As I’ve been spending my free time decluttering my home office to create a proper work zone, I realized how much non-office stuff found it’s way there. There was a tub of game controllers, for example. But along with those obvious items were a lot of items that snuck in with the paperwork. These are the items that I’m going to discuss purging from your office.
For the One Room Challenge, I decided to clean up my act and my office space. The One Room Challenge is a design challenge that encourages participants to completely finish a room makeover in 6 weeks. You can read find more guest participant projects on their site, and also see the featured designer projects.
As I’ve been working in my office (check out the before) there are a few common categories that keep popping up. Now, this home office is for a multi-passionate entrepreneur so there are a few business tools and supplies kept here. The office is also my diy studio, or is now thanks for this amazing workstation my husband built for me!
But I want to go over some items that I am removing from my home office so I have the room for creativity and getting work done. #hustle
Topic 1: Photos
I had inadvertently found myself storing piles of photos in the office to “one day” be sorted and stored properly. I had to be honest with myself as some of these had been sitting around collecting dust for years. If I hadn’t done them yet, the odds were slim that I’d have time to do them in the future. I found a proper storage tote for the ones I wanted to keep (family photos, old albums, baby photos) and got rid of the ones with no value. A lot of them are kept on hard drives too so why have double when the digital image is available?
Topic 2: Excessive Office Supplies
This one was the most time consuming as I had a lot of supplies. The thing with being a DIYer and creator is that I can usually find a use for an object or random scraps of paper. Part of my job is discovering a creative new way to repurpose various items! But it’s easy to get an overabundance of supplies that could be used “one day”. Some honesty was required as I asked myself if I really loved the wallpapers, patterned papers, and blank decor objects I was hanging on to.
There was also a large amount of pens, markers, sharpies, and pencil crayons sitting around. As much as an extra pen comes in handy, 10’s a crowd. I picked out favorites and gathered the rest, along with other craft supplies, to donate to some children’s programs in the area.
Topic 3: Storage Containers
Funnily enough, for how dysfunctional my office studio was, I had a lot of little storage containers. While some of these would be very useful for others, they were not working for me. So it was time to part ways with the organizers that weren’t working to make room for ones that would. Individual drawer trays and containers for small scrapbook pieces were not what I needed anymore. Now, the need was for larger storage and more bins for a common topic such as paints, ropes or wood scraps, instead of beads, gems, and bows.
Topic 4: Extra Home Decor
Ack! This one hurt. I see so much potential in projects that I get more projects than I have time for. In doing so, my office started to become a storage place for home decor not being used. Or for broken home decor. The key to getting through this was asking myself if I truly loved an item or would tackle the project in a reasonable amount of time. If the answer was no to either, then it was put in the donation bin, or tossed if it was broken. There’s always going to be more projects popping up.
Topic 5: Old Papers
It’s not hard for me to openly admit to having a paperwork problem. I tend to let it pile up, then spend a long length of time trying to reorganize it, sort through what needs to be kept or recorded and what’s scrap. I’ve tried different methods of paper organization but have yet to find one that sticks. Perhaps with a dedicated space it will be easier to stick to a system. Time will tell. Leave me a comment if you have found a system that helps you!
How’d I Do?
In time, the efforts from cleaning and purging these 5 categories in my home office will really start to show. The immediate effect is the feeling that there is space to breathe and be creative. Being able to have room to move around in your office studio, and feeling good in it, make a big difference for creativity. It makes all the hard work so worth it!
Pin 5 Items To Purge From Your Home Office!
Junette says
I know it is hard to purge your craft supplies, but it also feels good at the same time, right? And it is so true what you say about DIY projects you’ve got lined up. I’m also going to start applying that rule – because there will always be another project, but we don’t have time to do them all.
I don’t have a good filing system, but I realised a couple of years ago that I was keeping paperwork that I would NEVER need again. Now I only keep the really essential items and have signed up for electronic statements and bills as far as possible. So it does help if you have less paperwork to manage.
Sara-Lynn Houk says
It was such a necessary part of the process. I had more craft supplies than what I would reasonably use, a lot that I was hanging on to “just in case”. But it would get passed over every time because I wasn’t in love with the pattern or color, etc. Great job working on paper management! Paperwork can really take up a lot of space, physically and mentally!