How to Organize the Home Office

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Katrina Cameron, a professional organizer. On behalf of Expert Village, I’m going to be talking to you about the home office. One of the biggest complaints that I get from my clients is I’ve just got too much paper, my desk is overflowing with clutter. I need a system to install organization in my home. This is an important thing to do and it helps us stay on top of our bills, on top of our phone calls, on top of our tasks that we need to accomplish and also especially if you have a home business, you really need to be organized. So this is a good example of how to maximize organization in a small space. This is in an apartment. If you had a whole home to devote to an office, that’s even better but here are some ideas that you can take away with you that have to do with small desks, small storage spaces and compartments that really function and work well. So you just need to make sure that you like the décor, it matches your home, because you’re going to be sitting here doing your work. Each area of this home office, which is in the living room, functions as a type of organizing preparation. We have bulletin board, we have these great dry erase boards, we have a compartment for a mail sorter, we have pen and pencil container that can hold post its, paper clips, hole punch. So you want everything on your desk that’s an active item that means something that you’re going to get to on a daily basis or every other day. You really don’t want to house things on your desk that aren’t active. Those things should go in storage or in a closet or something that’s close by but you don’t need to access everyday. Another suggestion I really make for especially home offices and small spaces is this is a wireless key board and that way you just don’t junk up your desk with wire and cables and they just really look messy. Also, a wireless mouse is a really great thing and these are much less expensive than they used to be a few years go, so it’s a great idea. Then a paper sorter to help those transitional periods between opening your mail and also filing. If you have a home business, you might have clients, you can have a set of hot files set up on your desk. Here is a system that I’ve installed on a back of a bookshelf for paper sorting, for things that need to attended to but these are a lower priority. "