Working from home is a blessing some parents benefit from. Being able to schedule your hours around your children and life-necessary errands means a greater work-life balance and an extremely short commute. However, whether you have a corner of your living-room or a designated office, workspaces can become cluttered and disorganised. Luckily, we have outlined 5 top tips for keeping your home office in order.
Eliminate Personal Trinkets
If your home office space is limited, do you really need a photograph of your little one on your desk? Chances are, working from home allows you to see your child at every moment unless they are at school or sleeping. It may seem brutal, but dedicate your work space to, you know, work.
De-cluttering can seem like an impossible task but do your best to be ruthless. Put on a timer for 30 minutes and vow to have your workspace free of personal effects by the time the alarm sounds. Don’t feel guilty about hiding the latest paper-mache creation in the cupboard, they won’t know it’s missing!
Keep Your Space Tidy
When it comes to keeping your office confusion free, this extends to the countless magazines, abandoned coffee mugs and 1000 sticky notes hanging off your computer screen. Having a quick clear up at the end of every working day will save you from a huge cleaning onslaught at the weekends, leaving your free to get on with other things.
Invest in trays, boxes and files to keep everything neat and tidy. This also means you won’t spend hours hunting for that one documents you needed.
External Storage
If your workspace is small or your business has evolved, you might need to consider external business storage. Letting paperwork and products pile up around your office and home is detrimental to both your productivity and sanity. Given that most storage suppliers offer short and long term solutions with everyday access, putting surplus office furniture or documents into storage is an ideal plan to free up space.
If you are snowed under with countless files and paper documents, some providers have bespoke archive storage and various different other solutions to help keep you organised.
Keep Everything Online
A lot of services are paperless now and there is no reason as to why you shouldn’t do your bit for the environment too. Not only that, but it will save you from having countless filing cabinets rammed with all sorts of invoices from 10 years ago. You can safely store data online using Dropbox or the cloud.
To make sure you get rid of any old paperwork safely, get your hands on a shredder and go to town! The leftover paper strips can be used as animal bedding or popped into the recycling bin.
Utilise All Space
If your office is a nook under the stairs or the corner of the sitting room, don’t be put-off by limited space. Like those who plan buildings in cities, look upwards as opposed to outwards when it comes to storage solutions.
Build shelves that stretch from floor to ceiling, perhaps making some into drawers to house your different office supplies. You can also use walls as chalk boards by using specialist paint which is great for mind maps or daily to-do lists.