Is your at-home office disorganized, unkempt, and full of misplaced materials? If so, a lack of organization could be stealing away your time and energy. Instead of getting down on yourself about your work space’s current state, it’s time to organize your home files.
Without proper organizational procedures in place, sifting through resources and paperwork can quickly result in a confusing mess. Avoid home office clutter with these tips and tricks on keeping your files at home freshly organized!
Clear Out Any Unnecessary Clutter
If you’re struggling to stay on top of your files, chances are you need to downsize.
Set aside a day to go through all of your files and see if there are any you can do without. If you have files that you need to hang onto but don’t use on a daily basis, consider putting those in a separate filing cabinet or bins in a wardrobe. Be sure to keep your most-referenced or recently used files close to your desk for easy access.
As you sort through your files, look for any themes or patterns and group together files based upon topic, theme, or year. Grouping your home files will later help with creating an organizational system that helps reduce search time. By cutting out extraneous work materials, there’s no doubt you’ll be more focused and efficient on a daily basis.
Put an Easy-to-Follow System in Place
Now that you’ve eliminated unnecessary files, it’s time to put an effective system in place. Your organizational operation doesn’t have to be complicated. Rather, your filing system should be so easy to follow that it becomes second nature.
Here’s a good procedure to get you started:
- Sort out your files and paperwork into broad topics
- Then, find any subtopics and group those papers together
- Next, organize by year and date
- Finally, create and label tabbed file folders
While this is a great baseline for home paperwork organization, you may find that you need to tweak or adjust your process to best fit your needs. For example, you can also create a process flow by staging documents by priority, action, and due date.
How to organize your file cabinet contents is solely up to you. You may find it helpful to incorporate color-coding or alphabetizing so that you can quickly spot the files you’re looking for. What’s most important is creating a flow that’s easy to follow and keep up with.
No matter what system you choose, it’s important to have a sturdy, durable filing cabinet to house your new organizational system. A quality filing cabinet can help keep you organized, streamline your workday, and keep your home office tidy.
Continue to Stay Disciplined
Now that you have a system in place, it’s time to follow through. Your organizational system will only be effective if you adhere to it.
Make sure you’re sticking to the system you set out to follow. If you notice over time that your current method isn’t working, it may be time to reevaluate and come up with a new one. Play around with different filing configurations until you find one that works best for you! Homes are high-traffic spaces, which means decluttering your home will always require a little discipline.
Head to CORT and Hit “Reset” on Your Space
If you’re wondering where to buy filing cabinets, look no further than CORT Furniture Outlet! CORT Furniture Outlet has an always-changing, large inventory of gently-used, budget-friendly filing cabinets for sale.
In addition to filing cabinets, CORT Furniture Outlet also carries comfortable, stylish office furniture, including desks, bookshelves, chairs, and more. Shop your local CORT Furniture Outlet today and take home your office gear the same day!
