Home Office Organization
COVID has forced so many people to embrace working from home this past year. As a result, I’ve been helping more people both virtually and physically to organize their home office. But now? It’s my turn and I’m gonna show you!
I think we can all agree that WFH has it’s pros and cons. One of the pros (IMO) is being able to take care of things around the house you wouldn’t normally be able to if in an office. And one of the cons is being distracted by all the things there is to take care of around the house.
Being that I’ve owned my own business for awhile now, I’ve learned how to balance home and work life pretty well. But I remember when I first transitioned from a 9-5 to WFH, I struggled a LOT. So much so that I actually wrote an ebook about it while in quarantine last year which you can check out here. Many - if not all - of the organization methods I talk about will work whether you work for yourself or work for an employer (or both!).
The bottom line is the work’s gotta get done so while there will always be distractions, some completely out of your control i.e. kids, there is something you can do to stay productive in your home office. Wherever that may be.
I realized when I started WFH, the hardest part for me was not having a dedicated work space. I lived in a teeny tiny apartment and would fluctuate from working in bed to at my kitchen island to Starbucks. The inconsistency led to distractions and I would actually look for things to do around the house while working because I just couldn’t focus well.
When I moved from that apartment to a slightly (and I mean slightly) bigger one, I made a concerted effort to pick a space to work and stick with it. For two years, my desk was in the corner of the living room (only moving from facing the window to the wall twice a year thanks to an AC unit) and my productivity shot up. I’d say 100% but I don’t know the actual number. It felt like 100% though!
My brain knew that when I sat at the desk, it was time to work. And it knew when I sat on the couch, just to the other side of the desk, it was time to relax. And when I was up and moving around, it was time to tidy. It also forced me to stay organized since I had such a small area to work in.
The apartment setup I have now is much different. I’m in a large two bedroom unit with just two of us (and now a pup!) so we decided to make the second bedroom an office. With my boyfriend WFH full time due to COVID, I decided to give him the office (he should thank me, right?) leaving me with yet another “living room office”.
I immediately had the vision for a very minimalistic space that used vertical height. I had my eye on this out of stock Holly & Martin desk that I was finally able to snag from Target.
There’s a couple of reasons why I chose a ladder desk. For one, I wanted to take up as little room as physically possible in the living area so a ladder desk meant less square footage being taken up around me. And two, I’m actually pretty terrible with decorating the walls and so I figured this would be one less piece of artwork I had to pick out!
I chose a spot in between the kitchen and living room as it’s an open concept and made sure there was an outlet right below where we installed it. I also used this small power strip and velcro to corral cords under the desk to reduce visual clutter.
On top of the desk itself, I have this small organizer (it’s actually meant for a bathroom!) that holds my daily planner (perfect for time blocking!), my favorite pens (here’s a similar set on Amazon), my mouse when it’s not in use and a tape measure because in my line of work, I measure things at least once a day.
To the left is my wireless charging pad and to the right an Ember mug which is actually a donation from a client. I almost never, ever take donations off of my clients hands. Mainly because I work to practice what I preach so I try to stay as minimalistic as possible (AMAP … hmm, think I should make this, like, a thing??). Taking things from them feels like I’m being hypocritical in a way. Many professional organizers feel this way and we don’t know why but we do! But when I was helping my client do a big declutter and she said she didn’t use it/need it and asked it I wanted it and remembered how cold how quickly my coffee gets, I said I would try it! If you haven’t heard of it, basically you place the mug on a coaster that it comes with and use an app to regulate the temp, keeping your coffee or tea much warmer for much longer. This is the kinda thing that helps motivate me to keep working and to make space for on my desk.
You can find the Ember mug at Target which I linked above or at Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Williams Sonoma or Mark & Graham (with the option to have it monogrammed so no one steals it!).
Moving up to the first of two shelves on the desk, I have a magazine holder that I found at HomeGoods years ago (here’s a similar one on World Market). It holds a clipboard, some extra notebooks and some personal journals. It also stores my laptop sleeve and charger holder when I’m not traveling with them.
To the right, I found these gold palm bookends in the Dollar Spot in a Target last year. So they’re unfortunately no longer there but I did spy a few people selling them on Poshmark and Mercari if you want to luck out!
Between the bookends is my small but mighty collection of organizing books. I want to eventually collect more but, again, like to practice what I preach. I’ve had other books by organizers in the past and read them, got what I needed out of them and then donated them.
Why did I keep these verses the other ones? First, I find myself going back to these books for reference or inspiration. Second, and although this is tough to say, they weren’t all that aesthetically pleasing. Being that my office is in the living area and we are starting to have more people since getting vaccinated, I want this area to look less like an office and more like decor. Having books on display that are in good condition helps!
I’ve listed some of the books below if you’re interested in reading them (I obviously recommend all of them!).
The Real Simple Method to Organizing Every Room on Amazon or Target
Good Housekeeping: Simple Organizing Wisdom on Amazon or Target
Good Housekeeping: Simple Household Wisdom on Amazon or Target
Hot Mess: A Practical Guide to Getting Organized on Amazon
Tidy the F*ck Up on Amazon
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up on Amazon, Target or TCS
The books I have laying horizontally on the second shelf are a mixture of housekeeping/cleaning books (less about organizing) and also two magazines that my organizing business, Sort and Sweet, was featured in (Real Simple and Health Magazine if you’re curious!). The remaining shelf is full of just a few decor pieces, again keeping it real simple (see what I did there?).
Lastly, I chose this chair as opposed to a traditional office chair for the same reason I made the other decisions - more aesthetically pleasing, less like an office! Plus it’s super comfy ;)
If you have any home office organization questions, don’t hesitate to email me mary@organizedoverall.com!
PS I have an Etsy shop now if you’re looking for gifts for that organized person in your life!
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission.