How to Organize Your Office Space Efficiently

As we may have mentioned before, your office is the hub of your home. Organize it so all things for your home and possibly your business are easily found. It’s even where things go that may not go in your office, but no one seems to know the home of the item except for you. 

So, how do you organize your office space efficiently? Let’s look at why you should organize your office, and then we’ll get to the how of the situation. 

Photo by Arnel Hasanovic on Unsplash

Why You Should Organize Your Office

If you are anything like me, you spend quite a bit of time in your office, working on projects, bills, budgets, business, and more. It’s the central hub of your life. It’s where “all the things” end up that don’t belong in the office. This can make the space messy and trying to find something from the piles of papers, books, and more can be irritating, to say the least. 

When you organize your office, you minimize the number of distractions keeping you from what needs to get done. It can increase your ability to focus when you know where everything is. Every item has a home, where you can always find it. No more spending valuable time searching for items in a messy pile. 

What You Should have in Your Office

What should you keep in your office? This may seem like an obvious answer, but not always thought about or followed. Only the essentials should be kept in your office. These are the items/supplies you use frequently. The frequency could be weekly or monthly depending on your needs and wants within your space.

Remove or store items that you don’t use frequently in a closet or even outside the room. Other things to remove are trash/recycling, out-of-date materials, and duplicate or broken supplies. There is no need for these to stay if they are no longer useful. 

How to Organize Your Office Space

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way. Let’s get to the real reason you came to this post. A well-organized home office space can provide a feeling of control and removes distractions. 

The goal of organizing your office space is to eliminate the distraction of clutter and provide a productive and efficient workspace. How do you organize your office space to provide efficiency and productivity? Here are some steps for you to follow to achieve just that. 

Step 1: Time and Plan

The important part of organizing your office is having and planning the time to do the actual work. In order for you to get the most from your office organization and create the space you need to feel productive, you need to have a plan and schedule time to work on the space. 

Take a look at your calendar and schedule; decide when the best time would be to tackle this project and write it in. Give yourself enough time/days to complete the project. Overestimate, you don’t want to get halfway through and realize you didn’t plan enough time. If you have extra time at the end of your time, you can use it to get ahead on work or just relax and enjoy your new space. 

Make a plan (or follow these steps). What is the end destination you are searching for with your office? How do you want it to look? What do you want from your office that you don’t have or aren’t getting right now? Answering these questions will give you guidance as you proceed through your office organization process. 

Step 2: Determine What is Working and What is Not

Look at your system, your containers, and your layout to see what is working and what isn’t. Ask yourself why your current system isn’t working and come up with a solution to that plan that suits you and your space. Why is your space getting messy in the first place? Do you need new containers? More space? More storage area?

Decide what needs to happen to make them work efficiently. What can you use that you already have and what new is needed? What can you get without breaking the bank? Where do you feel your supplies need to be in order to be efficient for your office life? Find what best works for you and your space. 

Step 3: Purge/Clear it out

The best way to start this type of project is to take out everything in the space, EVERYTHING. If you don’t plan to move furniture, then go ahead and leave those things where they are. (Everything else should be removed from the space.) This gives you a clean slate to work with. Nothing goes back into the space unless it’s needed in the space and has a home there. 

Purge things that shouldn’t be in the space and find a new home for them. This includes any paper items that can be recycled or relocated from your office. Remove anything and everything that should not be within the space. This probably won’t keep things from randomly reentering your office. It will, you’ll just have a system in place to keep those things from staying too long and places for them to have a home as well. 

Step 4: Sort and File Papers

Papers are the things you may have the most of. Bills, pictures, notebooks, binders, magazines and so much more. 

This is the time to sort through these papers to see what is necessary to keep and what can be recycled. File any papers that need to be kept. Label and organize the files in such a way that they are easily located when needed. 

For those papers that need action taken, you might think about a tray somewhere close to keep up with things that need to be done. You could have one for home, one for business, and one for school depending on your and your family’s needs. Only things that need action done will go in these trays or files. 

Step 5: Organize and Declutter

Organize and declutter drawers, files, folders, closets, and desk items. Anyone who has an office of any kind will have an overabundance of pens, pencils, and other desk items. Go through them and keep a set within easy reach and put the rest in a container to be used when needed. 

I have a pencil holder on my desk with four sections where I keep pencils, pens, highlighters, and sharpie markers. The rest are in a container in my closet ready for when I need them. This goes for any other desk items as well – post-its, tacks, paper clips, etc. If you don’t need all of them out at the same time. Store some away until they are needed. 

Step 6: Replenish Supplies

You may find while going through office supplies that you are low on some things. Plan ahead for the space you’ll need to replenish them and make a note to purchase them when you can. Some items you may need to replenish are as follows: stamps, ink, post-its, staples, and even checks are a few things that could be stocked up on. 

Step 7: Return Items to Office

Once you’ve sorted through all the things within your office, it’s time to return them to your office, to their new home. You don’t want to just put them back in there on your desk thinking you’ll put them away later. You want to put it away now while you’re organizing, not save it for later. Find a place for each item, a place where you will keep them and find them when you need them. 

My office Before and After

It may not look like much, and it took a lot to let it pile up as much as it did. I share my office with our game room, which might seem counterproductive, but it works for me. No one usually plays while I’m working, but it’s great when I want to take a break. 

Below is my desk space before and after I cleaned and organized it. (Yes, I love HTTYD, I named one of my kitties Hiccup.) I can tell you, I am SO glad to have a clean atmosphere now. 

Bonus Organize Steps

Some bonus steps you could do while you are working on your office that could be considered extra, but can be just as important as the space itself. Let’s take a look. 

Digital Organization

With the digital age ever-present, nearly everyone has files, images, and more on their computers, phones, and other devices. These too need some love and organization. 

Digital clutter makes our computers run slower, taking up space on our hard drives and causing us to work less efficiently. 

Deleting files that are no longer necessary, and arranging files you’re keeping into separate, yet like folders will make your computer more useful and productive. If necessary, use flash drives and SD cards to keep large documents and projects to free up space on your computer.

Refresh Your Design

As you are organizing your office space, you may want to spruce up the space itself. Change the atmosphere in the room or try some new decor. Sometimes, creating a different scene is a great way to get the creative juice flowing. Change your perspective and give yourself a more positive mindset. We have some great ideas on this page. 

Clean Your Space

As you are organizing, it’s a good idea to physically clean the space as well. Things like dusting the top of your computer, and wiping down shelves and surfaces. Even window sills and your keyboard could do with a freshening up. Vacuuming, washing the windows, and putting in your favorite scent via candles or a defuser is a great step to a clean, fresh space. 

Reward Yourself

Once you’ve completed each step, you now have the perfect space for you and your work. You’ve worked hard and accomplished a lot. You are now ready to embark on an efficient and productive office journey. Reward yourself for accomplishing such a huge task. Enjoy the reward, you deserve it. 

Final Thoughts

It’s not an easy task to organize and keep your office in a state of efficiency. It’s one you need to plan for, organize all your items, and purge out the things that are no longer necessary to keep. Once done though, it can create a calm, focused, efficient, and productive atmosphere for you to work in, and that’s what’s important. 

So, congratulations and enjoy the new space you’ve created. You’ve earned it.