The nation spends most of their lives in the office, so it’s no surprise that these spaces can quickly become covered in clutter. From overwhelming masses of paper to stockpiled technology and stationery, we are a nation notorious for hoarding – and the office is no exception.
With many seeking advice on how to declutter a home office and commercial spaces, we’ve compiled a useful list of tips on how to declutter your office.
Move Documents Online
One of the most effective ways to declutter your office is by digitising most documents and opting for a paper-free workspace. There are countless benefits of this, from saving time otherwise spent organising, filing and trawling through heaps of paper, to saving space and helping to declutter your office space. More often than not, our offices are cluttered with a combination of old paperwork, lost paperwork and important paperwork – all of which can be easily minimised simply by digitising these documents instead of keeping physical copies.
To do this we recommend digitising your files either on a premise server if you are commercially-based, or on the cloud for those of us looking to declutter a home office. What’s more, digitising your workspace and workload will also save you money in the long run! By keeping all information and work recorded online, it is not only accessible but it also eradicates the additional costs incurred on things like paper, printing and postage as all of this can be managed free of charge through a digital platform instead.
Just imagine how much more productive you could be if you took the leap and moved to digital and became clutter free!
Find A Home For Everything
Another essential way to get your office tidy and organised is to find a home for everything, and if you can’t… get rid! Often both commercial and home offices amass tons of paper, excessive decor and stationery.
One of the biggest benefits of finding a home for everything in the room is that it will encourage a more regular office tidy up. With a home for everything that needs one, there is little excuse for clutter in the workplace. What’s more, this tip will also help you evaluate what you need and don’t, as you will be expected to be brutal when finding a home for every piece of clutter, when there simply isn’t one!
Our biggest piece of advice for this tip is to ensure each and every home is accessible and maintainable. For example, ensure you can reach your equipment quickly and easily when you need it and ensure there is enough space for your clutter by accounting for whether this will fit over time if the amount of clutter increases, and planning where you can put things or what would have to go if it did. Failing to do this early on might mean that you become lazy or unable to put everything away during office tidy up time.
Another useful way to encourage that items by returning to their original home is by labelling and categorising storage spaces, particularly in a commercial office space as it ensures people know where things belong.
Get Rid Of Old and Broken Technology
Particularly within commercial workplaces, there is a temptation to store and stockpile old hard drives and technology so that it remains secure. However that is not the most effective way to reduce clutter in the office, since it means accumulating years worth of void technology which just collects dust and takes up room.
Instead, we recommend using the one in, one out rule whereby for every replacement piece of technology that enters the office, the old version is disposed of securely – so long as it isn’t used! Fortunately, many services, including our own, offer secure destruction services whereby all hard drives and equipment is destructed responsibly, ethically and legally to avoid future data breaches and attacks.
Always End Day With A Tidy Desk
Most people wondering how to clear clutter should also consider how to keep clutter out of the office and how to make a decluttered office a long-term and sustainable goal. Regardless of where you work, it is a good idea to always end the day with a tidy desk.
For those with a home office, clearing the desk and workload away at the end of a day is one good way to reduce stress, improve your mood and make the next workday far more efficient. By doing this, your mind is more likely to disengage from work, allowing you to switch off.
Most company offices keep their workplaces decluttered by implementing a “clean desk policy” whereby all employees are required to clear and declutter their work stations at the end of the working day. There are many cited benefits to this practice, with the prevention of data loss and theft being one of the leading reasons behind not leaving documents to clutter your desk. What’s more, every work day will also begin with a tidy office, which is rumoured to improve your mood and productivity.
Get Better Storage Solutions
The next tip involves investing in more efficient and effective storage solutions in the office. Keeping clutter behind closed doors is perhaps the most aesthetic way to incorporate storage, with drawers, cupboards and files all acting as perfect tools to collate your clutter in a neat way.
For those that are struggling for space in a small office, it is a good idea to look into custom fit storage stations, depending on their affordability. You might also want to optimise your space by opting for under-desk storage which tucks away tidily and out of sight, especially if you have a home office.
Implement The Arm’s Length Rule
Implementing the ‘Arm’s Length’ rule is also a great way to manage your clutter. Essentially, you should look to only have what you need frequently and quickly in your arms reach. This means eradicating anything unnecessary from the desk surface, such as paper stacks, excess stationery and used tupperware.
To give a better idea of what is necessary, anything which is used throughout the entire day and often warrants a space on the desk. All other clutter should be housed elsewhere and returned after use. Doing this enables you to be stricter about your clutter and eliminate any distracting and wasteful clutter. This is potentially the most important tip when looking to declutter your office space.
Call In The Experts
If you’re still struggling to manage your clutter, even after this blog, then we recommend getting in touch with a clearance specialist, like Recyclezone who are experienced in clutter organisation, removal and collections. Find out more about our professional office clearance services today by getting in touch with our team.
If you found this post useful, you may like to read our 10 home decluttering tips.
Feature image credit: thodonal88 / Shutterstock