8 Tips and Tricks to Keep an Office Organized for Life

Does your office yearn to be clutter-free? We all struggle.  Lauren Silveira  is a professional organizer and one of the partners can personally attest to her skill!  As Lauren says, “creativity, simplicity and helping others are my passions.” Read on:

Have you ever considered asking yourself what the clutter within your office space is costing you? The amount of time spent looking for lost paperwork, files and sometimes even a pen may be costing you several hours throughout your work week.  Another downfall to having an unorganized desk space is the lack of focus you will feel being surrounded by stacks of paper.  When we are lacking a good organizational system we are easily thrown off track, costing ourselves time and taking away our ability to do our best work.

We are all looking for balance in our lives and by simply making the decision to become better organized we instantly allow ourselves the ability to achieve that balance. By creating systems that work for us and making a commitment to keeping them maintained we can get back our time, focus and feel more energized within our work space. Here are some tips to keeping your office space simplified, organized and more importantly a space that you can enjoy. While reading through the tips pay close attention to the clutter culprits in your work space, zoning in on the areas for improvement.

• Streamline what’s in your desk drawers. Only keep what you absolutely need in terms of writing tools, notebooks and additional office supplies.
• Have a designated place for any overflow of office supplies and separate by type so you know when stock becomes low.
• Set up zones within your office space for all projects/paperwork.  Create 3 zones -main work area, reference area and an area for supplies. Be sure to keep needed items in each zone.
• Keep everything you need on a daily basis on your desk and within reach. If you rarely use something store it away rather than have it take up space.
• Have a designated area for mail and tackle it immediately. To act, to read and to file! Create a bin for each and be sure to file away within 24 hours.  Once you are done reading shred if needed.
• File weekly. Get into the habit of filing papers on a weekly basis that may be beginning to pile up. Your filing system should be clearly defined by the type of files and then stored alphabetically for easy reference.
• At the end of each day do a quick clean up on your desk so that the next morning you feel as though you can start fresh. 5 minutes spent weekly can save you hours in the long run.
• Lots of articles and magazines that begin to pile up can become excess clutter. Designate an area for them and be sure that they are reading materials you need. Store them in a bin or a magazine box.

Lauren Silveira is owner and founder of Organized for Life. You can e-mail Lauren at laugia78@yahoo.com at or visit OrganizedforLife.net. She also has a Facebook page.

Any views, opinions, and statements are those of Lauren Silveira exclusively and may not represent the views, opinions, and/or statement of Aaronson Lavoie Streitfeld Diaz & Co, PC or its officers or owners. Nor has Aaronson Lavoie Streitfeld Diaz & Co reviewed or authorized the information Lauren Silveira has presented and it expresses no warranty on them.