5 Easy Ways to Organize Your Home Office Desk

Working from home can be a dream come true for many. However, without someone constantly looking over your shoulder and monitoring your workspace it can be very easy to start neglecting the organization of your home office desk.

If your desk is filled with clutter, it’s definitely going to affect your ability to find important documents when you need them most.

The worst thing about clutter is that it also begins to affect your ability to think clearly. The clutter not only takes up space on your desk, but in your mind as well.

Give your home office desk – and your work flow – an update with these five easy practices:

1. Keep Distractions At Bay

You don’t want to lose focus while you’re working, right? It can take a long time to build up your focus and get into a flow while you’re working. The last thing you want is for a silly instagram notification to throw you out of that zone.

Make work time strictly work time.

Keep the distractions away from your desk when it’s time to work. These distractions can be things such as your phone, smart watch or anything else that can possibly compete for your attention.

You can set specific time aside (i.e., 5 minutes every hour) to get up, walk around and go check your devices. I advise keeping these smart devices in a separate room while you are focusing on work.

Doing this will free up space on your desk and in your mind.

2. Feed Your Trash Can

Do yourself a favor and remove unnecessary items from your desk. Look at each item taking up space on your desk and ask yourself the following question:

“Do I use this every day?”

If the answer is “No”, either store it away somewhere that you can find it if you need to (see number 3) or throw it in the trash!

If you don’t use it every day for your work, there is no need for it to take up space on your desk (or in your mind) every day!

Throw away pens that don’t work anymore, expired documents, bills that you’ve already paid and papers that you don’t use or need.

When your desk is clear, you’re finally able to see what’s been hiding underneath all of the clutter and can clean any dust or grime that has built up (if there is any).

3. Use a Desk Organizer

Your home office desk is incomplete without a compact and durable desk organizer.

Let’s face it. Your desk has limited space. But, sometimes you need to be able to file things away for a few days until you need them again, but you don’t want to completely lose track of them.

It’s also nice to have quick access to any office supplies that you may need without them taking up space on your desk (e.g., scissors, stapler, sticky notes, calculator, file folders, extra pens, etc).

Investing in a nice desk organize is key to optimizing your desk space. I recommend checking this one out.

Click here to view the SimpleHouseware Mesh Desk Organizer.

Using a desk organizer allows your home office desk to become more functional while incorporating a nice professional aesthetic.

4. Protect Your Home Office Desk

Your home office desk is something that helps you earn money — why not show it some love?

An office desk mat will ensure that no scratches or scuffs pass through to your desk while you conduct your days work. It also doubles as a mouse pad or writing pad.

It’s water resistant so it can even function as a coaster for the coffee or tea you sip on throughout the workday.

If you choose to get an office desk mat in a color you like it also helps bring some life to your desk. I recommend taking a look at this one.

They have a bunch of colors and sizes to choose from and have almost 10,000 5-star ratings. Click here to view the Aothia Leather Desk Pad Protecter.

5. Keep Important Items Close By

In No. 2, we asked the question:

“Do I use this everyday?”

If your answer was “Yes”, make sure to keep that item close by where it is readily accessible. You can store it in your desk organizer or by your side on your office desk mat.

You want to make sure that you’re not spending unnecessary time searching for items that you use over and over again throughout the day. This is a sure fire way to waste time and tank your productivity.

TLDR;

Starting to work from home is very exciting. Keep in mind that the excitement (like anything) fades away with time; to keep that excitement alive, focus on giving yourself an ideal work environment using the methods above.

Change things up from time to time. Reposition your desk. Change which side of your desk the desk organizer is on. Add color where you can. Get a candle. Buy a pen you really like. Get a notebook or paper that you enjoy writing on. Get a desk plant.

Allow your home office desk to be a living, breathing, environment that you cultivate for maximum enjoyment and productivity.