Get a handle on your desk and beyond with office cleaning in Columbus, Ohio
It’s the age–old apology: “Sorry the place is such a mess.” Whether you have a home office or thousands of square footage for your employees, staying organized can quickly take a backseat to running a business. What’s easy to forget is that organization isn’t just about making a good impression—it can drastically increase your productivity.
So don’t just clean your Columbus, Ohio, office, stay on top of clutter with these eight tips to organize your workspace.
1. Purge your office. It’s time to start from scratch. Grab a trash can and shredder, and pitch everything you don’t need or use regularly. One way to test whether you actually use an item is to put everything from your desk into boxes, and only pull things out as you need them. By the end of the week, whatever’s left probably isn’t critical.
If something doesn’t work, send it to get fixed or throw it out. This applies to everything from staplers to furniture and plants (real or fake). Be ruthless. Are you keeping something because you actually need it, or because you’re hoping to find a use for it down the road?
2. Get labeling. Invest in a good label maker that’s easy to use for shelves, bins and drawers. You can even use clothes pins on baskets or soft storage bins. The benefits are two fold: Labels help you quickly sort, as well as make your job easier by helping others find and put away anything in your workspace.
3. Create a folder system. Piles are easy to come by in any office. As you complete the first step, sort any papers you’re keeping into piles—and stick to them with folders. A couple time–saving folders you might overlook are “meeting” and “WOR”. For your meeting folder, include all “items to be discussed” along with pieces that need to be handed off, reports that need to be given, etc. It’ll help you be prepared for meetings and save you stress in the event that a meeting is pushed up.
A WOR (waiting on response) folder will help you remember any items that need followed up on. When you’re able to keep track of what’s on hold until someone else responds, you’ll be able to stay on top of those tasks that much better. Finally, make sure you have a “To File” folder that you organize at the end of each week. Make sure to file weekly (if not daily).
4. Give everything a home. While it’s tempting to keep odds and ends (think iPad chargers, magazines and headphones) on your desk, that’s a one–way ticket to knickknack hoarding. Finding storage like bins or vintage milk crates can offer a creative catchall for like items. Grab a label, and designate containers for literature, cords, electronics and anything else that can add to the mess.They can also be the perfect place to group oddly shaped items, like samples or oversized binders.
5. Tame your cables. Untangling the jungle of cords surrounding your desk is a daily struggle. LifeHacker recommends rain gutters as a surprisingly awesome and cheap cable management system. Here’s another way to create a “cordless” workspace.
6. Determine a discard date. Again, this tactic is a win–win. Knowing when you can pitch a piece of paper doesn’t just make the future decluttering process quicker, but it also helps keep you mentally on top of due dates and schedules.
7. Plan it in. A good way to continue to keep clutter at bay is to turn each piece of paper that you're hanging on to into an action item in your schedule. For example, "if it's a stack of business cards that you've come back from a networking event with, really it's a series of actions that you need to take and what you want to do is not leave them even in a file, you want to convert those into actual to-dos or calls that are going to go into your calendar," explains Julie Morgensten, a productivity consultant and the author of Organizing from the Inside Out, explains to Inc.
8. Make it a priority. The inevitable thing about work is, it’s going to spread. Don’t be discouraged when you come back to your once–organized desk only to find a jumble of papers and tchotchkes. No matter how clean you keep your workspace, it's going to get messy during the day. To keep all of your newfound organization intact, be sure to clean off your desk every evening. All it takes is a few minutes to file and , and you'll come to a clean desk every morning, ready to work.
"Clutter is so often the result of a time management problem rather than an actual organizing problem," says Morgenstern. "Entrepreneurs are often so overwhelmed, they have so much to do, and the last thing they want is to 'waste' their time on putting things away. But if you can, build in 15 minutes at the end of the day to put everything back where it belongs."
Two Men & A Vacuum provides reasonable commercial cleaning prices that produce outstanding results
If you’re looking for the best office cleaning in Columbus, Ohio, call 614-300-7970 or email info@twomenandavacuum.com for a our commercial cleaning prices today.