I recently moved my home office from a traditional space on the first floor to the guest bedroom upstairs. My husband started a new job working from home and we have an old, needy, labrador that can’t manage the stairs and cries when left alone. Thus, to avoid 8 hours of canine cries, whimpers, and barks, my husband took the first-floor space.
Setting up my new desk space provided an opportunity to assess what I use and what is just cluttering my office. Below is a list of things I noticed with my own workspace, as well as what I have found when helping clients declutter their office spaces.
Excessive amount of writing utensils. Do you have multiple pen holders on your desk? Overflowing with pens, pencils, letter openers, and scissors? It is important that we can grab a pen easily but sometimes these collections are way larger than we need. I kept 10 pens that stay in the top drawer, a few sharpies, two highlighters, and 6 sharpened pencils. If you are trying to reduce desk clutter, ask yourself just how many pens you really need? Let go of the rest.
Lifetime supplies of notepads. Notepads seem to come at us in swarms – realtors and charities mail them out, we get a few at every conference we attend, and we will likely come home from the state or county fair with a handful. There is no expiration date on a notepad, and they can be useful, so many people keep a lot, sometimes a whole drawer full! I encourage clients to take a risk and only keep what they think they will use in 6 months. We know businesses will continue to distribute them and, if we do run out, it is easy to use scrap-paper until another pad finds its way into our lives!
Files. I have heard that we only access 20% of the papers that we keep. When I moved to the upstairs desk, I only took the files I use regularly. It is interesting to see how many I rarely access. It can be worthwhile to review what files you are saving and ask yourself if you really need to keep everything, but some of my clients are just more comfortable keeping paper records. In that case we can still reduce the number of files in your office by storing the ones that are accessed infrequently in another part of the home. (And if you are ready to get rid of paper – I know of this great shredding company for all the documents that you don’t keep! Maybe you heard of them…Shred Right?)
Duplicates. I found two staple removers in my desk. One went to donation and the other I kept. It isn’t uncommon to find 4 or 5 staplers, or 3 calculators in clients’ desks. Some people like to have duplicates in case something breaks, but, like the rarely accessed files, these back-ups do not need clutter your primary space and can go in less prime areas.
Desk Organizers. I have donated many desk organizers and paper sorters on behalf of clients. While these can look like great office solutions when we see them in the store, they may not be the perfect solution for you and your needs. Additionally, for these tools to be helpful you need to use them – and that requires starting new habits which can be easier said than done. Frequently desk organizers end up as collection areas for anything that a person isn’t sure what to do with. Before purchasing paper sorters or desk organizers I encourage clients to consider other options that don’t take up space on their desks.
Knickknacks. Cute pen holders that our kids made, a pretty box we picked up on a trip, a rock with words of encouragement on them…all can help us get through some rough days, but they do create visual clutter. Are there other places these items might go? Could the pen holder keep twist-ties in the pantry? Could the box go inside a drawer where you will see it every time you open the drawer? While sentimental items add a lot to our spaces, I encourage clients to curate their collections and be very picky about what merits space on the desk.
If your office space feels cluttered, look around and ask yourself what doesn’t need to be there. Consider removing as many of those things as possible and putting them elsewhere. Having less items out and on display makes it easier to keep your space tidy. This should increase productivity and give you more time to do fun things with family and friends!
