You’ve spent a lot of time in your home office, your small business is booming and you want to go more professional. Or maybe you’ve been stuck for a few years in a small office with nowhere to turn and no space for all your stuff, and you long for a change of scenery. Maybe you’ve got an offer you just can’t refuse, but it requires you to move from one end of the Garden State to another. But before you pick up your phone to dial and hire our commercial movers NJ, you might want to do some office decluttering. This will help you in the long run, and make settling down easier once the move is complete.
DO: Be mindful of your goal
You’re not moving just for the sake of it. You’re doing it to expand your business, seize new opportunities and, ultimately, boost your productivity. You are doing it so that you can thrive in your new environment.
DON’T: Jumping into office decluttering without a plan
Before you start, it’s advisable to write down a list of things that need to be done. It’s understandable that you’re hyped about moving, and can’t wait to get started. But, if you take a chaotic approach, you will only end up moving things around, not accomplishing anything. This will only make you annoyed and demoralized.
DO ask for help but DON’T acknowledge every advice
By no means are we saying that you can’t do the whole office decluttering job on your own. The thing is – you don’t have to. Don’t be afraid to ask your coworkers or your friends and family for help. It’s easier when you have company, and you may even find some fun in an otherwise tedious job. Once it comes to packing everything up for your cross-state move, you may also want to use professional packing services NJ, as professionals can and will make your life easier.
On the other hand, people you ask for help will probably have a thing or two to say about your organizing methods and will offer, or even try to impose their advice. While it’s good to have different views, ultimately, it’s your workspace, and it should fit your needs.
DO: Divide and conquer
Before you start tidying up office, you should designate different “areas of operations” to tackle separately and maximize efficiency, whether you’re packing for the big move, or trying to efficiently unpack after you’ve moved. You might want to assign “levels of importance” so that you can set priorities and not waste more time than you have to on a single area.
If you spend half a day organizing, only to end with the same amount of clutter you started with, you will only get frustrated, which is the exact opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. Fulfilling multiple small goals will always lead to accomplishing your major objective. With this in mind, your list might look like this:
Clear out your everyday workspace
It might be your desk or any other surface that you use daily. Remove everything and clean it thoroughly, as this is where you will be spending most of your time. This is a good starting point. Once you’re done, it will spark a sense of achievement that will give you more energy to continue.
Declutter office drawers
It’s just amazing how much junk can pile up in them over time, without you even realizing it. Empty and clean them, then think about what should go in each drawer. Things you commonly use should be at your arms reach at all times, so make sure you place them in the top drawers. Stuff you use rarely or situationally you might want to put in the bottom ones.
Empty shelves and file cabinets
Nowadays, you can drastically reduce mountains of paper by digitalizing. If it’s not essential to keep a hard copy of a document, scan it and save it either to your office PC or, even better, upload it to one of many cloud storage services like Google Drive or DropBox. Which brings us to our next point.
Decluttering office PC
A thing that most people overlook, but it’s equally important as tidying up office desk, especially if you’re relying on your computer to do the work. Organize desktop icons, folders, and files. Delete ones you don’t use and uninstall unnecessary programs.
Freeing up space and cleaning up junk from the recycle bin can lead to an increase in the performance of your PC and, therefore, improvement of workflow due to faster response times. A minute or two might not seem much, but it adds up. Don’t forget to find a safe place for your external hard drives, DVD’s and USB sticks you use to back up data, as these can be easily damaged or lost.
DON’T: Trying to declutter office all at once
Office decluttering can be a daunting task and one that will take up a lot of your time. That said, do it in stages, especially if there are heavy things you want to move. You want to avoid the risk of injuries and overexertion. Take it slow, sort everything out first and, when you finish, jump into organizing. This will help you immensely once you move to your new office. Everything will already be categorized, and you can arrange everything quickly, to fit your needs.
DO: Remove things you don’t need but DON’T randomly throw things out
When you get into sorting the mess that you pulled out from drawers and cabinets, there will inevitably be a lot of things you won’t hesitate to throw out in a heartbeat. Be careful though – you might end up needing some of the things you threw out. On the other hand, this mindset can be risky, as you might end up cluttering again.
To avoid this, try asking yourself:
- “Do I use this often?”
- “Will I need it after moving to the new office?” – if the answer to first two questions is a decisive “Yes”, then ask yourself:
- “When will I use it?” – if you can answer this concisely, without hesitation, keep it. If all you can come up with is “I might”, then you probably won’t need it in perceivable future. Therefore – toss it or remove it from your workspace.
And now, after office decluttering fuss and the move is done, you’re sitting comfortably in your new office. The only thing left is to open the doors, and let the world in.
