How to declutter your home office in 8 easy steps

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Your home office should be a space free of clutter. But in reality, is that all your office supplies are likely scattered around the office. We get into a work groove and at times everything else can go out the window, including taking out garbage, putting away those loose paperclips and actually getting around to sorting those important documents from weeks ago.  

Even the most organized humans can fall into bad habits without knowing it with a home office. I myself am fairly good at tidying as I go but every couple of weeks I need to do a deeper clean cause even I have things I don’t tend to do as often as I should. 

Having a clean workspace is so important, as it really helps us be our most productive selves. Now, I set up a system where a bigger declutter happens more often. I’ve got it in my planner for the last week of each month. Depending on your space size and how much clutter you accumulate you might need it more or less often than once a month. But I’d suggest starting with that to learn what works best for you. 

Let’s dive into some simple tips for helping you declutter and clean your home office space. 

Keep, Toss, Donate

The first step in decluttering your home office is to literally take everything and place it in a different room or space. So, for me, as my office is its own room I took all the items to my living room which is the space beside. You need to empty all the desk drawers and take out every file folder, nothing is too small and everything should be removed. You literally want to remove everything except for large electronics, furniture, and lights. This step will likely take quite a bit of time and can feel like a daunting task, especially the first time you do it! 

Once all the items are removed, then you can begin to sort them into three piles:

Keep – Items you intend to use, have a use, and want to remain in your office

Donate – Items you do not need anymore, no longer in style with your space.

Toss – items that you don’t need, garbage.

Once complete put your toss pile into the garbage, being sure to properly dispose of any electronics or batteries. For your donation items place them into a pile for the next time you go to a donation center. Your keep items are what we are going to focus on next! Congratulations you’ve completed the toughest part of decluttering your home office!

Categorize Items

Okay, now that we only have the items we want to keep on our clean desk. Let’s take some time and organize this into categories and similar items. These categories need to make sense to you and your business. Additionally make sure to make a pile of items that make sense for easy access, such as things you use every day – paperclips, rubber bands, index cards…etc.  Below I’ve listed some ideas if you’re unsure where to start. 

Categorize items realistically, and try not to think about your dream office and how it would go at this moment. You don’t want to get caught up in perfecting things such as a professional organizer might, just focus on grouping items. This will help you not create a cluttered office while we’re trying to declutter. 

Moving along, this is an easy task, take time to physically move all the items together in one category together. You can use scrap paper or post it’s to label each category if you’d like. 

Category Suggestions:

• Electronic Cables
• Stationery Items
• Aromatherapy Items
• Pens/Pencils
• File Folders and Piles of Papers
• Inbox/Outbox Items
• Daily Use Items (ie. planner, lip chap, post-it notes…etc).
• Medications/as-needed items
• Fidget Toys/Sensory Items

Removing non-essentials to declutter home office

Okay, so now that we’ve categorized it’s time to really get tough about what needs to stay in our office. Now what I mean by this, is somehow, I manage to bring several lip chaps in over the course of the month. By the end of the month, I typically have 4-5 on my desk. Now, do I need that many, nope? This is what I mean by removing non-essential. Remove items that don’t belong in your office or remove the quantity of an item in your office. Be sure to keep important items and look for storage solutions for smaller items.  

I’d also recommend having a trash bag nearby as when you do this second organization you might see some items differently and now view them as obvious trash. To help reduce creating a messy office in the future it’s important to ensure you reduce non-essentials to help create a clutter-free home office space. Reducing these items now will help in the future hopefully you need to do very little decluttering and have a simple functional work area. 

Labeling

Now we’re moving along to labeling where each item will go. You might be asking why you don’t just start putting office items back in their spaces. I’ve got a good reason don’t worry – because it’s easier to move around the labels while you’re figuring out the best place for your items.

One of the most common reasons a messy home office occurs is because items are not thought about where they should go and what makes sense. So now we’re going to take time to consider your work style and what items you need for your weekly work schedule. Place those on Post-its and then start rearranging them. I always like to start with the most important things in my office which is my desk area, my filing system, and my shelves. 

As mentioned above, be realistic with yourself. If you need a certain item on the left side of the desk because that’s where you most commonly look for it, there’s no point in confusing that system unless it doesn’t fit there. Make things simple and find a flow that works well for you. Taking time to create useful designated areas now is an easy way to help yourself down the line by keeping your work area clean and tidy. 

Document Organization

Time to tackle the filing cabinet! In my opinion, the best way to do this is to remove literally everything and re-organize from scratch. At the end of the day you know the last time you organized your filing cabinet so you know if this is the best solution for you. This can take up quite a bit of time to do, but hopefully moving forward you’ll have clearly organized spaces for items such as important information.

Do you have an inbox/outgoing mailbox for documents, do you have a place you put receipts, do you have a space for notes to remember for a later date? Take a moment to think about your business needs what systems you need in place, and what paper clutter can you remove from the top of your desk. 

So, for example – I have files with all my client’s info. I don’t keep those out as I don’t need access to them each day and therefore, they’ve filed away. However, I do have important reminders about clients on a Post-it I keep under my monitor. To the left of my desk, I have a shelf where I keep papers that need to be put in a file folder, and I store notebooks in the drawer under my desk. 

Basically, think about what you need every day for documents and keep those close by. With regards to items with occasional use then you can put those away in a drawer or shelf. This will help as well with reducing creating a cluttered home office again in the future. How long do you need documents? So, for tax documents and important papers put them filed away if they’re not current, you don’t need that cluttering up your space if they can be filed away. Same for any past client work, or previous notes to yourself that are no longer relevant. Shred those and only keep documents that are needed around your office/desk space. It’s a good idea to be placed in a file cabinet or storage area.

Set up Systems/Tech Options

You can being to place items back in their place to start off this step, From there I want you to think about what type of tech setups you need. How much time do you spend on Zoom calls? Do you need access to your video call supplies often? If you’re someone who has video calls often think about ways you can set up your equipment with reducing as much clutter as possible. Think about those days you have little time, and what solutions work best and easiest on those work days. 

Next, think of set-ups that reduce and minimize future clutter. For myself, I use “Sticky Notes” on my computer to reduce scarp paper around my desk. As well, I switched to a reusable notebook, The Rocketbook, so I can erase when done and I don’t have lots of tiny notes everywhere. 

Is there a system where you can digitize your receipts fast for quick filing? Is there an online system that can track your expenses to help you quickly remove paper clutter? Take a look at your business and then look at ways you can set up a simple solution to help reduce clutter build-up down the road. 

Storage

Okay, now everything is back in its place. We likely have a bit of clutter because categorized items might not have a home yet. That’s okay! Let’s take a look around our space and see what types of storage options work well in this space. What makes sense for your work-related items and what will help you do your best work without a cluttered space? Do you need some boxes to place filing into neatly? Always check around your space and reuse items you already own for storage before purchasing. Some simple solutions could be bulletin board, open shelves, magazine holders, or organization bins. 

Digital Clean

How’s your workspace looking? This is one of my last quick tips for helping with decluttering your home office. Do a digital clean-up. Take a look at your desktop organize and sort all the files you have there. This could mean you do a deep cleaning of what physical copy papers you have to digitize and look at your current digital records. Take some time to declutter your email inbox. Every business is different but take some time to reorganize and purge all your unnecessary digital files, items, or apps. DON’T delete the files you need! Instead look to USB options, cloud storage, and alternative effective ways to keep digital clutter organized. 

Some common places where digital clutter can build:

• Email inbox
• Desktop Icons/Home Screen Icons
• Apps
• Downloads Folder
• Old Programs/Applications
• Old Files Folders 
• Bookmarks Bar

Congratulations, you did it! I hope you love your new decluttered office space. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I’d aim for once a month this if your schedule permits, based upon how often you use your home office and how cluttered it gets you can adjust from there. Remember a clean office helps increase your productivity which is always a great thing!

Talk Soon!