Here we go friends! Finally, an organisation 101 article. You asked, so we deliver.
If you have any kind of office space, be it at work or at home, and you just can’t seem to find anything for all the clutter, or you haven’t seen the actual desk in so long that you’ve forgotten what colour it is. Well friends, this one is for you!
I recently started back working part-time at an office job and the first few days I was there, I couldn’t seem to get much of the actual work done. I couldn’t find anything that I needed and there was a lot of useless un-needed stuff lying around. It was frustrating.
By nature, I am an organised, tidy person. My family know that one of my favourite sayings are – ‘there is a place for everything and everything goes in it’s place’. I had to tidy and organise the office space before I could really get my teeth into the actual job.
With that simple thought in mind, here’s how I set about getting the office space clear, tidy and organised:
Go from this… 
…to this!
Step 1: Clear everything off the desk, out of the drawers and cupboards and put into containers or boxes in the middle of the room. Ideally, all paperwork, files, envelopes, documents, etc. will be in one pile and one box; all stationery items, pens, staples, post-it-notes, paperclips, batteries, white-out, etc. will be all together in another container/box; all electrical/electronic items will be grouped together; all containers and office organisation items – like trays, upright dividers, drawers sets, etc. will be grouped together.
Electronics grouped together… 
…all paperwork in a pile.
Step 2: Now you will have a blank canvas. All of your desk furniture will be cleared and empty, and you can finally see the colour of your furniture. Without looking at the messy piles on the floor, I want you to stand back, close your eyes, take a deep breathe, and visualise what you want your office to look like.
From all the other offices you have seen, what do you like and what do you think will work well for you and help you function in this space the best? I don’t necessarily want you to think about just the furniture here, I want you to think about the setup and functionality of the furniture in the space.
What are you going to use this office for? What kind of work is this space going to help you achieve? What is the ultimate function of this space? Have a think about the answers to these questions, so that you have a clearer idea of how to set this space up to best suit your needs.
If you want to move things around so they will serve you better or be more aesthetically pleasing and beneficial to how you need this space to operate, now is the time!
Move your furniture around… 
…visualise yourself working in this space!
I want you to see yourself doing your work in this space. Not like you used to, but like you want to. Think about how you want to operate in this space in your ideal world. Then, keeping in mind where the door is, where the power outlets are, and where the best available light is, I want you to actually set about moving the furniture around to where you feel it will work best; go and buy some new furniture if you think that is best; or leave it as is.
Take your time with this step. It is important! Think of this as the bones or skeleton in the body of what this space will become once you add in the muscles and flesh and get the body pumping with blood.
Step 3: Once you are happy with where all the furniture in your space is situated (or you have a plan of what to purchase at a later date), you can now start to move some items back into your space.
First we start with the expensive items – the electronics. Your computer, monitor, phone, lamp, printer, label maker, and all the other items that have cables/cords and need to be plugged in, need to be placed on your desk.
When moving these items into their space, I want you to pick each item from it’s pile on the floor – starting with the largest item and working your way to the smallest – with it’s accompanying cables and ask yourself if you really need it on the desk. If the answer is yes (if it’s essential to your everyday desk work) then go about placing the item on your desk where you think it will work best for you.
If you are unsure of whether an items is vital, think about how often you use it. I have a label maker permanently in situ on my office desk at work because I use it almost everyday, but my label maker at home is packed away in a drawer, because I only use it every now and then.
If the answer is no, tuck it away in a drawer or credenza that is within reach of, or close proximity to your desk. It needs to be fairly accessible, so when you need it you can pull it out and set it up quickly, without too much effort.
Ensure all cables are placed neatly behind, gathering to a collection space at the back of your desk (I temporarily use a large bulldog clip to hold them in place at this point), near a power outlet or an extension cable and junction box. We will cable tie and clip up the cables together, to get them safely out of the way, once we are finished with this step.
Also, now is the time to place any complementary props or gadgets that help you use your electronics best (ie. I use a laptop prop, a large side monitor on a stand, a separate keyboard and a bluetooth mouse, along with a desk phone and a mobile phone stand). These all need to be in place before you move forward to the next step.
You should now be able to sit down on your seat at your desk and be able to turn on and operate all your electronics. Go on and have a try. Get a feel of operating in your space now before you setup anything else. If you don’t like how it feels, tweak a few things, move the monitor around, change the phone to the opposite side, lift your chair up or lower it down, make some changes to your equipment, or go for a shopping trip to get items that are going to suit you and your space better.
If you are happy with where everything is situated and the space feels good and functions well for your specific requirements, go ahead and cable tie and clip up all electronic cables so they are packed away tidily and safely behind and underneath your desk. Remember also to leave at least one spare electrical outlet so you can plug in any other electronic devices that you may need to use occasionally (ie. the ones that you packed away into a drawer or cupboard).
Step 4: Well done! You have already achieved so much in organising your office space and hopefully, it now feels like a comfortable, functional and organised space that you can see yourself working in.
Now you are going to place all your ‘organising helps’. All of the stationery storers, dividers, drawers, trays, upright file holders, etc. Before you do this you need to know the function of this space – if it is a home office, its going to have different usage than if it is a work office or a creative space. Ask yourself, what is this space going to be used for? and with that in mind, what are the most important things that I need in this space (besides the electronics that are already in place).
Desk-top tools… 
organised… 
for functionality!
For example, in my home office, I have a large main desk with a side part that acts as an extension to my desk – it has drawers and cupboard space underneath. The things that I have most handy and accessible, in paper form, are my home finances, my children’s school and activities info, upcoming event info, my to-do list, and things that I need to follow up. I have these organised in manila folders, in an upright rack or organiser that sits on my side desk and well within hand reach.
Then, I have an ‘in-tray’ on my desk top, where all incoming paper communications or any paperwork (school notes, mail, receipts, invites, upcoming event flyers, etc.) gets placed. I sort this out at least once a week, going through each piece of paper and dealing with it accordingly – but I will explain more about my systems and processes later on.
I also have one folder (lever arch, 2 hole) where I keep all current, important documents that I need to have access to but don’t touch regularly, just occasionally. Lastly, I have a one drawer file cabinet below my desk drawers, where I keep all filing of past items and events. Again, I will cover this more later on.
For stationery items, I use a pen holder on my desk which stores all my favourite pens, highlighters, white-out pen and pencils. The rest of my stationery lives in drawers in carefully organised spots, of course. But that is not for this step – we will cover stationery and paper sorting in another step. This step is all about placing the right desk-top organisers that you feel most comfortable using and that are pretty, tidy and functional.
Ideally, you will want a system similar to mine for your home office. In short, I have: an ‘in-tray’ for all new/incoming items; a section for current/upcoming files; a place for current/important reference docs; a place for filing past/worth-keeping items.
For your work space, the concept remains the same. You will probably need some kind of ‘in-tray’ for all new incoming communication; a place for all your current & upcoming projects; a place for current reference docs or important information; a place for filing past/worth-keeping items.
The trick here is knowing what kind of ‘organising’ tools will best suit you and work with your ‘look’ and how you function in your space. You can stick with what you already have and what you used to use, or you can try some new systems. You won’t really know what works for you unless you try. Again, sit at your desk and have a think – visualise how you will operate in this space and what work you plan to do here and then go from there.
If you choose to go shopping for some new items at this point, I want to remind you that it’s not all about look, its about functionality. There are so many beautiful, colour schemed packs available now and its easy to get sucked into how you want the space to look, but I want you to hold yourself back from buying all the beautiful things and really think about what you need and how you are going to use the items in your space. In this case, pretty does not equal functional, and they will turn out to be your enemy if you get sucked in to buying them. (I know I’m being tough, but friend, you needed to hear that.)
I’m gonna leave this here for now. It’s time to take a break! If you have reached the end of Step 4 and you are in the flow and ready to have your office space finished and workable – GOOD JOB!
If you are ready to continue on and get the rest of the mess sorted and tidied up, click here to go straight to Part 2. You will soon have an organised, fully functioning office space that you will be proud of and it will be easy to maintain…!
If you have any questions at this point, or want clarification on anything discussed so far, please leave a comment and we will get back to you. Otherwise, happy organising!
