Read Ann Rusnak’s featured article titled “Tackling the Clutter Monster – Part 3”.


Ann Rusnak featured article is reprinted here:

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Tackling the Clutter Monster – Part 3

Clutter – Those messes in life that choke you both mentally and physically. If you don’t eliminate them, both you and your business suffer.

Clutter, chaos, and disorganization make it hard to see straight and stay focused on the things you want to accomplish. Getting rid of clutter is not about cleaning. It is about increasing focus and decreasing interference. Removing clutter is a process whose return on investment grows exponentially in gaining more time.

Today we’ll finish organizing and removing clutter from the office and conclude next week with strategies on keeping it that way.

How’s your office organizing project coming along? Did you break everything down into small steps? Breaking it down in small steps or areas enables you to spend 15 minutes a day removing the clutter. However, some steps of your project may require a larger time block to complete.

Part of the disorganization problems with our office resulted from the layout. That ranked number 3 on my list. This meant moving furniture and that wouldn’t fit in a 15 minute time block. I blocked a half day on the calendar for the rearranging step.

Give careful consideration to your layout, even if it’s just a corner in a room. You want to retrieve often used items with very little effort all from sitting in your chair. The more you can do from your chair, the more you’ll get finished with fewer distractions.

We needed to run two offices from one space. Although a degree in Interior Design, specializing in office ergonomics helps. You can easily accomplish your ideal office layout with these tips. Begin using a blank piece of paper to layout different areas in the office.

I divided our space with an imaginary diagonal line with my business one side and my husband’s on the other side; shared equipment area, office supply storage, shared bookcase area and personal area. We placed a large bookcase next to his desk. Items often used by him we placed within his arm’s reach near the desk. Lesser used shared items went on the other end of the bookshelf. The shared equipment stayed in my office area.

Tips on Office Layout

Measure your office and using ¼ scale, sketch your office space on ¼ grid paper. Don’t forget to include doorway openings, the way the door swings into the space, windows, and the height of the window sill from the floor.

Measure your office furniture and cut out ¼ scale pieces of paper to represent the furniture. You can move the “paper” furniture around to find the best layout for your office. You can also purchase an inexpensive office layout software program.

If you need to purchase any furniture, you’ll know the right dimensions that will work in the space. Take your layout with you to the furniture dealer.

Also consider the ergonomic factors in your layout and furniture. You can layout your office to create a more effective work flow, but if your back and wrists ache, you won’t get much done. If you spend much time at your desk and in front of the computer, invest in a good chair. A reputable furniture dealer will allow you try the chair in your office before purchasing.

I can sit for hours and work at the computer without fatigue or any pain because the ergonomic layout and features of the furniture and equipment. You can learn more at these two sources: http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/modules/ergo/Ergon1.htm and http://office-ergo.com/index.html

Fortunately, I didn’t need to buy any office furniture. Minor rearranging of existing furniture worked for us. However the wrong type of furniture, equipment and accessories can decrease your efficiency and waste valuable time. Last week, I mentioned CD organizers drove me crazy, along with the plastic cases.

Another problem in our office is limited wall space. Door openings, heater vents and windows chop up the walls. Several years ago, I found “tower” bookcases. These narrow bookcases offered more flexibility than the standard width bookcases. I could fit one in the18 inch space between the door and my desk.

While roaming around the office supply store, I came across a pack of CD sleeves. They hold 8 CDs per sheet. I then found heavy duty binders with handles that would hold the sleeves. I can organize the CDs using divider sheets and keep related transcripts in the binders. Four binders fit on a shelf in the tower. That’s how a 12″ space can hold up to 800 CD’s.

Dealing with Mail

The second item on my list that caused big clutter problems was the mail. Funny, my email didn’t cause problems like good old fashion snail did. Mail handling problems derived from following “someone” else’s system and rules.

You probably heard you need to keep your personal and business stuff separated. That’s highly recommended for your checkbook and credit cards. Don’t mix those items. When you run a home office, your business mail comes with regular mail. Keeping the mail, stamps, envelopes, bills etc. in two different desks wasted more time for me.

The desk for personal business wasn’t designed for computer work. Last fall, we purchased another desk to accommodate the second office computer. The office now had 3 desks and no where to put anything. No wonder it became disorganized.

Purchasing a 9×13 inch 4 drawer unit solved the whole problem. Under the window sat 2 small 2 drawer filing cabinets. One of the units already held all our personal papers including bills and receipts. I put that 4 drawer unit on top of the filing cabinet and the tickler file on top of the 4 drawer unit. The 4 drawers hold stamps, mailing labels, (both personal and business) stationary, personal check book and envelopes.

Tickler file is for both personal and business documents and reminders. In the morning, I go over and grab the day’s events from the tickler file. I designate a block of time once a week to pay bills. All bills go into that day in the tickler file.

When the mail arrives, it either gets filed, goes in the tickler file or garbage. No more piles of mail.

Once an item from the tickler file is completed, it get’s filed properly. Business and personal papers remain separate at the end. By dumping or bending some of the “rules” and creating a system that fits my personality, the mail problem disappeared!

Yes, we did get rid of the one desk and replaced it with the bookcase from my daughter’s bedroom. With the top 3 clutter clogs gone, everything else on the list easily disappeared too. It took very little time to get the rest of the office clutter free. I now enjoy coming into the office to work. The office remains free of clutter clogs, and I’ll share next week how you too can keep your newly organized office staying that way.

(c)2006 Ann Rusnak

Ann Rusnak, “The Time Diva” developed a system to show busy self employed people and business owners how to achieve success with less effort and time. Receive her free Time Package and find more additional articles at: http://www.SimpleTimeManagement.com

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*IMNewswatch would like to thank Ann Rusnak for granting permission to reprint this article.

 

 

 

 

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