I used to have a beautiful home office with lots of great storage. Then my daughter (they/them) broke up with their boyfriend and moved home because apparently, you heal better when you’re not paying rent. My office is now their bedroom, and I work on our living room couch. My office supplies and papers are in one shoebox. Clearly, I had to organize and rightsize a lot. And guess what, I love having less! Read on to see how you can make your home office work for you—no matter what size it is.
Start With the Stuff
I fully admit that my desk drawers were pretty much all “junk drawers,” and my office shelves were overflowing. Here’s how to organize all those supplies:
- Do one desk drawer at a time. Empty it out and sort the contents into two broad categories: “keep” and “don’t keep” (I tried to donate as much of the “don’t keep” as possible). My drawers were stuffed with old checks, greeting cards from charities that I guiltily saved even though I never send greeting cards, and boxes of business cards from jobs I left years ago. And a zillion rubber bands that I’ve never actually needed for any home office task. Be intentional with your sorting and let go of things you know you’ll never use.
- Once you know what you want to keep, organize items by type: pile all the pens together, put all the notepads in one stack, and so on. It’s good to know how much you have so you can decide where to put it.
- Before you put everything back in drawers, you might want to get some drawer organizers to help supplies stay tidy. (Measure your drawer before you buy.) Oh, and remember to clean the drawer before you put things back. A little handheld vacuum is great for getting rid of dust and, in my case, cracker crumbs.
- Your desk surface should contain only the things you use daily. Everything else should be stored away.
- Think about whether you need file folders for things like bills, client paperwork, or articles you’re planning to read. Having a different color folder for each category helps keep things simple.
- Need a “DO TODAY” pile? Don’t we all? Put it somewhere where you won’t miss it.
- Take a look at your office shelves or other storage areas. Do you have office tools or tech that no longer work, or reference books you no longer refer to? Well then, out they go! (P.S. Donate tech to local nonprofit Free Geek. If it’s not an item they accept, Goodwill offers free e-waste recycling.)
- It pains me to say this, but a bunch of family photos in mismatched frames can make an office look very cluttered.
- I’m a big fan of using inexpensive baskets to corral office supplies. Who wants to look at a spaghetti ball of computer cables?
- Here’s a deeper dive into setting up office systems.
Once your desk and storage spaces are looking spiffy, then it’s time to move on to the least fun aspect of office organizing…
The Paper Piles
Most of the paper we keep (like 80%) is paper we’ll never look at again. Keep that in mind as you begin to sort through your filing cabinets or that paper stack on your desk. Be ruthless!
- First, start by sorting all your papers into three broad categories: “keep, recycle, shred.”
- Once you have your “keep” pile, sort those papers into whatever categories make sense for you. It may be “financial, medical, personal” or “clients, invoices, receipts,” or “household, work, kids.” It really just depends on how you use your home office.
- If you have a lot of paper to shred, then you can take it to Staples or Office Depot and have it shredded for a small fee. Or, if you have a large amount of shredding, the local company, DataSafe, Inc., will come and pick it up for a reasonable price. Or be like me and use a cheap home shredder until you smell something burning.
- Decide how you want to store your papers. For example, you may want to tuck them into a filing cabinet, or use vertical storage on a shelf or credenza.
- Use color-coded or labeled folders to keep track of which papers are where. (One note of caution: some folks get hung up on colored folders, which can break the system if you run out of the color you need. Army green hanging folders and manila file folders are tried and true.)
- If you’re wondering how long you need to save certain papers like taxes and medical records, then check out our one-page Document Retention Guidelines.
- Once you’ve gotten the paper blizzard under control, the goal is to keep papers from piling up again. Make it a weekly habit to sort whatever papers have crossed your desk. The good news is, when you do it frequently, it never becomes overwhelming.
- Here is some more detailed info on how to organize paper and sentimental papers!
Fewer Papers, Fewer Piles
You can also reduce paper by never letting it land on your desk in the first place. Some good strategies:
- If you use your home office for your job, you can probably store most work-related items on your computer, rather than printing everything on paper. (I learned this when I realized our printer had been out of ink for about six months and I didn’t notice.)
- If you do have to print a document, use the double-sided setting so you only use half the amount of paper.
- Go paperless. Sign up for electronic billing and banking—no more stacks of bills and statements! If your healthcare provider has a patient portal on their website, use that for communication and billing.
- If you subscribe to newspapers or magazines, opt to only get digital versions.
- Call catalog companies and ask to be removed from their lists. It may take a while. I’ve been trying to get off some toy catalog lists since the late 1990s. Maybe I’ll just give up and order some toys for the grandkids I don’t have yet.
- Flip through your daily mail and shred or recycle any junk mail immediately.
- Use a phone scanner app to turn paper documents into electronic files.
- Learn how to get off mailing lists here.
And One Last Tip
I’m a firm believer in rewarding myself for a job well done. Finally, after you’ve finished organizing your office, treat yourself to a little gift for your nice clean space. Maybe a new throw pillow for your chair or a waste basket that matches your color scheme? Aw, come on, you deserve it.
All Too Much? We Can Help.
If tackling your home office and paperwork is overwhelming, Big Rocks would be happy to gently and efficiently help you sort it all out. We even offer digital organizing and email management. Click here to schedule a free exploratory call.
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Watch the replay of our “Home Office and Paper Organizing” workshop here!
About Andrea Thompson
Andrea was an advertising copywriter/creative director for 40 years before retiring, then unretiring to start a new career in organizing, then retiring again to travel the world with her husband, John. She fully admits her home is not 100% organized.