Organizing an Office?

Look at a kindergarten. Everything there is organized by task. There are the pots of paint and safety scissors, over in the art corner with the easels and paper. There is a story area where books are kept and there's a comfy rug to sit on. There is a place for naps, with mats to nap on. Equipment is stored near where it is used, and every area has clearly defined functions. Everything is bright and happy colors, and sometimes things are color coded to make it easier to find or match them.

When it's time for cleanup, it is so simple and obvious what goes where that the children can and do clean up without having to ask the teacher where anything goes, etc.

I'd follow this principle with your office. What do you need to do? What items will you need to do it? Group things together by funtion in different areas of your office. Even if you don't feel you're organized I bet there is at least one part of the current layout that really works for you. Figure out why it works and try to apply that to the less-organized parts. I'd even say go with colors where you can. If something comes in a real color or office putty, go with the real color, it'll help your morale.

Clare

February 9, 20060 found this helpful

One thing I learned to do for my home office, which might work for your work office, is to color code your files. In my case, my taxes are in purple folders, insurance in green, car information in blue, as an example.