The Best Approach for Organizing Your Home Office

Guess what March 8th is? I mean, based on the title alone, I’m hoping you’re able to take an educated leap into figuring it out. That’s right…it’s National Organize Your Home Office Day! I don’t know about yall, but I need to organize my home office.

My home office is also part craft room. It holds my 6′ tall loom. It holds my sewing machine…in fact, my sewing table is also my desk. To the left of my sewing table/desk is a corner with an old chair that is covered in fabric. Behind the loom is paint supplies.

To the right and kind of behind my sewing table/desk are my two floor-to-wall bookshelves that are both currently teeming with books and…crap. On the ground, another box of paint supplies, a standing holder for my cross-stitch, which, by the way, I can’t seem to find all of the thread which was stored together. For this one pattern, all of the supplies cost me $120. Grandma’s chair is on the back wall. To the left of it is a yoga ball and who knows what else.

Oh, and I found an Oreo cookie house kit I thought I gave away. Fun fact: I opened it up and ate the fucking cookies! The room is a right mess. There’s all kinds of paperwork covering my desk. It’s just..rough. It’s rough because during the winter I don’t use the room very much. It’s fucking cold in there.

Here’s the best approach for organizing your home office. I’ve found that it works for everyone, regardless of personality.

Home Office Organization Step 1:

The first I plan to do and what you should do is look around and remove obvious trash. Don’t dig for trash. Just look for things that you can get to that needs to go. Throw it away.

Home Office Organization Step 2:

Take shit out of your office that does not belong. So, my office serves a dual purpose. It’s also where I sew and do other things. I bet, though, there are things I see (such as Uriel’s toys) that don’t belong… So, remove the things that do not belong and put them up. Don’t just clutter up some other place (and I just as guilty about doing this as anyone else).

Home Office Organization Step 3:

Deal with the paper clutter. If you don’t need it, get rid of it. If you do need it or think you need it, get some file folders and file it away…or scan it and organize it. I have papers that need to be filed away. I am sure that I also have paper in there that I need to just throw away. I noticed the other day that I still have an old envelope from early 2021 that I wrote notes down on from my mom’s old oncology nurse…and my mother finished cancer treatment in June of last year. Safe to say that I can toss that paper in the trash…especially since my mother refuses to follow her doctor’s instructions in general.

If you do not deal with paper clutter, it gets MUCH worse. Even if you can’t take care of all of it today, start on it.

Home Office Organization Step 4:

Dust your desk and bookshelves. Look, I don’t know if you want or can take an entire day to totally organize your home office. Sometimes just getting started will motivate you to keep going. Sometimes if you have kids or shit to do, you won’t get much else done…or you have to do a little bit at a time. When you get everything picked up and put where it goes, dust your desk and bookshelves (if you have them).

What’s your top tip for organizing your home office?