5 Ways to Organize Your Home Office and Create a More Productive Environment

If you own a home-based business, your home office is where you keep your files, collaborate with clients and get the work done. Whether your home office is part of an extra bedroom or a dedicated work space, it’s easy to let clutter take over. Unless you organize your home office and clean it up frequently, you could find yourself regularly working in a messy environment that hinders your productivity.

From a clean office space to a tidy workstation, an organized and uncluttered work area is vital for keeping your focus on your work. If things have gotten out of hand in your home office, it’s time to get things back in order. With a little know-how, you can get your home office organized without breaking the bank. To jump-start getting your home office back in shape, hiring a maid service to clean up is a great first step. Once your work space is fresh and clean, it’s time to get organized.

1. Declutter First — Let’s Get Physical

To organize your home office, the first step is to get rid of the accumulated stuff you don’t need. Start with your filing drawers. Grab a recycling bin and go through each filing drawer piece by piece and throw away anything you don’t need. If possible, it’s best to shred any personal documents you’re tossing to protect your privacy. To free up even more space in your filing drawers, use a cardboard box to store files you rarely access and store it away.

Your bulletin board is probably filled with outdated notes and other things you no longer need. Sort through everything on your message board and get rid of anything that’s outdated or not important. For important notes, consider consolidating them onto a single piece of paper or computer file.

Move on to any desk drawers and declutter. Scribbled notes you can’t decipher, pens that no longer work and any items you don’t use regularly should be thrown away. Get a drawer organizer and sort anything left over for easy access.

2. Declutter — The Digital Version

Now that you’ve taken care of the physical decluttering, it’s time to move on to the digital version and organize your home office computer.

Most of us have plenty of files on our computer that are outdated and should be archived or filed. If you don’t keep your computer files purged, you end up taking up unneeded digital storage that can slow your computer down. All that clutter also means you have to sort through a bunch of files to get to the ones you need, slowing your productivity. Here are some tips for a digital cleanup:

• Create a digital filing system. Organize folders and files for easy identification and easy access. You might create a folder for your clients, projects not started, work in progress and so on. There are plenty of templates and digital file organizers online to help you get started. The key is to create a filing system that helps you be more productive and organized.
• Use a virtual cloud for digital storage. A web-based cloud offers a convenient way to access all your files from anywhere with an internet connection. Storing your documents in a digital cloud makes updating and sharing easy; plus, it creates an ideal way to collaborate. Among the best cloud storage apps, Dropbox and Google Drive are a good place to start.
• Delete old files. Just like you purged old papers, get rid of any digital files and apps you’re no longer using. If you haven’t accessed a file or app in the past six months, delete it. For the files you’re keeping, organize them into folders using your digital filing system.
• Backup your computer. There’s no reason to risk losing important files and documents when creating a backup is so easy. Backup all your important files on an external drive or use an online storage service.
• Organize your email. Your email in-box can get just as cluttered as your desk if you don’t have a system for organizing them. Create folders to store messages by subject, sender or date. Go through your old messages and delete anything you no longer need.

3. Take Control of Your Calendar and To-Do Lists

You can’t organize your home office without getting control over your scheduling and tasks. Do you keep track of your assignments, meetings and to-do lists with a binder that’s unorganized and stuffed with notes? Maybe it’s time to go digital and manage your productivity better. Going paperless is easy with the right tools and you’ll find accessing the information you need is much quicker.

Going with a digital calendar and other virtual organizing tools lets you sync and update your scheduling across computers, smartphones and other digital devices. You can track projects, chores, important dates and more and have everything at your fingertips when you need it. Throw out all of your old paper to-do lists, digitize them and link them to a digital calendar.

Google Calendar is a great choice for combining a digital calendar and your to-do lists. The calendar lets you keep track of tasks, assignments, meetings, and more. You can receive mobile and desktop notifications, email event participants and even set up different calendars for different roles. The software works with most major browsers and the app makes it easy to sync your calendar with Android and iOS platforms.

4. Move Office Equipment Off Your Desk

If your desk is covered with a computer, monitor, printer and other electronics, how can you be productive and efficient? Here are a few tips for clearing out your work space:

• Put your computer tower on the floor. You don’t need it on your desk, you just need it close by for easy access. The same goes for your modem. You may have to re-route some cables and power cords, but the pay-off is worth it.
• Update your old, bulky monitor. If your monitor is one of those mammoth displays that takes up half your desk, recycle it and buy an inexpensive, lightweight flat-screen monitor. You’ll have more space on your desk and you’ll probably have a larger area to work with on your screen.
• Invest in an all-in-one device. Instead of having multiple pieces of equipment on your desk, like a printer, fax machine and scanner, buy a printer that does the job of all three. For even more free space, put your all-in-one printer on a stand by your desk.
• Ditch your desk lamp. Instead of using a desk lamp, put a freestanding light next to your desk or install a brighter ceiling light to illuminate your work area.

5. Two Monitors Are Better Than One

Buying a second monitor may provide the best return on investment in comfort, ease of use and overall productivity. The expanded screen area is great for work activities like comparing documents, writing emails or articles while having convenient access to the web and relevant documents. From researching to everyday multitasking, a second monitor can make you more productive.

Microsoft’s Research Center’s research shows that users can improve productivity by up to 50 percent by adding another monitor to their work space. Other studies cited in the New York Times show a 20 to 30 percent productivity boost. Adding a second monitor when you organize your home office may give you the best “bang for your buck” of any home office improvement.

With a second monitor you can:

• Switch between applications faster — Instead of using keyboard shortcuts to multitask, just point your mouse to the other screen and save valuable time.
• Segment your working tasks — You can use one screen to curate information from the internet while you use the other screen for working on the corresponding project or task.
• View documents side-by-side — It’s much easier to edit, proofread and compare documents when you have them side by side. Stop switching back and forth between apps and web pages and get all your work front and center.

It’s easy to add a second monitor to your desktop computer. It’s even easier on laptops with a DVI or VGA connector because you can plug the external monitor into one of those ports.

There are plenty of ways to organize your home office for better productivity. From implementing helpful storage tips to getting rid of clutter, when you get your home office clean and organized, you’ll have a more efficient and enjoyable work space.