Productivity Tips: 5 Office Organizing Tips

We may spend most of our time in a virtual workspace online, but we still need a physical workspace to use to access the virtual. We have mail and papers and other office supplies to organize.

Here are 5 tips for making your work area more functional, especially if you don't have much extra room:

Use Wall Space

Use wall space whenever possible, using shelves, racks, bulletin boards, or even hooks. This removes clutter from the desk, tables, and floor. In general, try to reserve desk surface for supplies you're using for current projects.

Select Efficient Storage Locations

Always keep things close to the place where they will be used. For example, keep extra ink and printer paper near your printer.

Also, keep similar items together. Don't store some ink in the closet and other ink in a desk drawer. This makes it too easy to forget that you have more of the item elsewhere. By keeping all of one type of stock together, you can see at a glance how much you have.

Arrange for Accessibility

Make sure that your most frequently used items are the most easily reachable. If you use your phone every few minutes, keep it within reach. Move anything that you don't use on a daily basis away from your precious desk space.

Avoid Supply Crises

Buy frequently-used office supplies in quantity to avoid crises when they run out. Don't let yourself run out of batteries, pens, printer paper, or anything else critical to your day-to-day activities.

Simplify!

Extra things and activities waste energy, time, and space. Actively look for what you can remove from your office (especially your desk) to gain more time and space for what's most important to you and your work. Less clutter helps you focus.

“Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau