10 Office Organization Tips to Help You Conquer Any Year

While we begin to descend into the year's end, resolutions for 2016 are on our to-do list among year-end filing, taxes, and other important projects. Stay ahead and organized throughout the new year by following these office organization tips:

Prioritize and plan your projects

Keep an ongoing list of projects that you need to work on, and prioritize those tasks based on what will provide you with the most immediate impact to your budget and time. Before getting started on a specific organizing project, write down a few key notes, including what wasn’t working, your ultimate goal for the pace, your budget, and any supplies that you plan to purchase to complete the project.

Establish work areas

Decide what type of activity happens in each area of your office. You’ll probably have a main workspace (most likely your desk,) a reference area (filing cabinet, shelves, binders,) and a supply area (closet, shelves or drawers.) Place the appropriate equipment and supplies in their proper area as much as possible.

Be flexible

Organizing is all about tweaking your systems as your life changes, and it is also a game of trial and error. It is always important to pre-plan your systems and processes, however, it is also important to head into a project with an open mind and some flexibility.

Create a WOR folder

So much of most messy desks are things that are on hold until someone else responds or acts. Put a date on these messy papers and gather them in a WOR (Waiting on Response) QuickFile folder.

Organize your drawers

Put items used together in the same drawer space, stamps with envelopes, sticky pads with notepads, etc. Use drawer organizers for little items – paper clips, tacks, etc. Use a separate drawer for personal items.

Sort mail

Don’t just stick mail in a pile to be sorted or rifle through and take out the pieces you need right now. Sort it as soon as you get it – To act, To read, To file, To delegate or handoff. This mailbox system by Bindertek works great.

Assign discard dates

Mark on files or documents when they can be tossed or shredded. Some legal or financial documents must be kept for a specified length of time. Make sure you know what those requirements are.

File weekly

Put your papers in a “To File” folder and file everything once a week.

Magazine boxes

Use magazine boxes or binders to store magazines and catalogs you really want to store.

Simple is the key to continued success

Sometimes just tossing items into a concealed binder or filing system is the perfect solution. There is not always a need to over-complicate a system. The second that you have to take multiple steps to put something away, the less likely you will be to do it.

Organizing your office doesn’t have to take days, it can be done a little at a time. In fact, maintaining an organized office is much more effective if you treat it like an ongoing project, instead of a massive undertaking. So, if you’re ready to get started, Bindertek provides organizational tools so that you can get the job done effectively.