Most of us are pretty used to working from home these days. We’ve got our little desks set up and our schedules all sorted, but the paperwork and notes sure are stacking up. If this sounds like you, it might be time for a little self-organisation. Here, we’ll share our best ideas for:
- Colour-coding your files
- Dating your work
- Storage solutions to help
Let’s get organised to the max this month and see if it improves your productivity…
Schedules and self-organisation
Colour-coding your files
Oftentimes, you’ll have several projects on at once. You’ve got to sort that meeting, prepare for that order, learn about that new subject and more. It’s a lot, and the papers do start to pile up. The Open University has some good tips on organising your notes, but keeping everything in order when working remotely can be really easy. Here are a few tips on colour coding for self-organisation:
Choose your medium
There are a few ways you can start colour coding your files and papers. You could go the highlighter route – this one is great for highlighting (it’s kind of in the name) a particular piece of information you think might be important later on. The issue here is when your notes are stacked, it’s difficult to see which belong to which project. Another option is sticky notes. These are much better for visibility in piles and you can use them to write on additional notes and annotation too.
Choose the right time
Don’t highlight as you write or read – this can really slow you down. It’s better to finish all your notes and writing before you head in and start colour-coding or highlighting the important bits.
Choose your colours
Make sure to give each project and subject a distinct enough colour. Try contrasting colours like blue, yellow, purple and red, these are all different enough that you won’t get the papers mixed up.
Dating your work
In school, we always used to start our lessons by opening our notebooks and writing the date at the top of the page. It was the best way to track our work, to find previous things we’d written and show we’d actually been in class – and it’s much the same today with dating our notes.
It’s key to organising our written or printed notes for clarity. With date recording and stamping, we can put our notes, emails and images together to find information quickly. Simply order them up and keep them safe in a file – then when you need something from two weeks ago, you can just flip back and find it.
It’s such a good organisation tool that adding the date has become a feature in many online and computer programs too. But there are more benefits in dating numerous things other than your notes:
- Dating your notes will help you keep track of what was discussed in each session.
- Dating your expense receipts (if they aren’t already) will be useful for accounting.
- Marking when your invoices have been paid or your response has been emailed is excellent for record-keeping and reconciliation.
Taking notes is beneficial for several reasons, but keeping track of them is too – here’s some more advice on note-taking.
Storage solutions to help
Working remotely or telecommuting saves you time, money and keeps you safe, but it does introduce a lot more mess, papers and equipment to your home. To help you stay on top of it and get the chaos organised, here are some low-cost storage solutions:
- Keep pens on point: Make use of an old mug, jar or tin can to create a DIY pen pot. Make sure to clean it well and maybe decorate it too – they’re great for keeping pens and pencils handy and in one place.
- Make more of your monitor: If you’re a desktop or a double-screen computer user, invest in a monitor stand to raise them to eye level. What’s more, get one with a shelf underneath, then you can store your keyboard, mouse and your day-to-day papers too.
- Get folder-happy: Keeping everything organised is easy with folders for each subject, project or client. Go for fancy lever-arch files if you have the space, or try an expanding file if you need to save room.
- Hide the mess: If you’re lucky enough to have a desk at home with drawers, clear out the non-work stuff and use them to store your papers, pens, bits and bobs.
The key thing when working from home is to not let it affect your personal life. You’ve got to try and keep your private and work time separate – it’s all about the work-life balance after all. That’s why you need to stay organised and stay tidy.
You can still try to make it feel like an office though – add some desk decoration like photos and mementoes for a fun, familiar feel. And most importantly, if you can, work in a different room to where you spend your down-time. If you can’t, hide away the mess and keep it confined to one area and make it clutter-free.
At the end of the day, if you’re telecommuting or working from home, then practising self-organisation is necessary to maintain your work-life balance. So, keep your papers organised. Keep your desk tidy. Keep your personal time separate. If you do, then you’ll stay productive, prepared and ready for anything.
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