Decluttering at Work

Whether at home or at the office, de-cluttering feels amazing! You might be overwhelmed and wondering where you should start tackling your de-cluttering at your office. Take it one area at a time so it’s more manageable. To help streamline your organization efforts, get larger containers for trash, donations, put away, and recycling. Here’s a sample de-cluttering checklist by area.

Desk

Start with a stack of papers or drawers so it’s not as overwhelming. Clear out drawers to go through the items and determine what can be tossed and what to keep. Check pens and pencils to make sure they’re functional. For papers, see what can be recycled or shredded. If you can digitize some of your papers, it’ll save you storage space and time. If you have to keep physical papers, then file them so your desktop is free from clutter. You can also create a desktop organizing system to streamline how you organize your papers. For example, get three paper trays for different categories (paper enters on the left, is processed in the middle, and goes out on the right).

Bookshelves

Remove books from the shelves. Put them in stacks of what you want to keep, donate, and recycle. Unusable books can be recycled. Keep an eye out for multiple copies of the same book so you can donate. Wipe down the shelves before placing the books back.

Computer

Email is an important communication method in most companies, but it’s also a source of digital clutter. Archive your old emails regularly and clean up as you go by deleting anything you don’t need. You can also periodically review your desktop and clean it up. Remove files you don’t need from your desktop and shortcuts that you no longer use. A tidy computer desktop is as calming as a tidy desk!

Break Room 

The office break room accumulates all sorts of stuff because it’s where people gather to cook, socialize, and eat. Start with one area at a time–one drawer or one cabinet at a time. Remove items, wipe down the cabinets or drawers, and go through the items. Donate items you don’t use and recycle or toss items that are broken. Take a look at the remaining items and place them back into cabinets/drawers in an organized way. Finally, de-clutter the countertops. They can collect all sorts of items, so put them where they’re supposed to go. Only keep the items that you use daily on your countertops. Your break room will look amazing!

Bathrooms

Office bathrooms get lots of use, and also get cluttered easily. Empty out all of the bathroom cabinets. Get rid of any expired products and discard items you no longer use.  As you place items back in cabinets, keep the items people use the most at eye level.

De-cluttering takes time, but it makes a huge difference on your productivity. Once your office is organized and de-cluttered, and you’d like help keeping your facility pristine, give us a call so we can help.