8 Simple Ways To Keep Your Home Office Organized & Functional

Many small business owners look for ways and ideas to keep their home offices organized. I've created 8 basic steps to help you do just that. I encourage you to tailor these to your specific needs and you will be amazed at how functional you and your office will become. After all who doesn't get more done when working in a clean and organized environment?

1.) Invest in a label maker: they're fairly inexpensive and it's a great way to keep things uniform, neat, and easy to read when creating files and folders.

2.) Have a minimum of 2 filing systems: I recommend having one that is portable (crate/file box) and one that is stationary (file cabinet). *** Remember when choosing these, think of what and how much will be stored in them. You want to make sure they will be large enough so it eliminates having to get more and accommodating them with the previous ones.

**Portable filing system; Use this system to hold documents and information that is commonly used and filed on a regular basis. This allows you to move it around the house and accommodate you and still get your filing done. (I like to watch TV and do my filing, so this works out great.)

**Stationary filing system; Use this system to store items and documents that are less often referred back to and that don't require filing on a daily basis.

3.) Use different color hanging files: When organizing your filing system use different color hanging files for categorizing and then plain manila folders for sub-categorizing within them. (example: I use a red hanging file for business expenses and use manila folders within it to separate my different business expenses, one for each type of expense.)

4.) Sort filing systems by importance and most commonly used: Many people sort alphabetically, I like to sort by importance. My most commonly used ones first and so on. That way it's easy to find and you don't have to go through the unnecessary in order to find what you're looking for.

5.) Have a 2-3 tier filing tray on your desk: Label one; things to complete/finish and label the other; items to be filed. If you have a third tier, label that one; urgent. By sorting all your paperwork in this tray it will eliminate those stacks of documents laying around and cluttering your office. They should all fall into one of these catagories.

6.) Keep a garbage can handy: If you don't already have one, get one. If you don't use it, use it. It will help eliminate right off the bat all the extra uneaded clutter.

7.) Get a wipe off monthly calander board: Hang it on the wall in your office and use it specifically for important appointments, dates, and deadlines. Place it where you will see it.

8.) Banker Boxes: At the end of the year, transfer all the manila sub-folders out of all your filing systems into these. Label them with the year and store them away for easy reference. Keep all colored hanging files and reuse them for the next year, all you'll need to replace will be the manila sub-folders in each catagory. This will save you time and money.

Now that I've provided you with these simple steps, the rest is up to you. If you don't keep up with it on a regular basis, it will likely get out of control again. Remember; having an organized office will help you run your business more efficiently!

Kicks to a great day~

Melissa