Decide how to organize your office closet.
Deciding how to organize your office closet is quite different from dealing with a closet in any other area of your home. If your home office is to serve you well, it should be as separate from the rest of your home as possible, so it’s important that you don’t clutter up your office closet with personal stuff. A home office is often placed in a spare bedroom, with a closet designed for clothes. That means much of it will be hanging space, with one shelf at the top. If that’s the case, you’ll need to add shelving to hold different types of containers. Place them at heights that serve your needs.
Determine your needs to organize your office closet.
So what are those needs? Well in thinking about how to organize your office closet, that’s the first question you need to answer. The more you can keep in an organized closet space, the more efficient your home office will be.
Here are a few suggestions:
• Paper, including a supply of your letterhead as well as all-purpose typing paper
• Envelopes in different sizes according to your business needs
• Pens, pencils, markers (organize your writing utensils)
• Paper clips
• Post-it notes
• Various types of tape
• Files
• Items specific to your type of business, such as graphic tools
Your list will depend on your business, but this is a good start.
Determine the shelf space needed to organize your office closet
To maximize the shelf space in your office closet, make good use of containers. The most versatile and useful type is the clear plastic tub or box, which comes in a variety of sizes and shapes. You can see what’s inside each box, making it easy to find what you need at any time. Use a mix of deep and shallow boxes to make the most of the space within the boxes themselves as well as the shelves. An extremely useful item for your office closet is a three-drawer plastic cabinet, usually just 12 – 18″ tall.
Fill it with various types of paper, etc., slide it onto the shelf and you’ve just tripled your shelf space. You’ll also want to use the floor space in your closet, so leave more space beneath the first shelf. Rolling carts with hanging file folders can fit nicely here, making them easy to access without cluttering up your office. A shredder, although useful, is not a thing of beauty, so it’s a prime candidate for the floor of your closet.
Deciding how to organize your office closet can have a huge impact on the efficiency of your home office. Take time to do it right.