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15 Minutes A Day To Organizing Your Home Office

By: Jill Borash Keeping your home office organized when you work from home can be a real challenge. Because not only does your work end up in your home office but pieces of your home life often end up in there too. So how can you keep it under control? Spend just 15 minutes at the end of every day keeping your home office organized.

Spend 5 minutes getting the "stuff" off of your desk
If your desk at home is anything like mine, things tend to just build up there. I clean it off daily but paper and other things end up on it by the end of the day. Organizing a home office and keeping it organized means that you need to keep your desk area clear. Try to make sure that the only things on your desk are things that you need frequent access to and are projects that you are currently working on. Everything else needs to go.

At the end of the day, take everything off of your desk. Only put back those things that you need for the projects that you are working on tomorrow. For me, this helps clear my brain and get me clear on what I need to do the next day. It is a good way to put your work day to bed.

Spend 5 minutes getting rid of the things that do not belong in your home office
Organizing your home office at the end of the day also means getting stuff out of your home office that does not belong there. When you work from home, there are often things that end up in your home office that would never end up in an office at a work building. Some of the crazy collections that have ended up in my home office at the end of the day: laundry, dolls and DVDs. It is not always easy to separate work space from home space but make sure that this happens at the end of your day. All of the things that found their way into your home office that do not belong there need to get to where they belong at the end of the day.

Spend 5 minutes creating an "action plan" for the next day
This is more of a time management tip than a home office organization tip but it is a good tip nevertheless. Spending time at the end of the day that gets your head straight about what you need to be doing tomorrow is time well spent. I know that I get far more done in a day when I do this. It helps get your priorities straight for the next day and gives you a game plan to follow. I try not to spend more than 5 minutes at the end of the day doing this because otherwise I end up with a list a mile long of things I need to get done. This action plan for the next day needs to be a realistic one. If you have time, it is also helpful to prioritize that list.