organize your office

Guest Post: Getting Organized at Home Could Mean Better Things At Work

We often wish to live our lives as a dichotomy between work and home. It’s often said that the two should remain separate and there’s countless columns of advice online as to how to avoid one from affecting the other. To this I ask: why are we so obsessed with separating ourselves and our lives into different pieces? The last time I checked, I was who I was at home when I went to work, and vice versa.

Home life affects productivity, and office politics influences the way we behave at home. While I can’t offer advice on how to combat the more complicated of these dilemmas, I can say that as far as home life helping the office mentality, nothing beats getting your household organized.

Problem: Overwhelmed

photo from 123rf.com

Experts call it "analysis paralysis" but simply put when we have too many problems to solve we end up not solving any of them. If you depart for work every morning from a house plagued with clutter and in need of some fixing up, that stuff stays with you when you sit down at your desk. Whether you directly think about it or not, major household concerns take up the space in your head that could be used for doing your job better. It might seem instinctive to try and fix your work routine with work-related changes in the way you function, but you should definitely look at home first.

Solution: Inspiration through Organization

Taking the time to collect your clutter and rent a self storage unit to throw it all in, or even just going out and buying boxes to store stuff in to put into the basement, can clear some space in your head as well as in your home. Waking up to a home you’re proud of, even if all it takes is a new paint job in the bedroom or kitchen, can generate mounds of positive energy you’ll use up later when you go to work.

It’s not just about clearing your head of household worry – if you create a home environment you’re proud of and look forward to seeing and maintaining, it’ll make you a more ardent worker. You’ll be happier because you’ll have something to work for and something to deeply appreciate. When you first bought your home, surely you expected to be proud of it. That pride, especially on the tail end of hard work, leads to positive attitude and a better life experience as whole.

Interview: Organizing Your Office and Taxes with Farnoosh Torabi and Office Depot

Organizing is something that I have failed in since well forever. I clean and organize the house and then we go and get the mail and it gets laid on the counter again and well the disaster just starts over again. It seems that I’m not alone. A recent survey from Office Depot found that out of more than 1000 office employees, 93% said they feel being organized improves their performance, even though 81% admitted to keeping a disorganized workspace. I’m in the 81% for sure. My home office is practically none-existent because I’m so unorganized. The survey also found that 49% said they clean up clutter a few times a month or less. Again, that describes me! What should you keep organized? And how does being organized all year round help you out during tax season?

The survey indicates that the person’s desk, file cabinet and computer desktop are the three critical elements that need to be organized.

You can assess the mess and focus on three key areas: debt, savings, and your credit:

Gather bills and statements from all three categories and begin arranging them using labels, folders and other organizational tools

A shredder also comes in handy when you want to get rid of dated materials and personal information you no longer need.

Begin looking ahead – make sure your messy desk doesn’t create messy finances, especially when dealing with tax-related paperwork, mortgage or rent statements, car insurance bills, warranties and other important documents

I had the opportunity to submit some questions to Farnoosh Torabi a leading financial expert and she gave me some advice on how to be better organized. These are the questions I asked her:

We have a stacking issues in our house, we stack the mail we stack the papers, how can we get on top of stacking and keep our office clean?

What is the best advice you can give for preparing your taxes, where and when do I start organizing before filing them?

Where do I start when thinking about my finances?

Why does owning a house make such a difference at tax time?

More About Farnoosh Torabi:

Farnoosh Torabi is a personal finance contributor for Credit.com and Moneywatch.com. Her work and advice has been featured in national magazines and newspapers, including Real Simple, Glamour, Marie Clair Money Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The New York Times calls her advice, “perfect practical.”