Five Easy Steps to De-Clutter Your Desk
By Eileen Conlan
You'll likely spend more time scavenging your desk for paperwork than on vacation this year. In fact, the average executive pilfers six weeks a year searching for important documents buried in clutter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Simple tidying could avoid that kind of egregious waste of time and productivity. One useful tip: Color-code hanging files to distinguish between different types of files — such as project or client folders — just by glancing it them, advises Donna Smallin, author of The One Minute Organizer Plain and Simple. Quit frittering away your valuable time with Smallin's top five tips for de-cluttering your desk.
Give Away Stuff You Don\'t Use
declutter, clean desk, messy desk, clutter, organize your life, de-clutter, organization
give away stuff you don\'t use, de-clutter your life, clutter
Clear your desktop, and put back only what you use daily. Store everything else in drawers, on shelves, or in your supply closet. If you don\'t use something — those kitschy bulletin board push pins a client sent for Christmas — give it away to a co-worker who might be able to find a use for it.
Avoid the Miscellaneous File
declutter, clean desk, messy desk, clutter, organize your life, de-clutter, organization
avoid the miscellaneous file
Sort day-to-day papers into action files. Label them clearly: bills to pay, receipts to enter, papers to photocopy, data for reports, items to discuss with your boss, or papers to forward to another department. Store them upright in a stepped desktop organizer. Don\'t make a \"miscellaneous\" file — if the information isn\'t important enough to have its own label, it belongs either in another folder or in the trash.
Sort Your Desk Drawers
declutter, clean desk, messy desk, clutter, organize your life, de-clutter, organization
sort your desk drawers
Organize your desk drawers so that each contains like items — office supplies in one drawer, stationery and notepads in another. This eliminates scrounging through your drawers to find the only pen you work with, or a Post-it at deadline time.
Delete Your Old E-mails
declutter, clean desk, messy desk, clutter, organize your life, de-clutter, organization
delete your old emails
To reduce virtual clutter, delete all e-mail that requires no further action on your part. If you need to save it, create a folder for it on your hard drive — avoid printing e-mails unless you absolutely must have a hard copy. \r\n
Treat Virtual Folders Like the Real Thing
declutter, clean desk, messy desk, clutter, organize your life, de-clutter, organization
treat virtual folders like the real thing
When creating electronic folders, set them up in the same way as physical ones. Use subfolders within desktop folders to organize files sufficiently. \r\n
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