How to Organize a Home Office

Series Summary

Procrastination and housekeeping go hand-in-hand. Keeping a home organized can be quite a challenge with parents’ and kids’ busy schedules to contend with. Cleaning a home usually means starting from scratch. Just starting the task can be the biggest issue. Organization skills and effective habits of putting things where they go the first time can be learned. In this free video series, a tidy stay-at-home mom discusses how to organize the home, one room at a time. Find out how to lay out each room, how to maximize storage space and even how to organize a stress-free move. Let a mechanic explain how best to organize a toolbox and garage space for its most efficient use. Get tips on organizing a home office for everyone to use, and find out how to keep family photographs in the best order for viewing. Exclude clutter from life for a happier, more organized home.

Video Transcript

"Okay. Now, I'd like to talk to you about how to organize a home office. The first thing that you need to do is decide where you're going to have your home office. It's always ideal to have a room just for the office, but for most people, that's not an option. It wasn't for us, either, so what we did was we chose a room that would work out good. We chose our kitchen area, that way, with our small children, if they're on the Internet, we can safely see what they're doing to make sure that they're safe. Second, you have to decide, as a family, what you need the home office for. For our family, we needed it for multiple things: for my husband's business, for me as a stay-at-home mom to do all my schoolwork and grading the papers. Third, we needed it just for paying bills and ordinary house chores. Fourth, we needed it for my hobbies -- I like to scrapbook and I needed a work area. So what we did was we put it in the kitchen, and we put everything very organized into groups. On this side of the desk is my husband's. All three drawers are devoted just for him and his business, so then that way, I'm never accused of moving something of his because he knows exactly where they go. And in here, right underneath the workstation, this is where we keep the calendars, the paper, the notepads, pens -- things like that -- within easy reach. Over here is my section for my home school. I have everything that I need: teacher's manuals, workbooks, et cetera. Then in the middle, this is where we keep envelopes and bills and mail in general. We can shut it off, keep it out of the way, and no one has to see all of our mail and clutter. One thing about our work surface is we need to keep it clean and free of clutter. So what we do is we usually just keep our computer out, and when we're done, we can easily just close it up, move it, and it's out of the way, and we have a free space that we can pay our bills, my husband can write out bids, and I can do scrapbooking on. So it works out really well. We have other cubbyholes that I keep pictures for scrapbooking. I have a basket there where I can keep lotions and things handy for when I'm in the kitchen. And we chose a desk that has a lot of storage space up above, so this way, I can keep my cookbooks, I can keep other books that I like to read, and more school games up there. And again, they're out of the way, but easy to get to. So I hope these ideas will work for you."