Home Office 101

If you have an office at home, or if you work in a small office, it’s vital you keep it well organized so the office does its job: that is, it keeps you organized, able to quickly locate such essential papers as tax records, insurance documents, customer data and other information.

Below are 6 straightforward rules to abide by:

Keep the desk clear.
Whether it’s a home office or an office that serves a small business, the desktop is the “home base” for productivity, the area where you actually work and get things done. Always keep the desk free of stray papers, clutter and other things that can thwart productivity and also cause items to get lost.

Use “tickler” files.
In a home office, you surely have “pending” bills to pay. Set up a special temporary file for these, and as they’re paid, move the paperwork to a permanent file. In a small office the same holds true. “Hot” files such as daily timesheets could go in a tickler file, then be moved after they are used to a permanent file.

Have a desk diary, and use it. Small offices and home offices need a “blueprint” for the tasks that need to be completed. Set up a daily diary and update it each day so that nothing falls through the cracks.

Set aside a regular time for filing. Loose papers will quickly turn into messy mountains if you let them. Designate a time, once a day or maybe only once a week, to regularly file your paperwork in an organized filing system.

Maintain your computer. Your PC is likely a focal point of your home office or small office, you rely on it, you need it to keep functioning properly. Run the defragmentation utility frequently (every few months or so), and always back up your work from the hard drive onto other media such as CDs, DVDs or external drives.

Organize the flow of information.
Be certain to take steps to manage incoming papers such as mail, and also outgoing items. A desktop organizer would work very well for this. In addition to “hardcopy” information, also organize the flow of emails by creating a digital folder for incoming emails and a separate folder for ones you want to save.