3 Simple Solutions to Clutter Control

Do you have a process you follow that keeps your home office organized? Do you document your expenses monthly or throw your receipts into a shoebox? When tax time comes, will your records be in order? Do you manage your emails daily or is your inbox out of control? It is much easier to maintain your office and manage your records ongoing. It will be difficult to maintain the quality of your work if you have to dedicate a huge chunk of time to finding an important document amongst piles of paper or organizing one years’ worth of business records in one sitting.

Here are the top three problem home office scenarios with solutions that I’ve either discovered myself or borrowed from others. Let’s keep it simple!

1) Problem: Did you pick the bright, airy room with a view to set up your home office only to find that the view is now obstructed by stacks of papers?

Solution: Literature Organizers are great for those who like to pile papers. With 8, 12 or more sorting compartments you can label each section to identify the contents. It keeps papers tidy, organized and easy to access. Prices range from $20 for the cardboard model which are fairly sturdy up to over $100 for larger units or those made of plastic, wood or wire mesh. My cardboard model has lasted me over 3 years!

2) Problem: The cozy little nook in the basement with the gas fireplace would be a great place to work. Your own space away from the distractions of working from home. But, out of sight, out of mind. Your desk has become a catch-all for receipts, pens, papers you name it and now you avoid the space.

Solution: There are a lot of things we have on hand that can work just as well as costly office supplies to keep your work space orderly;

• reuse bill payment envelopes. Collect 12, one for each month to compile and keep track of your monthly receipts for income tax purposes.
• use a mail sorter to contain smaller paper items like notepads, loose notepaper and envelopes
• a couple of mugs will keep your writing utensils close at hand and organized. Use 1 for pens and pencils and the other for highlighters, scissors and glue sticks.

3) Problem: Your inbox shows no signs of slowing down. Each time you sign on there are even more messages and you can’t imagine how you’ll ever deal with all this mail.

Solution: Schedule 30 minutes at the start of each day to manage emails. Some suggest you don’t even look at email first thing as you will get sidetracked. However, knowing I have 30 minutes allows me to skim through, delete any junk and address anything urgent. Then I can read thru 1 or 2 newsletters I subscribe to and keep the inbox numbers down. Knowing I have limited time prevents me from giving too much attention to the non-essential emails. It’s also important to have only a couple of key mentors you follow and unsubscribe from the rest. There is only so much information you can absorb and when overwhelmed you’ll retain even less. Follow only one or two people/gurus/mentors who know what they are doing and are where you want to be.

Home office tasks are ongoing so it is important to set aside time each day to manage this area of your business. A little time spent every day will save a wealth of time and stress in the long run.

3 Reasons Why You Need Home Office Time

Designated home office and business development time are essential for the small business owner. This is the time you can concentrate on your business – plan for the week ahead, learn new skills or software and in effect allow you to serve your clients better and run your business more efficiently and profitably.

If you’re feeling stuck in your business then this may just be the solution to help you build or expand your business and prosper.

Try blocking out a half-an-hour a day, consistently, and focus that time only on home office and business development tasks. If you work better with larger chunks of time, then dedicate one afternoon a week to this purpose instead. Or if you can, do both!

Can’t afford the time? You can’t afford not to. We spend most of our time serving clients and often forget that our business needs us too in order to thrive and grow.

Here are 3 reasons why you need this time and suggestions of things you can do in the allotted time to achieve the benefits:

1. Accomplish more. To enable you to run your business more efficiently, plan for the week ahead. Clear your head of your tasks by putting them all down on paper where you can examine them. Create a daily schedule by marking off blocks of time in your day planner or create your own calendar and customize as you go. Tasks always take longer than expected so plan for this. When you have a realistic plan to follow for your day you can focus on the task at hand without being distracted. Remember to schedule in your home office and business development time! Cross things off your list as you go.

2. Enjoy less chaos. Gradually go through your piles of papers and either recycle/shred, file or take action as necessary. Maintain your business expenses on a daily or weekly basis. Whether you use a simple excel spreadsheet or keep track of your records with accounting software, there will be fewer headaches for you and/or your accountant at tax time if your records are well documented. Take inventory and order any office supplies you are low on. Toss out pens that don’t work and sharpen pencils. When things flow in your office, so does your business.

3. Serve your clients better and attract new business. Learn a new skill that will enhance your offerings. By being proactive and optimizing the use of technology you are providing more value to your clients. Utilize new software that will make things easier for you in your business too. Technology is constantly changing and it will keep you up to speed with your competition. There are many web-based training courses that you can attend from the comfort of your home.

This is pretty basic stuff but if you begin doing this in your business, it’s a good start. Often we need to get back on track in order to move ahead. Try it and let me know how it works for you!