3 Tips for Clearing Office Clutter

Spend less time searching for lost files and papers

If you’re wondering how to clean up your desk and eliminate all that workplace clutter, you are not alone.

We’ve all battled with a messy, jumbled desk at some point.

Unless your organization has a strictly enforced clean desk policy, which is unlikely, you probably have too.

Wasted time searching for lost files and papers mounts up, slowing us down and causing frustration and overwhelm.

“Vimes had got around to a Clean Desk policy. It was a Clean Floor strategy that eluded him at the moment.” — Terry Pratchett

And let’s face it. Clutter isn’t only messy and untidy. It can be a bit mucky too — think tea stains, the feel of dusty papers, and the smell of moldy fruit hiding under all that office rubbish until you find it and chuck it in the bin.

We know that clutter is an issue for many people since Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, took us all by storm.

I’ve stood in my bedroom, holding a top and asking myself if it still sparks joy. But will that work to clean up your office space? I don’t know about you, but clutching a stapler doesn’t do much for me.

Decades as a Learning and development professional have taught me that getting and staying organized is a significant challenge for many people as we tend to gravitate to mess and muddle, not order.

Tidying up doesn’t take long and will save you more time than you spend cleaning up the mess.

And it’s good for you too.

“Having cluttered desks can have a negative impact on your mental health, causing you to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Studies also suggest visual clutter can cause higher cortisol (stress hormone) levels, leading to anxiety and depression. It’s also possible that a messy workspace can lower self-confidence.” — Study reveals the impact of messy desks, Brother UK, Ltd, www.brother.co.uk

I’d meant to clean up my desk for ages when a friend booked me in for a LinkedIn live a few weeks ago. Boy, did that desk get cleaned up quickly!

Still doubtful? Think about how quickly you clean up when someone calls to say they are unexpectedly dropping by your house.

Read on if you’re wondering how to clear that clutter fast and transform your desk into a pleasant workspace that inspires you.

1. Get everything out

The first thing to do (a la Marie Kondo) is to get everything out.

At work, dumping the complete contents of your desk into the shared team area might not win you any popularity contests, so do it a bit at a time.

Start with the surface of your desk. You can delve into the drawers later, one at a time. It will also give your space a visual boost.

Sort everything into similar categories as you go:

• Clean up all the rubbish (cups, tissues, yesterday’s lunch box), chuck it out, wash it, or put it away.
• Put all the loose papers and files in a pile and chuck out anything that is obviously rubbish or no longer needed.
• Gather all your bits and bobs (ornaments, photos, calendars) together in one place — the boxes in which the photocopying paper arrives are great.
• Put all your stationery in one place.

2. Clean everything

I’m sure you know how to clean, but I like a spray cleaner and paper towels. Or a dab of dishwashing liquid on a paper towel if no spray cleaners are around.

Give your desk surface a good clean, dry it off, and voila! You are already on your way to a tidier workspace.

Don’t forget your keyboard. Try tipping it upside down and giving it a tap. All sorts of crumbs and unidentified objects come out.

Once you’ve got a nice clean desk — including all the leads and computer screens — you can start putting things back.

Just not all of it and not in the same place.

3. Put (some of it) back on your desk

It’s time to decide how you want your desk to look and feel. Do you want everything back in place (minus the rubbish) or a new clutter-free feel?

What emotions do you want your workspace to invoke? Some people like a lot of photos and knick-knacks, while others like a business-only feel.

Take some time to think about this. What sort of environment will make you happy? Make you productive? Reduce stress?

Rubbish

• Make sure any rubbish is gone. Under no circumstances should you put it back on your desk.

Stationery

• Stationery — chuck out all the pens, dried-up markers, and staplers/hole punches that don’t work.
• Do an audit on how many pens, staplers, hole punches, rulers, whiteboard pens, etc. that you need. Put the rest back in the stationery cupboard for someone else. If you are a Post-it note hoarder, be strict with yourself!
• Ask yourself where the best place for things is to live. I like my pens on my desk, in a cup. You might prefer them in a drawer. How often do you use each item? Does your stapler need to be on your desk the whole time? Or can it live somewhere else?

Personal stuff

• Sort out your personal things next. After you’ve given everything a good clean, think about the work environment that inspires you.
• Do you like a lot of knick-knacks on your desk, or do they get in the way?
• Do personal photos inspire you, or would you rather keep your personal life separate?

Paperwork

Now that you have a space on your desk, it’s time to review any papers. Throw out anything that you don’t need.

When it comes to hanging on to paper, I can be a bit of hoarder. Hanging on to 15 work notebooks isn’t necessary, and I have to force myself to put them in the bin.

Here are some useful questions to ask yourself when deciding what to throw out and what to keep:

• Do you have a copy of the document on your computer?
• Is it a working document or for reference only?
• When will you need it again?
• When was the last time you looked at it?
• Could you get the information again from whoever created the document?
• Is it your responsibility to keep a record of this information?

Get rid of anything apart from documents you are working on in hard copy or that you don’t have on your computer.

Summary

Having a clutter-free desk is simple, but we often don’t do it because we are too busy.

A good clutter-clearing session works wonders if I’ve hit a wall at work. Doing it a bit at a time avoids overwhelm.

Clutter clearing evokes that back-to-school feeling when I was a kid. Armed with a brand-new pencil case filled with fresh pencils, I felt I could do anything.

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