It’s incredible how quickly a home office can become cluttered. You may find yourself having difficulty finding invoices and notes amidst the mess. Spring cleaning can help you reorganize your home office and make working in it more efficient. Here are four items you should always get rid of in your home office.
Expired/Used Gift Cards
Whether you got them from friends, family, or clients, you likely have more gift cards in your home office than you realize. It’s time to throw out the ones that are either used or expired. It’s also time to finally use those that still have a balance on them. It’s always a good idea to cut the gift card before throwing them out. Like document shredding, cutting your gift cards ensures no one can use them afterward.
Old Notes
If you hoard notes, then now’s a good time to go through them and toss out the ones that you no longer need. The problem with notes is that they’re likely all over your home office. You may be stuck to your computer. Others may be stuck inside of your desk drawers. There may be an entire notebook made of them. Determine what notes are still relevant to your current workload. Then crumple up or shred the old notes.
Remove Classified Information
Sometimes your clients may provide you with sensitive information. Once the job is complete, you don’t want those documents around. The best thing to do with them is to shred them to ensure that information can’t be accessed. Then you can either burn them safely or toss them right into the recycling bin.
Classified documents need to be handled with care. You may discover that you have more sensitive information than you realize stored in your office. That can be dangerous for you and your clients. This type of cleaning should be performed more often than just during spring cleaning binges.
Old Mail
If you have old letters and mail pieces that don’t apply to you anymore, then it’s time to toss them. You’ll be surprised how much space you’ll have after you toss out all of your old mail and how it can increase your productivity.
Cleaning your home office can offer a ton of benefits. The four items listed above are items you should start to clean straight away. Once you’re done, you’ll feel satisfied and motivated to keep working.