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National Clean Off your Desk Day

Today, January 11th,  is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Personally, I think we should have a Clean Off Your Desk day each month. Most of us could use a shot in the arm when it comes to keeping paper piles at bay. I hope you enjoy these free office organizing tips! If you have quick tips that help you keep your desk clutter free, share them with us.

  Tips to Clean Off Your Desk & Keep it Organized

 

•  If you don’t open your mail every day, toss the mail into an inbox, such as a basket or bin. Then set a goaland be accountable to someone to empty it once a week, i.e. every Friday.

• Set a buzzer on your phone or computer to go off 15 minutes before your work day ends. Spend those 15 minutes clearing off your desk- i.e. filing paper, returning your glass to the kitchen, and pencils back in the pencil cup.

• Use your calendar as much as possible. Instead of having piles of paper that pertain to different projects stacked all over, schedule the individual tasks of the project onto your calendar ( to remind you to complete the project) and file away all that paper. Of course make sure the project paper is in labeled hanging folders and store all projects in one file drawer or in project folders/pouches.  

• Purchase a business card & receipt scanner- my favorites are  www.neatreceipts.com or www.cardscan.com. Business cards and receipts can really pile up quickly if not taken care of immediately.  Start tracking business expenses easily and stop wasting lead opportunities for yourself or your business partners by losing track of contact information.  
• Toss your post its & misc. pads of paper out. Instead get yourself a small four by eight inch notebook in a bright color or pattern. Take it with you everywhere and at the start of each new day, date the top of a new clean page. Then throughout that day write down all your missed phone messages, thoughts, ideas, or tasks to do.  This will help you keep track of all the misc. information you take in on a daily basis and cut down on all the napkins you scribble on in restaurants or random scraps of paper in the car that end up getting lost.
• Purchase a large waste basket and shredder. Paper accumlates fast and will fill a small garbage can quickly. Using a shredder makes common sense. Shred anything that contains account numbers, blank forms that someone could fill in and forge, date of birth info, and of course social security numbers. Your personal or business address can be bought so there’s no need to shred a slip of paper listing just your address. 
• Create an action center or station on your desk. Sort your paper into actions such as – file, pay, shred, scan, fax, call, mail, pending, etc. Then organize your “action papers” into labeled containers such as stackable trays or file folders in tiered slots/wires. Each user will use different action verbs depending on what their profession is – so use the action verbs that best suit your needs.

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