Increase Your Home Office Efficiency with a Clear Desk

By: Carrie Tyler Click author's name for more of his/her articles

It's hard enough to keep desks at an office clear of clutter, but home offices are especially affected by unnecessary documents and items. By clearing your desk off and organizing it, you will increase your efficiency and get more done work in a shorter amount of time. Follow these simple tips to a better office life.

The first thing you want to do is to clear an area of your desk completely. This should be the center area so that you have a place to do your work. Keep this area clean at all time so you never have to shuffle papers around when you are trying to be productive.

If you are having trouble finding a way to clear off a central area, it might be because you have too many distractions cluttering your office. Knick knacks, photos, and other items are just distractions that will take away from your work time. It's better to enjoy these things where you can give them your full attention, instead of using them as a time waster.

There's also a good possibility that a lot of things on your desk are items that you only use weekly or so. If you rarely find yourself reaching for paper clips, you don't need to keep them in a container on the surface. Any thing that you don't use daily can go in a drawer.

Two things that are good on top of your desk are a clock and an organizer. You can save time by keeping track of time. These two items will help you keep track of appointments and ensure that you are never late. A large desktop calendar that you can write in is a great way of keeping track of everything, but make sure that you aren't covering it up with other papers.

If you are trying to decide how to organize your desk items, try grouping things together by type. By keeping things together that have similar purposes, you'll have an easier time finding everything and won't be wasting time trying to remember where you put something. Occasionally you'll want to buy some extra containers to help you group like with like.

Another tip to remember when organizing your home office is to put everything in reach of your dominant side. If you are right handed, organize your desk so that everything is within reach of your right hand. Rearrange your items so that things such as pens and pads of paper are on your right-hand side. Though this might not seem like a huge time saver, the minutes do add up over time and you're able to have a smooth work flow.

These tips can be used either at work or in a home office, but they work especially well at home where you have more control over the layout and have more possible distractions to contend with. Having a clear desk space will enable you to work more efficiently and spend more time doing the most important tasks for your business.

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About The Author: When she isn't writing or organizing her home, Carrie loves to celebrate the holidays. Her Halloween sites include infant Yoda costume and king costumes.