Spring Cleaning your Home Office

Whether you prefer to work in your home office, on the sofa, or at the kitchen table, your at-home office is inevitably the place where all things work-related — reports, business cards, schedules, notebooks, day planners, pens, pencils, scraps of brilliance written on old receipts… old receipts — end up. This season, give it a clean and give yourself back some focus.

Assess the Situation

Now’s your chance to reorganize, rearrange and revaluate your space. Do you have too many reference materials? Do you have enough writing instruments? Is there a better place for your power bar? Do you really need all that furniture? Take the time before you start cleaning to really think about how your space works best and make a plan.

Does It Spark Joy?

Okay, so maybe your home office isn’t the place to figure out what brings you joy, but this step is where you keep things, or toss things. Be ruthless. Be fast. And be committed. Your goal is to sort through what you have, put things in their rightful home, and if you don’t feel they have one, get rid of it. The end goal? Breathing room!

Recycle what you can, hold onto items for donation if you have the space, or bin it if it’s got nothing left to give. But get it out of your home office either way!

Clean Up Crew

Now’s the time to roll up those shirt sleeves and really clean. Get out the supplies and clean every surface including windows, baseboards and the top of the door. If it’s a nice day, get some fresh air in there to help you stay motivated. Remember, nothing is too small to be cleaned. Don’t forget about the inside of the pencil holder and the back of the top desk drawer where old paper clips go to die.

Organize It

Everything in your home office should now have a very specific role, but not everything is created equal. Some things you will use on a daily basis, while others you will need to access only once a month. First order of business is to sort what you have left by how often you use it, then it’s time to organize contents according to how easy you need to reach it. Keep things within arms reach that you use every day, or even every second day. Things you need once a week? They can require some effort to access it. Things you need once a month? Consider whether they need to take up space in the office at all. Can they go into storage in a clearly marked banker’s box to give you a little more room?

Take It Digital

Something we often forget is that our computer is a big part of our office life when it comes to getting, and staying, organized. Take time to spring clean your computer. Yes, physically, but also, clean up what’s on it. Do you have files you don’t need but don’t want to throw out? Put them on an external drive. Is there another way you can organize the files on your desktop so you can find things easier? A naming system for your folders? Just as we clean our physical workspace for spring, take this time to make sure your computer space is just as clean.

Now sit back, and get to work!