Inexpensive Home Office Organizers You Can Make Yourself
The Art and Science behind Home Office Organizers
Time management statistics(1) reveal that only about 20 percent of the average workday is spent on important things; the remainder is wasted time. A messy work environment translates into an estimated 90 minutes of daily time spent looking for odds and ends or getting distracted. Not surprisingly, home office organizers cut down on the time wasted looking for things while also helping the entrepreneur to remain focused on the tasks at hand.
DIY Drawer Dividers
Stiff cardboard, such as it would come from an empty box, can be cut into drawer dividers. The ‘junk drawer’ usually holds the odds and ends of daily business life, but with the organized compartments, it is possible to quickly locate staples, tape, change, thumb tacks, pencils and other items. Measure the length, width and depth of the drawer, draw two rectangles onto the cardboard (one for ’length x depth’ and one for ‘width x depth’), cut them out, decide where you want them to intersect and then cut a slot into the lengthwise piece. Insert the wide piece. Follow these instructions to make as many drawer organizers as needed.
Mail Organizers
Use suction cup hooks and heavy duty brown envelopes to make quick home office organizers that hold incoming, outgoing and ‘to be reviewed’ pieces of mail. Attach the suction cup hooks to a desk, window or wall; make sure to leave enough room between them to hang the envelopes. Reinforce the envelopes with clear tape (if needed). File all pieces of mail into the big envelopes.
Paper Sorter
Collect three to five cereal boxes of similar sizes. Cut off the top flaps and tape the boxes together with duct tape. You now have a cluster of boxes that are all open on top. Take a bigger cereal box and place it flat onto the table with the opening facing you. Cut out the flaps and place the taped-together boxes on its wide side. Glue the setup together with a hot glue gun. You now have an outbox and three to five inboxes. Sort papers into the boxes as needed. Dress up the setup by gluing photos or even just aluminum foil to the cardboard.
Convert Organizers
If the spice rack in the kitchen is gathering dust, have it do double-time in the home office, where it can hold small jars with spare change, staples, pencils and more. The shoe organizer that hangs from the closet door (but really is no longer functional) can become a catch-all for envelopes, business cards, letterhead, direct mailing supplies and other business-related items.
While the use of DYY home office organizers may seem cheap, it is a great money- and time-saving tool that the freshly-minted entrepreneur should not discount. Down the line, when the budget is not as tight, visit the office supply store to buy the plastic matching organizers of choice. You may then store your notary public supplies or basic office items in style.
Source
(1)https://timemanagementseminars.blogspot.com/2007/06/time-management-statistics.html
Photo Credit: “Drawer” by Xocolatl/Wikimedia Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Englischer_Zug_2.jpg
