Spring Cleaning Your Office: How To Get Rid of Clutter

It’s that time of the year again where we shed the baggage and clutter we’ve collected over another long winter and clean things up! Whether you’re working from home or in a business building, an office can be an incredibly disorganized and untidy space. If you feel like your clutter has gotten out of control, then check out our guide onhow to get rid of clutter and spring cleaning your office.

Before you start spring cleaning, take a picture of your desk and office space, it’ll make for a great before photo to compare to when you finish!

Distinguish the Essential From the Nonessential

Clutter is another word for stuff that isn’t essential. Before you clean, you need to get rid of some stuff. Start with the most basic organization method: separating the essentials from the nonessentials. What supplies and documents do you need to do your job, and what is just some leftover stuff?

Remember you don’t need to keep everything in your office. Think about what you need to have handy in your office space and what can you can put in another room or storage? Think of this step like cleaning out your desktop computer of all those downloads and folders you used once and didn’t bother to delete after.

Digitize and Shred Documents

As you sort through your office’s essential and nonessential documents, think of what you need physical copies of and what you can digitize. Scanning documents not only allows you to get rid of physical copies but makes the information more secure and accessible.

Be careful when disposing of physical documents containing sensitive information for your work and personal life. You should shred old documents that you would worry about other people seeing.

Condense the Essentials

Now that you have your essential office materials, you should condense them. Over time, we all accrue duplicates and copies of things we already have. Ask yourself, “Do I need 400 pens and 3 staplers?” Probably not. Did you find document copies of the same information? Pick one and lose the rest.

Organize by Use

You’ve sorted your stuff, so you only have the essentials. Now, it’s time to organize your materials. What are you using every day? Put those materials front and center. What materials are essential but you only have use for once a week or once a month? Tuck those away somewhere safe but out of the way.

Now you’ve spring cleaned your office to get rid of clutter and optimized your space for practical use. It feels good, right? Go back to that picture you took before you began; you’ll marvel at all the clutter you used to put up with!