Spring is just around the corner, and with today being #OrganizeYourHomeOfficeDay, Starr Real Estate has decided to provide our clients with inspiration and advice on decluttering your home and organizing your workspace. #organizeyourhomeofficeday #declutter #organizingtips #starrrealestatemuncie #simplify #cleartheclutter #tuesdaytreat #tuesdaytips #tuesdaystogether #springcleaningtips
Being alive is busy. Some people have trained themselves skillfully in routine and are always early or on time. As for most of us, we force ourselves out of our comfy beds in the morning into imperfectly-temperatured showers. Some of us like to meticulously and artfully put makeup on and style our hair. Others squeeze themselves into uncomfortable outfits while we try to spread nutella on our toast, while giving the dog his food and starting a load of laundry, just to find out we forgot to brush our teeth when we are already halfway out the door. My point is this; our day to day lives are always going to be busy, and when they aren't, they will be. So why do we make messy habits that creates a job for us to do at home? Why do we set ourselves up for failure, when the solution is to create a personalized system that makes cleaning and organizing a simple chore, and not an extra job we have to come home to do?
Before we give away tips and ideas on HOW to change up your space to create a cleaner, easily accessible, functional, yet stylish home office environment, we have to give you the reasons why you should even consider spending the time and effort to make these changes:
A clean and organized workspace reduces the likelihood of accidents and injuries.
It improves creative thinking skills.
By reducing distractions and clutter, we are able to focus more and increase productivity.
Being able to quickly access the tools, information, and resources we need is crucial to our professional appearance and impression on clients, coworkers, peers, and superiors.
A tidy space reduces stress and increases positive feelings that domino effect into other areas of our lives, especially sleeping better and potentially even making healthier food choices. This will improve mood and determination and motivation over time.
Since the Pandemic begin, education, medicine, and business have all remained afloat thanks to our incredible technological advances that allow us to video chat and communicate from anywhere in the world, at any time, in a (mostly) simple and efficient manner. The most discussed topic are Zoom Meetings, and how the background of a person's workspace not only leaves an impression but can determine how memorable your ideas and work are, compared to your life and personality outside of work. Since hundreds of thousands of individuals were forced to communicate this way, the lines of separation between work and home were ultimately blurred. Here is a link to an article discussing reasons why your home work environment and your zoom background make a difference in how we can be perceived by others. https://www.nhbr.com/why-the-background-on-your-zoom-call-matters/
Here are the best steps, in order, to organizing your office space;
Purge your current office, clear piles.
Take all paper documents and upload/scan into a hard drive, then plan to file away in hidden storage.
Designate a zone in your home for your workspace, and work things only. Keeping the home and work environment as two separate entities is crucial. Even if the space is in the same area as the dining room or the space is a shared office space, creating zones and visual boundaries DOES make a difference.
A tip to creating the perfect, distinct zone in your home to work from is honing in on your personal tastes and creating a feature wall. The feature wall can be wallpaper or textured, it can be filled with art or photos or anything that works for you. On the other wall space, having a command/ storage center with shelves and drawers and slots to place bins helps close off the space even more and solidifies the space as it's own room/zone.
Use spacers and organizers in drawers for supplies. A combination of small and large inserts helps to create habits of instinctively setting things down where they go and knowing that they will be in the same spot you put them in the first place. Same things goes for using stackable, clear, and/or open storage bins/ containers and drawers. The idea behind using clear, stackable bins is that we can see what items are in the bin so that we have more desire to not only keep them organized and appearing as so, but we can quickly and efficiently locate what we need; which in turn reduces stress and panic.
LABEL EVERYTHING. Often times home owners can have all of the organization in the world, but if things aren't labeled, then finding them takes longer than it should have to. Matching up words with an image and the motion of ourselves physically seeing where we put something away at helps us to mentally and physically locate that "thing" faster.
Use cord wraps. Cord wraps will be a life saver. Having loose cords strewn about everywhere looks tacky, is a hazard, and ruins the quality of the cords. With as many devices as we use daily, cords can easily take up necessary space, get tangled or tear, get wet, get pulled out, or be tripped on.
Create a command station; use a mixture of letter trays, hanging files, document boxes, etc. Organize by To Do's, Recycling, Mail, Overdue, etc. Whatever system helps you to function and stay organized.
Below is a youtube video that might help to explain more ways you can set up your desk an office area.
More tips and tricks;
Have a junk tray – Throughout the day, you’re bound to have a lot of papers or files land on your desk. When that happens, place them all in one tray, and go through them whenever you have time.
Color code your papers or folders – You’ll find documents faster when they’re in a designated spot. For example, invoices could go in a red folder, while applications can go in a blue folder.
Disinfect your keyboard, phone, mouse, and desk – A study funded by The Clorox Company found that keyboards and office desks have more germs than most toilet seats. You can stay healthy by wiping down your workspace daily.
Keep only the essentials out – You don’t need an old coffee cup or yesterday’s half eaten lunch on your desk. Save room for the necessities like a pen, notebook, and calendar.
Don't forget to add some plant life and greenery to your office space to increase oxygen flow to the brain, reduce stress, and improve your overall mood and motivation as well. Plants are the perfect home decor in any room, but especially in the office environment.
