Organizing the Office: The Plan

Ever since taking on updates to our former home, attempting to maintain our current home, and completing a few projects, organization in our current home began to fall by the wayside. So now that the new year is here, I hope to get our home back in shape, starting with the office aka our multi-purpose space. In doing so, I've come up with a plan to tackle projects in manageable chunks.


From Melissa-ididit
Unfortunately, my soon to be piles will not look too dissimilar

Office Organization

1. Deal with the paper clutter. Paper clutter seems to be one of my worst organizational enemies. I seem to accumulate it no matter how much I attempt to shred, file, or remove it from my life. So here's the plan, I have ten file cabinet drawers and two boxes of paper stuff. I'll give myself two weeks, or ten working days to go through each sort, file, and discard. Some of my paper clutter stems from partially complete projects. I will not get distracted by those projects, instead, as a reward to myself, when cleaning the cabinets is complete, I can then also complete those projects.

2. Deal with the gift wrap clutter. Each year I buy wrapping paper, gift bags and boxes, bows, etc., never realizing that I already had some of these items in stock until after I needed them. Well, we are going to put an end to that. The Plan: First thing's first, purge. Second, gather like items with like. Third, put all gift wrapping items in one location. No more hunting for items scattered throughout the house. This should limit purchasing extras and will allow everyone to know where the gift wrap is located.

3. Deal with the craft clutter. I am very excited to share a hobby with my mother-in-law. She is a very talented sewer (seamstress?) and has shared tools, tips, techniques, fabrics, and patterns with me. I have much to learn from her. I also like to dabble with flowers, ribbons, photography, small paint projects, and genealogy. The office was getting a bit crowded and I allowed my clutter to overflow into the guest bedroom. The Plan: Inventory. Sort. Purge as needed. File sewing paper patterns. Give each craft or hobby a designated home.

4. Deal with The Mister's clutter. In a past life, The Mister was very much into electronics and acquired a lot of electronic-type items. I am not very tech savvy so I could not begin to explain what these items are or what they do. Over the past two years, many of these items have been sitting in boxes in the office. The Plan: Ask The Mister to go through the boxes. Sort and Purge as needed. For items that stay, designate a place for The Mister to store them.

5. Deal with shoe clutter. The office also acts as our main entry/mudroom. Shoes, coats, and dog leashes have a tendency to pile up around the door and make entering and exiting a tripping hazard. The Plan: Build a shoe cubby/bench. More on this in a later post.

I think this will give me enough to start. Anyone else working on decluttering? Is paper clutter your nemesis too? Any tips on storing fabric or craft items?