Clutter Busting: Home Office Overhaul – Final Week

Throughout this month, I have been giving you tips on what to do with all your paper clutter, but now we need to work on how not to let clutter build up in the first place. First you need to see where you find paper clutter accumulating. Next, determine what papers consists of this clutter.

For me, I found that the clutter was mostly my children’s school papers. What works best is I have a basket on top of the refrigerator to put papers that I don’t want to throw away. Every month I go through this basket and toss some but the rest I add to the lidded hanging file containers that I have for each child. Inside this container I have large hanging files, one for each year, and I place art and school projects inside. I wish I could keep every paper/project that my children ever touch, but I don’t want my good intentions to become their clutter down the road. Instead, I have a great representation of each year of their lives.

Another huge aspect of paper clutter is mail. When you get the mail, immediately sort it out. Open bills immediately and place in the unpaid bills basket. RSVP any invitations immediately, place the date on your calendar, and place the invite into your Household Manual. Toss out junk mail immediately and file the rest.

Another problem I had was magazines. I love home decorating magazines and I also have a couple subscriptions to women’s magazines. Now what I do to reduce the magazine clutter is if there is a picture, article, or recipe, I simply take out that page and place it in a 3-hole punched page protector and place it in a designated binder. I have different ones for home ideas, clutter solutions, and recipes. The rest of the magazine gets recycled.

For the rest of the week focus on the rest of your home office; whether you have an entire room or just a desk, make it a place where you like to be. Clutter can often make us feel out of control and overwhelmed. Nowhere in the house is this truer than in the home office. Once all the paper clutter is filed or thrown away take the time to beautify your workspace. I’m certainly not saying to go out and buy all new office supplies!! Rather add some finishing touches from throughout the house. A picture frame of your family, potted plant, flowers, candle, a pretty mug for your pens, will all do the trick!

As with all of the projects I have discussed in the past, and the ones I’ll be posting in the future, it is of utmost importance that the systems you create work best for you and your family. These Clutter Busting challenges are designed to save you time, not frustrate you. In order to truly de-clutter your home you need to start with finding out why it got cluttered in the first place and create strategies to overcome these hurdles.

It is finally spring, help make your home office (and life) reflect that!

Betsy