later.
Arrange your apps in a way that makes sense to you. I have them in folders according to the colour of the icon.
Unsubscribe to any emails you no longer wish to receive. Put the emails you want to keep in folders. Delete the rest.
Go through the photos on your phone and ‘like’ the ones you want to keep. Then delete unwanted and duplicate photos.
Update your phone and computer background images to give them a fresh look and feel.
What else is in your office space? Declutter each cupboard, shelf and drawer. Keep the things you use and love. Donate what is left.
Identify the problem areas. Is there a space that collects clutter? Creatively think through the solutions. Keep in mind the vision for your home we created back at the beginning of the challenge.
