Whether you have a tiny home office or a sprawling workspace, chances are you have the same organizational issues. Miles of cords, telephone lines and stacked equipment are unsightly and are probably getting in the way of your productivity. Before I decided to do some organization and sprucing up my home office, I simply didn't not allow guests to visit that area of my home. The door was always locked. Now, I have turned that room into a "Wow" room. With a few changes that were not expensive and only took a few hours you can have a showcase workspace.
Home offices typically become dumping grounds for every piece of junk mail and paper that comes through the door of your home. Your home office is most likely the room you spend the most time in and should be appealing to your senses, useful, efficient and pleasant to work in.
As far as looks, most home offices have a tangled mess of electrical cords for computers, fax machines, speakers and other office electronics. No matter how wireless you try to become, it seems you can never totally rid your office of the miles of wires. Try mounting a power strip underneath you desk so the cords are close to their plugs. After electronics are plugged in, we suggest you go to your hardware store and purchase plastic ties. The ties come in several sizes. Neatly wrap your cords in an circle according to how long you want your bundle of cords and tie the bundles in the center with a plastic tie. You can hide these bundles much easily under a desk or even hide them in a container.
If you need additional lighting in a home office, consider adding a decorative desk lamp. It is also important to purchase a comfortable chair. It doesn't have to be a official office chair. Purchase any comfortable chair that when you sit, will bring you up to the area of your work station comfortably. If your chair does not have rollers, just make sure it is light enough for you to scoot up to your desk. Be sure you have a mat under your chair to protect your floors. Desk and filing cabinets can be prohibitively expensive, so if you want to get organized on a budget, you will have to think out side of the box. Consider using a large table instead of a desk. You would need to also make sure that it is low or high enough for a comfortable work area. Paint a dimple sawhorse table and chair to make a basic useful computer office area.
Toss out needless paper as it comes in to your office. Once you have done it for three to four weeks, you will have created a habit. Spend some time to clean up the clutter, then create a filing system. Maybe you think you will need a book or newspaper clipping one day. Create a file for those special things you might need. Go through this file once a year. I usually go through my files after taxes. Throw away anything that wasn't of use to you that year, or things that you know won't be of use to you in the coming year. Individual labeled baskets can help provide a clean filing system if you cannot afford a filing cabinet.
Add pictures of things you love. After working a couple of hours, its nice to take a break and look at a place you want to visit. These lovely pictures will give you something to work toward--Another vacation! An old picture frame of any kind can also be used to make a handy and decorative bulletin board. For additional visual attractiveness, use wall space as a bulletin board covered with a pretty floral print wallpaper or fabric. Use a china or ceramic pitcher for storing colored pencils.
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