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Welcome to Day 2 of 7 Days To An Organized Home Office.
Today’s task will take about 1 hour for the average home office. Depending on your home office situation you may need more or less time.
We’re going to redesign your office space today. First we’ll create zones, then we’ll re-allocate space according to my real estate model.
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DId Day 1 and 2 together and got my whole space reorganized. Sat down and had a chat with the kids about the use of the space and now feel I have stuff set up and ready to go.
Great! Nice touch to get your kids involved with the space too, Debbie.
We mostly use our office for bill paying, other household projects on the computer, or in my husbands case gaming. I would like to utilize the space for hobbies as well. I am planning on graph paper how my furniture will be laid out once we move into our new home. I do also store most of our books in the office as well, but we don’t normally read the books in the this space. I plan to move some of my books to another space after we move depending on where the books are most utilized.
I love a wall of books Tami!!
During my Purge on Day 1 I got rid of heaps and heaps of papers (that I’ve been keeping for years “just in case” I need them for my teaching)! it was such a great feeling putting the piles of paper in the bin! I accidentally found a Handwriting sheet I need for my students (in the scrap paper pile!) I realised that I do not use my resources effectively as, when I need one, I can’t find it as I have too much stuff! With all the online stuff now there’s no way I need all these bits of paper, so I will keep at it bit by bit. I love the idea of allocating the frequently used things to the ‘prime real estate’ places, which I guess is what I do already. It will be in a more organised way in future though! Thanks Michelle!
It’s my absolute pleasure, Anne! Isn’t that a great feeling – to get rid of things you don’t need AND to realize you can make better use of the things you do decide to keep.
More progress today, and I am so happy! I’m really grateful for your course Michele, it’s terrific. Thank you! Permission to Purge has been wonderful. Today I created zones on my 4 shelf bookshelf – filing folders on the bottom, an interest shelf at the top and a shelf each for my house build and my uni assignments. It’s been tough not to Do things as I action the day’s task but having my 5 boxes is helping on that front, and if I come across a bill I let myself Do that, kind of like a reward. Plus, I’ve found it hard to remain positive at times because there is just sooo much stuff to get through. But I keep reminding myself I am Organising in 7 days not Resolving every bit of my accumulated stuff in 7 days and that is helping; mind you, there is a lot of resolving happening – 2 huge boxes of paper recycling already 🙂
Wow Jorja – your comment has made my day! It’s such a pleasure to hear what you’ve achieved. You’re very wise to reward yourself along the way – even if it is with bill-paying! And to recognize that you’re ‘Organising in 7 days not Resolving every bit of my accumulated stuff in 7 days’. Fantastic!! 🙂
Done! And very excited as to how it’s going to look in there when it’s finished. In this process I’ve come up with a few new ideas as to how to better store my craft gear as well. Still purging though…
Excellent progress Karen!
Oh man! Trying to catch up here. I was sick for the past two days. I hope you keep this online after 7 days so I can finish. I have my 3 main zones figured out and once I get home will make some changes.
Don’t worry Kokeb – the program will remain open for 2 months after March 18 (if you’re a Premium Subscriber you have full access for as long as you’re a member). Take your time! I’ll keep checking all 7 days for comments so I will find you. 🙂
Thank you for the motivation! I finally finished the purging with one empty filing cabinet and 5 bags! I really had to think about the different zones as our office is used for many different things – homeschool, home business, bill pay, and crafting. But I feel so much better now that everything has a place!
It took me two days to get rid of all the junk and 5 bags! I even cleaned out a filing cabinet and it is headed to the dumpster. (I have other filing cabinets for filing stuff.) Really stopped to identify my zones (homeschool, bill pay, business and craft) Got every thing sorted and I feel so much better! Thank you for the motivation.
Wow Jami – that’s fantastic! Thank YOU for doing the hard work. 🙂
I’m just wondering… do you actually maintain your desktop that empty? Not even a couple of pens and notepaper in sight? My biggest downfall seems to be the clutter that accumulates on the desktop, but I do like having the things I use daily – phone, journal, pens, notepaper – immediately available for use. Any advice for keeping items accessible but not accumulating clutter?
If I’m in work mode Cheryl I keep my diary and pen on my desk. But when I’m done I put them away in my top drawer. It takes 2 seconds! I really like to feel I’m starting fresh each day. And you know what? It’s easier to keep the clutter away when there’s nothing on your desk. An uncluttered surface is great motivation for putting that bill straight into the filing cabinet!
PS My advice would be to save space in your top drawer or most accessible location for those immediate-use items. Pull them out when you start a work session and put them away when you’re done.
At work, I keep the left file drawer in my desk empty:) At the end of the day, I put whatever is in my desk in there. The next day–I get it all out and put my bag and lunch in the drawer! It works great! at home…not so much…until NOW:)
Love this idea Ann!
Oh, and to answer the question… while still purging, I have made plans to make zones. I will have a zone for business, school (we homeschool), and crafting. My shelving is already zoned for kids books, reference books, and genealogy research. I will have to move or get rid of some things to make room for the shelving I need for school stuff (we just started).
They sound like perfect zones Becky, given the different hats you’ll need for each of those activities.
I am doing this a little slow…but still doing it! Will we have access to all this information after this week? I am looking at a week and a half with everything else we have scheduled in our little world.
Go at your own pace Becky. You’ll have access to the program for 2 months from Day 1 (March 18). 🙂
I don’t really have a home office–so files and supplies and equipment has been scattered all over the house! So I am going at this a bit differently–I spent some time yesterday pondering where is the best place to have the printer, supplies, files, mail-sorting area…and then cleaned out that space with the sorting. Today I gathered all the files, printer, supplies, etc., and re-located them to the new designated office area. Just doing this has improved my attitude about bill paying!
What you’ve done is the perfect alternative for someone without a home office, Ann – you’ve basically created one! This is a great start.
I’m good at having this close to me that I use often and farther away for things I don’t use so often. But creating zones for non business related items I’ll have to think about. I don’t have a clear division of where my business life ends and my personal life begins. I guess as far as projects go, they’re mostly business related.
Hi Cheryl. The main benefits of zones are that they help you access the ‘right’ kind of motivation and headspace for different activities, and they help you feel organized. Also, if you want a clearer division between work and personal, then zones will help that too.
I have also completed this day in my work office which is obviously just the one zone in the context described able, but I have thought through for example the following as the kinds of things I need to be able to do in my work office: computer work (email, reports etc.), telephone and Webex meetings, brainstorming and planning, reading (well in a communal break out area not too far away) and meetings. The last one needs me to organise a small meeting table which will probably involve me being ruthless with my filing or moving it elsewhere – a combination of both I suspect. I want to try and adopt the same ways and methods of working both at home and in the office hence trying to tackle both at once.
With zones it has a lot to do with the mind-space you need – eg solitary vs group; left-brain vs right-brain, etc.
I have identified the zones I need, although I am reserving judgement on whether the household centre zone might need to be elsewhere in my home – maybe not. I have rearranged what was left in the office into these zones based on your advice with regards to their frequency of use. I feel like I am somewhat cheating a little at the mo as the room adjacent to the office has that paperwork I am pretending isn’t really there, but has to come back into the office from it’s crazy storage place! Everyone else sounds like they are going great guns with all the stuff they are shifting. I love hearing that I am not the only one that gets such a kick out of the space clearing exercises Michele keeps us on our toes with – where would we be without you Michele? (Honestly? I’d be hiding from the home office downstairs on the sofa with good ole bottle of the red stuff – now there’s an idea!) ;-).
Haha I love your comments Amanda! If you’re thinking about what you really need, releasing what you don’t, and taking action, then you’re not cheating. Everything that moves you forward is the right thing. One step at a time. 🙂
I’ve started a day late….and started that late in the evening…. I’m sure it will take a lot more than 2 hours for me to just clear the floor & shelves… so I’m forging ahead with that. I have a purely dedicated home office… and I don’t do much “personal” stuff in here. So when I get to this step, my main thing will be to sort out the real estate and get stuff within easy reach etc.
Just do what feels right Jodie. If you feel like spending longer on Day 1, do so. It will actually make all the other steps easier.
I can’t believe the junk I’m finding and getting rid of. What a great feeling to see empty shelves! I am not hanging on to so much “stuff” from now on!
It’s a really great feeling Shelley! And that’s a fantastic resolution. 🙂
I have been purging for hours and still going…feeling tired, but better! I do have zones, but can refine these a little. Love the real estate concept!
Yes Sonia this part is exhausting! But it will make the rest of the week so much better. 🙂
Another whole trash bag for this day, and two very large boxes of goodwill items. I am seeing a difference, but I did have a tough time with today. I have so many ‘projects’ with all the various parts all smooshed together. Making ‘zones’…why didn’t I think of that? Also, I am wondering why I’ve held on to so much for so long. Anyway, good effort today!
This aspect of organizing is something I understand and is not an issue. I am going to continue to purge on Day 2. Even with 8 boxes of stuff cleared out today, I have not even made a dent! But once I unearth everything again…things are in the right zones as you describe! Yeah! 😉
Good plan Terri. More boxes!!