It’s time to declutter your home office

Letting paperwork accumulate.

We’re all guilty of it.

Before you know it, there are piles of the stuff.

Now we’ve welcomed in a new year, it’s a good time for a clear out.

Whether you’re a full time at home worker or occasional remote employee, your home office environment should serve well to improve productivity.

Clear space, clear mind – find out how to declutter your home office in ten easy steps:

Downsize your PC and workstation

Do you really need two screens? Can you opt for a built in hard-drive instead of a standalone unit? Can you mount your monitor on the wall? Do your best to shrink the size of your PC, laptop and related peripherals.

Go digital with your note taking

Move away from old skool paper post it notes and consider a digital system instead. Whether it’s a file saved to your desktop, an app or plugin for your mac or an online service such as Evernote.com, embrace the change.

Take a minimalist approach to your desk

Keep things neat with desk tidies, pen pots and organisation trays. Use drawers for less frequently used items. Don’t leave anything laying around on your desk. If you use a piece of stationery, return it to the rightful place straight away.

Cable tidies

Beautify your unsightly cables with handy cable ties. These will act as a health and safety measure by minimising the risk of trip hazards, as well as making things look a little nicer. Check out the likes of Ikea, Maplin and PC World for inspiration.

Establish a daily cleaning routine

Make desk and home office cleaning a part of your routine. File papers away appropriately and digitise where possible. Recycle the left overs. Do this at the end of every day so you can start afresh the following morning.

Retire your printer

If you aren’t getting enough use out of your printer and if constant cartridge changes are getting you down, consider scrapping it all together. Online document printing services such as Doxzoo (yep, that’s us 🙋) are a viable alternative, offering fast turnaround and professional quality document printing at an affordable price.

Shelve your files and books away

Do you have mountains of old files and reference books? Maximise your space and shelve them away up high. This will utilise your wall space and move things away from the floor or desk level.

Be ruthless with documents

Do you really need to keep copies of everything? If you haven’t looked at something in the last six months, year or two years (pick a time period that’s appropriate for you), do you actually need it? If not, it’s time to say good bye!

Eliminate knick knacks

What value does a stress ball, desk clock or flip calendar add to your desk? Probably not much, so get rid of all novelty distractions.

Compact and movable furniture

Keep your home office flexible with compact and wheeled furniture. This will make cleaning and re-arrangement easier. Avoid desks with built in drawers, as these can be rather clunky. Instead, opt for a spacious desk and accessorise it with compatible (and easily movable) drawers.

Need some more inspiration?

Check out #tidydesktidymind on Instagram.

Good luck with your decluttering!

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