Is your home office space affecting your productivity? Do you hunt for pens and pencils continuously? Is your document search an exercise in frustration? Are your papers a chronological stack of filing that is impossible to successfully navigate? Do you have an irrational fear of a paper flood catastrophe if you look for something at the bottom of the pile?

First, take heart. Every office - home or otherwise - has to figure out how to deal with paper, pens, and clutter. Creating and maintaining an organized space is just part of the job.

So, how do you clear the clutter and gain control?

Space Is Essential

One of the largest challenges of staying organized is the ability to set up a system where you have room to grow. Space is essential.

If you clean out a drawer, organize it, and then put all the stuff back into that same drawer, you might feel good to get the dust bunnies out. However, you have not realistically done much. By squeezing all, that stuff back into the drawer simply means it is cleaner. If there is no room for anything new, it won't help with the pile of un-filed papers and the new papers that will be generated in the future.

Having space to add home office furniture in the form of filing cabinets and storage bins will help considerably with organization. Be sure and have at least one quarter to one third or more growing room when you implement your system. Extra space encourages you to keep up with your organization efforts.

This system includes everything from architectural drawings to products and documents you accumulate in the course of doing business.

Set aside time to purge unnecessary documents. Not only will this provide more space but it will save you time that would otherwise be wasted looking through worthless paperwork.

Keep It Simple

Keep It Simple. When it comes to filing, the simpler the better. If you make it too complicated, you will not keep up with it because it is too hard to follow. Consider color-coding, but do not go overboard with the number of categories. Use general topics like "Projects", "Correspondence" and "Expenses", or something similar. Not too many of them or you will get lost in your categories.

When filing large groups of things like clients, projects, and invoices use a single drawer for each group of files that are related. Using a four or 5-drawer filing cabinet is good in that it can be divided either alphabetically or chronologically.

Another class of things you will need to make room for are the things that you refer to daily or even hourly. A posting board or corkboard near your desk would be in order. You can hang things like phone lists, 'To-Do" lists and appointment calendars in one central location for easy reference.

After You Set It Up, Maintenance Is Next

A system is only as good as the person using it is. If you do not keep it up, no system is useful. Starting with a smaller, simpler system of files in a cabinet near you is good. You can then take your daily or weekly items and store them in a more permanent place when you are finished.

You will find that this works for current project lists, product pricing, and things of that nature.

How Do You File?

Consider if you can realistically maintain a filing system. Perhaps labeled boxes would suit you better (especially if you tend to pile papers). The key is to find something you will feel comfortable maintaining. If papers are sorted and occasionally purged, your system will work.

All Things Need a Place

It is an old saying, but all too true. Everything must have someplace to go back to. Avoid loose pens, pencils, papers cell phones, glasses and so on. Find a place to put them when you are finished with them, then put them back when you are done. Do not forget to reward yourself for a job well done, and keep your system going!