(www.myorganizedbiz.com) – Casey’s son is away at college – and his sort-of former bedroom is one of her two offices. Her other office (not pictured) is in her basement art studio where she spends more of her time.

Because of the dual location set-up, Casey’s having trouble with not finding or having things where they’re needed… because they’re at the other desk.

Here’s how she describes it:

The computer is located upstairs but there is paperwork going on in both locations. Right now the computer must stay upstairs so one of the main problems is that I’m filing papers (or letting them pile up) in more than one location. Add to that the household papers in a third location and it is not surprising that I feel fragmented.

In a perfect world, here’s how Casey wants to feel while she’s working:

I want to feel organized, calm, and collected. I want to have systems and places where things are all in a central location. I feel distracted, rushed, and inefficient in the office space and on writing this I see how it is just wearing down my energy.

Agreed. It’s my fundamental belief that it’s your office’s job to support you and your work. Having to think hard about where you left something drains precious attention and energy, when it could be used on the work you love.

So, I want to thank you for sharing your dilemma, Casey. The following suggestions will give you a place to start – and feel free to follow up with questions or thoughts!

3 suggestions for Casey:

1. Take stock of the emotional aspects of your son’s room.

Casey said, “I’ve been…not changing anything too dramatically for fear of pushing him out.”

I want to say that this is really common for a lot of home-based business owners who have kids who are aaaalmost out of the nest, but not quite.

The bed in particular is a powerful symbol for welcome from parents to their kids. Removing it can be construed as a lack of welcome or a slap in the face. It’s the “you might as well change the locks” kind of thing. So notice what feels true for you about this room and that his bed has remained here so far.

Ask yourself: what’s the primary function of this room? Then begin to redefine it accordingly. Begin to think of it as your office that your son sometimes sleeps in, rather than your son’s room that you use a lot. Emotions may come up as you process this, but remember it’s not an affront to him and that your work is valuable and needs spaciousness to thrive.

2. Have everything in one place

If we were doing consulting work together, I would examine the reasons why the computer must be in this room… and help you navigate transitioning your work into one single place.

Casey mentioned in her “desired setup” description that she wants to have everything in one place. I say go for it.

I’m reading a great book from Alyson Stanfield called I’d Rather Be in the Studio!. Alyson coaches artists all over the world – and she makes a point about how important it is to have your office in your studio.

So give this some thought and begin to make plans that will transition you out of two (almost 3) separate workspaces, so that they can be joined into a cohesive whole. Think about how much time and energy you’ll gain when freed from running up and down stairs to find what you need.

In addition, having one office will prevent the awkward negotations around using your office when your son is actually home and sleeping until noon.

3. Get a temporary bed.

If consolidating the offices isn’t in the plans right away, create more space for yourself in the upstairs room.

Here’s a Coleman bed that’s almost standard height that you can inflate when he’s home – and put away when he’s gone.

If you have cats or think the air mattress might pop for some other reason, look at other bed options that have a smaller footprint than the current one. This will give you found space and still provide him somewhere to sleep when he visits.

Are you ready for a mini-makeover in your office? Here’s how!

Do you have multiple workspaces or share an office with another activity/person? What’s working for you and what are you struggling with?

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When Miranda emailed me about her office, she summed it up with this comment: “…it seems like there’s just too much to cram into the six foot area that I like.”

Miranda, when I look at your photo, “cluttered” is not the word that comes to mind. You’re bring super creative with the space you’ve got with all the plastic bins and shelving. However, you do have an issue that makes your space more prone to clutter: insufficient storage.

The basic theory is this: If there’s a place for things to go, they don’t pile up. If there isn’t, they do. So here are 3 suggestions to increase your storage capacity – which, in turn, will make the extra bits you’ve got floating around disappear.

Suggestion 1: Print elsewhere

Even though your desk measures 6′ long, you actually have about 1.5 square feet of work space on your desk. Not a lot.

By moving the printer, you’ll gain a ton of space that you can store current projects that you need to access multiple times during the day. I’m guessing you don’t use the printer quite that often.

Where do you put it? That’s the next point…

Suggestion 2: Get a dog leg

I don’t know how many hours per day you’re at your desk, but since you blog I’m guessing its a lot. Dear Miranda, this desk you’ve got isn’t worthy of your hard work. It’s too high for you (Maggie had this issue last week, too) and it’s also not big enough.

I’d love to see you with a desk that has some drawers within arm’s reach and a file drawer or two. That would give all the little things under your monitor a place to go. You’d also get an actual surface to work on rather than that tiny 8.5×11″ square.

If a shiny new desk isn’t in the budget (I recommend Ikea for great value), at least get another table and put it on the right side along the wall at a 90* angle. An L-shaped (dog leg) workspace will give you more surface area to store lots of things and a place to put the printer off at the end.

Suggestion 3: Oh, give them a home…

You’ve got some great projects (article ideas) and short-term storage needs (bills) – and you said they’re piling up. So let’s give them a place to live so they won’t.

I’d love to see you hang some shelves over your desk so that you can put some books up and add some project boxes. These provide loose storage (but organized enough) and give assorted papers a place that’s easy to access. Best of all, it gets them off your desk.

For your article ideas, you could also assign a folder as your “article garden” and just drop idea in there when you get. Whatever you do, vertical is better than horizontal when it comes to storage. So be on the lookout for ways you’d want to store things short-term.

Summary: Give yourself more space and start thinking creatively about how you want to store your projects. I know I’ve evaded your question about clutter, but I think this is more on target for what you need.

Thnaks for playing, Miranda!

If you’d like a Wednesday Makeover with 3 suggestions for your office, read how.

What do you think?

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Issue 1: Storage

“There are a bunch things stuck in cubbyholes that need to be filed or put somewhere else. There are things on my desk that are completely unrelated to working (like GPS and headphone accessories).

“When my desk was new, there was nothing on it. Now, it’s gotten to the point where there’s no place to set anything on my desk and I don’t know where anything is, or I have only a vague idea.”

Time does funny things to desks – especially if you’re busy. Items with no home get put down temporarily and have a way of becoming permanent. Fortunately, they’re not glued down.

Suggested solutions: You’ll want to give some thought to where you’d like to store those odds and ends so you can find them easily, but they’re not taking up as much surface area on your workspace. You may also want to set up a system to remind yourself to remove items that you don’t need from your desk. Every few weeks would be a good start.

Issue 2: Excess mail:

“I have at least a month’s worth of mail on the floor next to the desk waiting to be shredded or filed. That’s a problem because things that are important get lost in the pile of junk mail, catalogs, and magazines. Last month I missed a bill deadline because the statement was lost in the sea of papers.”

That’s got to be a bad feeling – and yet most of us have done it at some point. There’s hope yet.

Suggested solutions: Check out this blog post about how to stem the tide of unwanted mail – just decreasing the amount you receive will help dramatically.

As for getting rid of the pile you already have, you can take the same approach as the things accumulating on your desk. Start whittling away. Try setting a timer for 20 minutes and see how much you can get through (it might even be fun).

Issue 3: Ergonomics (or lack thereof)

“My desk is 30 inches high which is not efficient unless you’re Wilt Chamberlain. I’m 5′5″ so when I sit down, it’s not comfortable. My elbows aren’t level with the desk and if I lift my chair up, my feet are off the floor.”

Desk height is a peeve of mine – and you’re right, most desks are made for a person 6’ tall. What are they thinking?

Suggested solutions: Your desk has legs like a table, so you can simply whack a couple of inches off each one. There’s a trick to measuring this, so send me an email if you want to know the specifics. If you’re in the market for a new desk, some companies sell desks with adjustable legs and others sell furniture customized to your height.

Thanks for sharing the inner workings of your office, Maggie. I’d love to hear if these changes will work for you. If you’d like 3 suggestions for your office challenges, here are all the details.

Anyone relate to Maggie’s challenges or have other solutions that might work? Your thoughts are appreciated!

Post from: My Organized Biz

Like many of my clients, Melissa is the first to admit the situation isn’t ideal, but she’s so busy that a complete overhaul of her space or her systems just hasn’t been an option.

The goal of the Wednesday Makeover is to give three ideas that will, if implemented, dramatically improve the functioning of your home office and the degree of enjoyment you get from your work.

Suggestion 1: Get rid of the stackable trays.

I honestly wish stackable trays had never been created. They seem so handy, but I hardly see anyone use them efficiently. My two problems with stackable trays are: 1. You can’t see what’s in them – so stuff gets put in there that you’re unlikely to find again. 2. There are better uses for plastic. Like sleds. Or coffee cups.

You’re admittedly not using them, so you can donate them to Goodwill in good conscience and then someone else can put ‘em on their own desk and not use them.

Suggestion 2: Get rid of the TV.

I’ve got a “get rid of” theme going now. Here’s why I think the TV should go: it has nothing at all to do with your business. If you want to be effective working from home, everything that’s in your office must align with your work and support it.

If you have a working television elsewhere in the house, this puppy needs to go. It’s not only taking up precious real estate in your office, but it’s also creating a distraction while you’re working. By watching and listening to it, this keeps you from working (and finishing). Just think – you could spend time doing things with your loved ones instead of being in the office! Crazy?

Suggestion 3: Look at your long-term goals.

What I wanted to say for suggestion 3 was something froofy – like put up a shelf on the long wall to store all of your books.

But I just don’t do froofy very well, so I’ll be compassionately honest instead: Your office is at capacity. Even though it’s tidy-looking, you’re running the equivalent of four businesses from one space, with two part-time helpers, and plans for further expansion.

You don’t need a trip to Office Depot for dividers – you need a good look at where you’re going long-term. You’re at the point where you need a space that allows you to create clear structural divisions between your businesses. Ask yourself:

• What would I love to be spending my time doing?
• What can I delegate?
• What can I cut out?

I loved how you mentioned that you do mental planning for the long term – and even when they’re unwritten goals, you still achieve them. (It’s noteworthy that Melissa is an Enneagram 3, “The Achiever”, which means she can take on the world singlehandedly without batting an eyelash.) Get this ability to work for you by defining your long term business goals for the next 5-10 years. Then you’ll know what to do in your office, rather than the other way around. You’re ready for it – and it will be worth more than 100 froofy suggestions.

I want to thank Melissa for jumping in to be my very first Wednesday Makeover volunteer - a brave soul! And as a thank you, I’ll be giving her a $10 credit to Powells Books (a better alternative to Amazon) to pick up the next thing on your reading list. Thanks, Melissa!

Would you like to receive 3 suggestions about your own office from Jennifer? More info here…

Post from: My Organized Biz

Describe your office challenges and I’ll give you three suggestions about how to make it a more enjoyable place to work. Free.

My promise: I’ll won’t nag, judge, embarrass, or tease you about your office. Not even a little. It can be a big risk to show off your “warts ‘n’ all”, so know that you’ll be treated with respect and kindness no matter what you’re struggling with.

If you want to play, here’s what you need to send:

• 1. A photo of your workspace (optional).
• 2. A description of how you want to feel while you’re working.
• 3. Details about a problem you’re having in your workspace.

Last thing: Send these to my email address (on right – in the little box “About My Organized Biz”) and I’ll consider it for a Wednesday Makeover feature. If you implement my suggestions, report back and let us know if it helped you (an “after” photo would be great, too!).

Next week’s spot is wide open, so hop to it and can get an office you love that’s easy to keep organized!

Spread the word!

Post from: My Organized Biz