work from home organization

October 3, 2016 0 Comments

3 Tips to Fall Into Organization

As the season changes into fall, the routine of life gets back into gear. It’s also a prime time to consider organization as a work from home employee. When your home is also your workplace, it’s important that organization is a key component to your daily life. In a home office, you don’t have a cleaning crew to keep your office nice and neat on a daily basis, so it’s up to you to establish this routine.

Read along for some best practices for “falling” into organization this season!

Manage your environment

A disorganized office or home can set you up for overwhelm and failure from the get go. Make it a point to keep your spaces neat and tidy, which is known for boosting productivity. This also keeps you from wanting to spend your day cleaning and organizing, which can be avoided with a cleaning schedule.

A cluttered space is often a cluttered mind, so do your best to organize your desk, home, and general living space so that you can give as much productivity as possible to your home based job.

Make it a daily habit

All you need is 10 minutes per day! Once your system of organization is set up, simply spend at least 10 minutes per day staying that way. Whether you choose a detailed filing system, color-coded documents, or just very well organized computer files, be sure that you’re taking the time every single day to look at these items.

When organization becomes a habit, it becomes part of our life. Research suggests that it takes 21 days to make a new habit, so do your best to stick it out for at least 3-4 weeks, especially if organization isn’t your thing! You might just find that you’re more productive, your mind is more clear, and you’re much more able to find needed items and files when they’re needed.

Keep it separate

Although this is more of a mental organization tip, it can also do wonders for your physical space – an office or a computer organizational system. Make sure all your clients, employees, and employers are kept separate, as to clear up space in your head. When you’re constantly putting everything together, you have to take the time to decipher which item, email, or request is from which client.

Since many work from home employees hold numerous freelance positions, organization here is more important than ever. If you want to keep everything in one place, such as a master to do list, organize your clients or employers by color-coding them. This will allow you to quickly see which tasks are for which person, leaving your brain power for the important items – your work!

Organization doesn’t need to be difficult or time consuming – it just has to become part of your life. When you’re organized as a home based employee, your productivity is much higher and you’re able to produce more accurate and efficient work for your clients.

Think of how much easier it will be to find those folders or emails once everything is set! Organization frees up time and mental space from the clutter – the clutter of seeking items you can’t find, and the clutter of a disorganized workspace that generally brings down your workday. Put in the time now and reap the rewards daily!

Written by Jessica Nicklos

March 22, 2016 0 Comments

5 Steps to An Organized Office

Organization is the key to success! Creating and maintaining systems of organization will allow you to work more effectively, efficiently, and with less chaos.

From your computer screen to your most important files, taking the time to organize will streamline your daily process and your office into a manageable system that seems to run itself. Read along for some best practices in establishing a sufficient, organized office.

Declutter first

The golden rule of cleaning and organization is to declutter first, organize second. It’s important to get all of the “junk” off of workspace before you can begin to organize it. Take a day to go through every single paper, office supply, magazine, piece of mail, and so on, and put it into organized piles.

From here, invest in organization tools that will keep your items in order. Think mail bins, desktop office supply organizers, shelving for more space, and so on.

Don’t forget your computer

Your desk isn’t the only thing that can become highly disorganized! Your computer is equally as chaotic when it’s not in order. Start with your desktop – remove or digitally file away all of those past files, while creating new folders and files that make sense to you. Be sure that everything looks neat and orderly,and make sure it’s all easily accessible. We spend so much time viewing our computer during the day, and removing the clutter from your desktop and old files removes mental and visual clutter!

Not only is your desktop important to organize, but so is your inbox. Make sure that emails and accounts are segmented by job position, employer, task, and so on. Create a system that makes important communications easy to find! Flagging messages is also a great way to stay organized and find things easily.

File it

Filing is incredibly important, especially for important items like tax information, business expenses, and so on. Keep things clear and simple by categorizing, creating a color code system, or using a label maker and folders to segment your items.

Don’t just shove things in a file! Keep them organized and set up a filing appointment weekly. You can also look into digital filing systems for business cards and important documents, which is especially important for taxes and business structure.

Use the space

There’s a probably a lot of office space that you’re not utilizing! There’s wall space for extra shelving, under desk space which is great for filing boxes and cabinets, and desk drawer space for organized office supplies. Closets are good for old binders, extra printer paper, and so on.

Put as many items out of view (in an organized way, of course!) as possible. Vow to keep your desk as a clutter-free zone that only includes the most necessary items. Don’t forget to go through and keep your desk drawer and/or organizers in order as well.

Everything in its place

Everything has a place and it’s your job to keep it that way. Set up a designated area for work, which would be your desk, a place for all of your filing and organizational items, like your filing cabinet, and a place for older items, such as a shelf in your closet.

When you take the time to establish an organizational system that works for you, it’s so much easier to find important items and stay on track. It also clears the mental and physical clutter from your life, which is not only healthy, but much more efficient.

Written by Lesley Pyle

August 24, 2015 0 Comments

4 Steps to Stop Disorganization

Disorganization is a top killer of productivity and time, but it can also bring you more stress than necessary.

We all get off track from time to time, but setting up a system of organization is a large part of working from home. Since working from home requires a lot of self discipline and independent work, it’s important that organization be at the front of your home based toolkit. Here are some tips and tricks to keep organization at the forefront of your business.

Make a decision

If disorganization is an issue that’s hindering your work progress, start by making a decision to be more organized. It does take some effort in the beginning, and it will absolutely go against what you’ve been doing.

Know why you want to be organized – are you falling behind in work? Missing deadlines? Spending too many hours finding items that should be right in front of you? Knowing the reasons makes it easier to clear them in the future.

Do it daily

Choose an item of organization to complete daily, especially in the beginning of your journey. To create a habit, 21 days of repeated effort must be given. Even if you make a habit to clear off your desktop, color code your files, or decide on an online organization system, make it a mission to do one substantial organization task daily.

Declutter your mind

Organization is not just important for the practical reasons of efficiency and productivity; it can also affect your mind and stress levels.

Consider what goes on in your head when all of your tasks, files and work items are lost, disorganized, or not easily accessible. You spend a lot of time, energy and mental power focusing on these things.

Yes, decluttering your mind comes from establishing better habits and systems, but it’s also important to diffuse your stress and workday with other tasks – throw in a load of laundry if you get a minute, take a few minutes to walk outside, or simply relax with some tea. During the physical decluttering process, be sure to declutter and nurture your mind as well.

Create a system

A system of organization is your best defense against unexpected delays and missed days of work. Whether you use a task organization program such as Trello or Basecamp, or simply input your information into Google Docs or a Word document, it’s important to get it down on paper.

A system can be as simple as laying out each day according to task, employer, time frame, etc. It’s best to go with something that makes sense to you so you will continue. Color coding can be helpful, as can sharing tasks and completed items with team members.

Once your preferred system has been established, it’s up to you to keep repeating it. Make tweaks as necessary, but get into the habit of doing things on a daily, weekly, and task-based basis. Whatever works best for you will stick in the long run!

Small Business / Employer
Job Seeker

Hire My Mom

Legit work from home jobs