Organizing a home office

It may be difficult to stay organized when running a business from home, but small business owners and self-employed individuals can take a number of steps to keep the office orderly.

A disorganized office may collect personal items as well as professional ones, resulting in a cluttered space that makes it hard to stay focused and productive. One measure to stay on top of the situation is regularly clearing out in-boxes or the equivalents. That includes any paper files, mail, e-mail and phone messages and other regular communications. Devoting part of one day each week to such processing can help avoid falling behind.

Similarly, try to avoid leaving files or other items in briefcases, bags or other containers temporarily when it is not necessary. This scatters them around and makes it harder to stick to any system of organizing. Tools and regularly used items can be categorized by how often they are needed and stored more or less conveniently in accordance with those priorities. Similarly, messages can be divided based on a combination of importance and urgency.

That can make it easier to manage time effectively and separate physical objects related to work. While those in the day trading business do not necessarily have or need many physical items to run their businesses, the same principles can apply to information stored on a computer or other aspects of trading.

Offices sometimes get messy as irregular items are brought in for convenience. When setting up, set aside space for phone chargers, external hard drives and other miscellaneous necessities. Use shelves and furnishings to help organize. If there are too many loose electrical and other cords and plugs, consider tying some together into bundles. This can make it easier to run them beneath or behind furniture and avoid tripping.