3 Steps To A Clutter Free Office: Fast Organizing & Clutter Control For Serious Productivity!

Dealing with serious Desk Clutter?
Or maybe you need "Clutter Control" for your entire home office - like me, lol. 🙂

A clutter free office = productivity.
It creates a more streamlined workflow - allowing you to easily find what you need, and focus on what you need to do.

Organizing clutter is not fun.
In fact, it can seem downright daunting. But office clutter is not fun either. It hinders productivity, costs you valuable time, and it could cost you a lot more than that in late fee's, missed deadlines, missed opportunities & more.

I'll make this easy (I like easy!) and break it down into
THREE simple steps so we can get this done in FAST time...

See the definition above? This is a quirky habit of mine - to look up things that are bothering me and look at what it REALLY means.

Clutter, meaning litter and confusion and disorderly heap. Yep.

I find this really helps in some weird way...

Like the time I looked up the definition of perfect, in dealing with perfection or perfectionism (which is typically just a bullshit form of procrastination). Seriously, go read this - it will forever change your thinking on the word "perfect" lol.

Here's the fix: STOP MAKING A MESS IN YOUR OFFICE! haha. If that really worked I wouldn't be writing this and you wouldn't be reading this. 😛 *sigh* So here we go...

 

Clutter Control: 3 Steps To A Clutter Free Office!

 

1. "A place for everything, and everything in it's place."

That quote is credited to Benjamin Franklin. He was a smart guy. Step one is to put everything where it goes, or to FIND a place for everything. You may have to actually CREATE a place for some things, which is what I'm working on myself right now.

I'm very "out of sight, out of mind" by nature, so putting things away means I'll totally forget about them.

Bills need to be front & center, for example. Important papers can be filed away. So organize your space & your stuff based on how you operate.

Start by putting things in their obvious place. Get in the habit of keeping them there, or always putting them back where they belong after you use them. The scissors for example, which I cannot find today to save my life. Grr.

Always put things in the same place, and you'll never lose them!

Devices need to find a place where they can easily be recharged, and also used. Find a spot in your home or office that makes sense for the way you use your devices & gadgets so they're always where you need them, and always charged up & ready to use.

2. "Task Batching"

I find it easier (read: MUCH less overwhelming) to task-batch huge projects.

I started with the mail & bills for example - open it all, pay them all, get rid of the trash. Next, any trash/junk - throw it away. Stack all books & magazines (that are scattered all over the house) near your bookshelf to organize later. Find all of your office supplies (letter opener, pens, note pads, etc) and put them in your drawer or supply organizer.

Don't just move stuff around, but don't try to "deal with" every little thing either. If your office looks anything like mine (see below), getting it all done in one day is pretty much impossible. If you have any kind of life, that is. 😛 Start by grouping things together and knocking out what you can (like going through all the mail).

3. Start with your desk - your daily workspace.

Start with the workspace you use every day, your desk.

Totally clear it off and clean it off. This will give you a HUGE sense of accomplishment, which will give you a nice boost of motivation for the rest of your office - plus an immediate feeling of "clutter relief".

This was my desk earlier today, just a small corner of it actually:

I organized all of the mail, paid the bills, threw away the trash, stacked up task notes and put them by my keyboard to enter into Evernote, and put away the random things that somehow ended up on my desk (a tape measure?!).

As you saw in my Home Office Organization Project post, my entire office is complete chaos at the moment...

"Office Clutter" would be a ridiculous understatement at this point!

I'm pleased to say... this room no longer looks that way. 🙂

I am NOT pleased to say, I had a run-in with a couple of spiders, and discovered the "kitchen mouse" had also been in my office. 😐 Disclaimer: I am not responsible for spider related injuries when you are cleaning out YOUR office. 😛

 

Dealing with "Stacks" and "Stuff"

Creating stacks, then moving them aside to create a new stack, is a bad work habit. I know this from personal experience, lol.

First, start creating a new habit that does not involve stacks. Deal with mail as it comes in. Use Evernote instead of post-it notes. Put books back on the shelf after you read them.

Find a place for everything, and put everything in it's place when it leaves your hands.

Great advice, right? But first we have to deal with the stacks we already have around the office! After you go through the initial "surface cleaning" of putting obvious things in their obvious place (mail, trash, books, devices, etc) - what you probably have left is a lot of papers and notebooks and such.

My advice, and what I did myself, is to get a big Rubbermaid tub or box/basket and put ALL of your stacks in it - then place it beside your desk. Add a Time Block to your work schedule to spend 15 minutes a day going through and cleaning out that box - until it's empty. Then get rid of it!

Once you've cleared all the "stacks & stuff" from your office, BREAK the habit. Put a plant or a book stand - or something else - in the place things usually stack up on your desk or in your office. Use a "pattern interrupt" to break the subconscious habit of placing things in certain places.

 

Office Cleaning & Organization Tips

Organize first, before you start cleaning. For some strange reason, cleaning tends to get things dirty. 😛 lol. With your stacks packed and your stuff straightened, you can now see your desk - and if you're like me, you're floor. 🙂 That was my goal when I started this project: FIND THE FLOOR!

Tip: Clean from the top down. Start with your ceiling fan and/or light fixtures. Next do the blinds / curtains / windows. Then clean your gadgets & electronics, followed by desks & bookshelves (furniture)... and finally: the floor.

This stuff is seriously handy:

I'm a big fan of the OXO brand, so I ordered these on Amazon as well:

   

 

Let's take control, and get this done!

Ready for a clutter-free office?

Clutter Control Checklist:

• Start with your desk: clear it off & clean it off.
• Put things that have a place, in their place.
• Arrange devices & gadgets so they're easy to charge & ready to use.
• Task-Batch your way through the clutter.
• Go through all of the mail & pay the bills.
• Put all office supplies in a draw, cuddy or organizer.
• Put all books & magazines back on the bookshelf.
• Transfer all paper notes into Evernote - and throw them away.
• Gather all stacks & "stuff" into a box or bin.
• Create a Time Block in your daily schedule to deal with "stack box".
• Place new objects where clutter tends to pile up by habit, to create a "pattern interrupt".
• Clean your office - from the top down.

🙂

Best,

p.s. I still haven't located my scissors. :-9

I made amazing progress on the office today, though! Stay tuned for more pictures & videos, and fun updates as we continue the Home Organization project...