A Fresh Start: Getting Your Workspace Into Shape

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By Mia Bolaris-Forget

A recent “poll” if you will, posed the question of “Is your home space “tidy” or “lived in”. And with the reply being somewhat split down the middle, many of the “there’s a place for everything and everything has its place” folk admitted that sometimes things can get a bit “cluttered”, especially with trying to balance work and home.

I’m sure you can all relate, there’s that one room in the house where you do most of your “living”. From paying bills, to storage and perhaps wrapping gifts, it’s easy even for us neat freaks, to become more “lax” when it comes to our “work” or “creative” space.

But, when it comes to work and our workspace, it’s imperative that we stay organized and clutter-free.

In fact, experts note, that disorganized people spend more than 20 percent of their day searching for things leading to a loss of productivity. And, in this hurried world, we all know how important productivity can be.

Here are just a few clutter-busting strategies:

1. Purge: Get rid of all un-necessary items, papers, etc that are outdated and you no longer need. Try to do this at least once a week or once every few weeks.

2. Develop a workflow system: Experts suggest analyzing the way you work. What comes in, what goes out, what you need to hold on to, what you need to deal with, and what you can eliminate. With this in mind, you can them arrange or organize your desk to suit your needs and your daily activities. And, note if you’re a visual person, you’ll want to keep the most important projects up front where you can easily and readily see them.

3. Setting Up Shop: Creating the best workspace for you will also mean having the right tools. In fact, professionals point out that among the biggest mistakes people make is to overestimate or underestimate their needs. They recommend analyzing your space and your needs, then thinking about what kind of storage will work best for your. Some suggestions include storage drawers and multimedia boxes, both offering stylish and serviceable storage for loose papers and letterhead. And, the storage boxes can also serve as in-and-out trays. Vertical sorters, desk trays, and file folder holders can also be useful tools for organizing and keeping papers accessible.

4. Fashion a filing system: Part of staying organized is keeping clutter from getting out of control, and that means storing important papers in their proper place rather than having them pile up. Note that the type of filing system you’ll need, will in large part, depend on the kind of work you do. And, once you’ve determined a workable strategy, you’ll want to make sure to properly label and categorize files, folders, etc. You may even have to use subdivides for some categories with more than one distinct purpose.