The Shelves

Ah yes, the illusive office shelves.  Home to books you’ll never read, magazines that are outdated, and random papers that you have yet to sort through.  Now is the time to get those things done.

Too much stuff on your shelves is not only an eyesore, but it is also a safety hazard.  Those mounds are being held up by little bitty nails.  How much faith do you have in your current lackluster arrangement?  To de-clutter your office you need to also organize the items on your shelves.

Put things in their proper home, while throwing out old items that no longer serve a purpose.  The average paper record is only good for 5-7 years (even taxes in some cases).  On top of that, we now live in a digital age where most records can be stored electronically.  Do you really need to hang on to those dusty, allergen-infested piles of papers that have made a home on your office shelves?  Are all those books necessary when you could simply download the material to your computer or mobile device? The answer is probably no, and the task of sorting through it all is likely easier than you think.

Here are three basic rules for organizing and de-cluttering your office shelves:

1. If it’s part of a collection, collect it.
2. If it’s obsolete or if there is a better way, find it.
3. Like attracts like – keep books with books, papers with papers, collections with collections, and papers with papers.

These useful tips will assist you in creating a workable and organized system within your office while could ultimately streamline your work and help you get more things done.  As an added bonus, a de-cluttered, organized, and systematic office will promote better business and personal habits – good news for people who foresee a cluttered office becoming a recurring problem.