How to Organize Your Desk Drawers in Your Home Office

Here are some tips for organizing your desk drawers in your home office:

1. Start by emptying out the drawers completely, so you can see what you have and what needs to be organized.
2. Sort through the items and discard anything in an appropriate way that is no longer needed or not in good condition.
3. Decide on a category or theme for each drawer. For example, one drawer could be for office supplies, another for documents, and another for personal items.
4. Use drawer dividers or organizers to keep items separated and in their own designated area.
5. Use small storage containers or tray to organize smaller items like paperclips, push pins, and other small items.
6. Use a desk pad or mat to protect the bottom of the drawer from scratches and to prevent items from sliding around.
7. Consider using expandable file folders, hanging files, or file boxes to organize important documents and papers.
8. Use drawer labels or labels on the organizer to know what's inside
9. Regularly go through your drawers, to keep them organized and eliminate any items that are no longer needed.
10. Store any confidential or sensitive documents in a locked cabinet or locked drawer.
11. Utilize the back of the drawer as storage space, if the drawer is deep enough, you can add risers or small shelf to increase storage capacity.

Remember that organizing and maintaining your office drawers is an ongoing process. Consistently taking the time to sort through and declutter your drawers will help keep them organized and easy to use.

Turn Your Junk Drawer Into Your Neat Drawer

We’re probably all guilty of having at least one junk drawer somewhere in our house. This is the drawer that started out as a helpful drawer that kept all the handy items in one place like tape, pens, buttons, safety pins, and so forth in one central location, but turned into the drawer where other things manage to accumulate when people don’t know where they go or don’t feel like taking the time to put them away properly. Get this drawer (or drawers) back into useful mode again by using a few simple steps to bring things back under control. 

First of all, in order to clean it out, you’ve got to empty it out. Remove everything. Place a piece of paper or tea towel down to protect your countertop or table surface. You may want to make sure all items are placed on this protected surface. Once the items are out of the drawer, they need to be sorted. 

Group all similar items together, and if you can’t determine what something is or if it’s needed after consulting with others in your family, you may decide to get rid of it. If there are things in this drawer that belong in another location, be sure they are put away promptly. You can clean the drawer completely and wipe dry. Afterwards, you may want to lay a fresh drawer liner or contact paper inside. 

The next trick is devising a simple, workable organized system that everyone in the family can use. Ice cube trays, small boxes or even 35-mm empty film containers work well to store small things in. If you cannot see into it to determine its contents, make sure it’s clearly labeled. 

Most importantly, encourage your family to keep the drawer organized and neat. If it’s properly maintained, there should be no need to shuffle through the drawer looking for things, creating an even bigger mess to clean out yet again in a few months. 

Video Titled "Home Office Organization Ideas (Rental Home)"

A Calm, Clutter-Free Home Office Environment Conducive To Work

The home office is often the foundation of the modern day family. Moms and Dads routinely use the home office to pay the bills, plan and coordinate schedules, appointments and calendars. Moms may organize recipe files and family photo albums. These tasks can all be done on our computers or on paper. 

It is actually becoming very popular for one or even both of the parents to work remotely from home. Moms have become very savvy with their social media and blogging skills. More people of all ages are taking advantage of creating their home businesses.

Here are some great ideas for possible work-at-home opportunities: blogging, affiliate marketing, direct selling, data entry, freelance writing, medical transcription, medical coding, customer service, proofreading, virtual assistant, bookkeeper and more. Many individuals are make a living from home. 

It is easy to understand with so many different activities happening in a home office, it can become the most disorganized and cluttered area in the house. So, if you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed from a messy, disorganized office it can be helpful to develop a plan for making your home office clutter-free and conducive to work. A clean organized desk and home office can help you save time and stress, especially if you work from home. 

An accumulation of mail may be the biggest contributing factor to cluttered desktops. Get in the habit of sorting through your mail on a daily basis. You can easily place those items that may need to be shredded into a shredding bin and routinely shred them once per week. File items away properly. Make sure that you keep your own filing system updated with folders for current years or months. 

It is a good idea to keep certain computer storage media, such as CDs and DVDs properly labeled and placed in a protective storage cases. You can even categorize them for easy access. 

If your home office area is commonly used by all family members, it can become cluttered with coffee mugs, snacks and even a few dirty dishes. Since computer equipment can easily be damaged should something spill on it, it’s probably smart to impose a rule about no eating and drinking while using the computer. 

If you spend a significant amount of time during the day in your home office and your office space is roomy enough, you could create an area far enough away from the computer and other electronic equipment where food and drinks could be set down without the fear of ruining equipment if a spill would occur. 

If you use a bulletin board, take the time to keep the items posted up-to-date. Make sure your calendar is always current so you can see the month’s scheduled activities and appointments. 

An over abundance of office supplies have a way of cluttering up a workspace as well. Make time to clean out and organize desk drawers if needed and make sure all office supplies have a home other than the top of your desk. 

With some good planning and ongoing maintenance, your home office can become an organized and productive workspace that you truly will enjoy everyday.

Video Titled "Home Office Organization with organizing expert Vicki Norris"