Getting Organized

 Since Tara went back to school I've been wanting to get the house organized. This is my office. I have a stack of magazines that I need to look at & get rid of. Just make it look neater. So I will post a follow up when I get all of this organized. I have some other things to organize & will post before & after pics.

Today I have a guest post from Demi in London, England. She is sharing some organizing tips for us all.

Easy ways to organize and clean your office

Close your eyes and imagine your office free of clutter, perfectly clean and the air is fresh. Now open your eyes and try not to get a heart attack from looking at its current condition. So things have gotten a bit low maintenance lately, that’s okay, it is perfectly normal. And taking care of it is easy as making pancakes. If you know how to make pancakes though. If not, then it is easy as pouring a glass of water. If you can’t do that as well, then someone’s baby is looking at this article.

Okay, let us first take care of the clutter and clean up, after that, we are going to concentrate on your aesthetic and how you want your office to look like. Dealing with clutter is easy. You just have to be strong and let go of things that you don’t need and find a place for the remaining items. Let’s say that you have highlighters who’s ink has depleted. Keeping these things laying around your drawers or on top of desks is ridiculous. Holding on to pieces of paper is unnecessary, unless there is something important that needs to be archived, there is no reason for you to keep it around. Keeping old electronics or cables that don’t work anymore is too much. Just, get rid of everything that you know that it is not gonna be used or repaired. Do this with everything around your office that needs tidying up.

You are probably using a computer/laptop. Deleting some files and sorting others into your hard drives makes things very easy, especially when you categorize. If you can afford, get an external hard drive. This way, you laptop will run a lot better and won’t burden itself. Another free option is to upload to a cloud – the virtual, Internet version of a hard drive. As it is good for you to maintain your desk clean from clutter, you also need to keep your desktop clean as well. In both cases, you will feel a whole lot more motivated and you can expect a positive outcome.

Now lets concentrate on cleaning. First thing that comes to mind is cleaning up dust. That is easy. Fill up a spray bottle with water and get a microfiber cloth, and after that go wild around your office. This solution takes care of the dust, but when you want to get some serious cleaning done, get a glass spray bottle and mix water, white vinegar and lemon essential oil. The portions are half a cup of water, half a cup of white vinegar and between one and two dozen drops of lemon essential oil, depending on how big your cup is. When you have combined them in the bottle, shake it really hard so the ingredients can thoroughly mix. After that, it is ready to use, spray and wipe with cloth.

Your floor is probably wooden, or you have a carpet. Maybe you have a small rug. You can make natural, Green products for them too. But now lets concentrate on organizing your office. How do you want it to look. The best advice to give is for you to get inspired yourself. Look up online “vintage minimalist office” or something like that and start from there. This is up to you, you need to bring out the interior designer in you, unless you rather hire one instead. One word of advice, have decorations, have miscellaneous items, but keep it minimal as well, and keep your office bright and always let in some fresh air.