Organise your Home Office
Many people have overflowing stationery supplies, but just because it’s overflowing doesn’t mean it’s full of useful supplies. Broken pens and pencils are something that I find a lot in my clients’ homes, but stationery can be a lot of fun to declutter and organise.
Into this category, I bring anything that you write on or in, so pens, pencils, staplers, hole punches, files, notebooks, and paper. Also supplies such as printer ink, laminating pouches and other filing supplies.
Gather
Find it ALL (and this may involve some detective work as it’s a category that can be spread around the home), bring it all together into one place and sort it into smaller categories. Then see which items you actually use, which bring you joy. Often people have one pen type that they prefer over all the others. You don’t have to keep the freebies that you have picked up, or that have been sent to you in the post. If you don’t use them, they are not useful! All they are doing is sitting in your home taking up space when they would be better released into the world.
Sort
Test out felt tip pens to see if they work, and sharpen coloured pencils to see if they are useable, or if they the leads are broken. If you have kids, get them to join in on the testing process!
A note about notebooks! Buying notebooks and using them seem to be two completely unrelated activities in some cases! I frequently come across piles of beautiful, but unused, notebooks. If this is something that happens in your home, please do take a moment to consider whether you will actually use these notebooks or whether they would be better released. If you think you will use them, then put a moratorium on buying any more until they are all used. If that thought makes you sad, perhaps release the ones that you already have for someone else to use.
Release
Once you have decided what you like the best and what you want to keep, it is time to thank the other stuff and let it go. Many schools are often grateful for stationery that you don’t want and there are various recycling schemes that you can access too. For example: https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/bic-uk
Store
There are so many different ways to store the things that you chose to keep. As a general rule, it can be useful to use smaller boxes within a larger space to help corral like with like. I often hang on to smaller boxes that I pick up along the way (shoe boxes, but also iPhone boxes, chocolate boxes) to help clients when it comes to storage. However, and this is a big “however”, once again, don’t break your heart over storage if you haven’t finished a full declutter of your home. During a big declutter of your house, things move around and spaces open up – even your wardrobe declutter can impact how things are stored in the kitchen. Use what you already have for now and don’t waste your money buying storage solutions until the end.
For the entire series on decluttering and organising your home, check out this blog:
For a set of Guides on various subjects, check out this page: https://www.thetidycoo.com/thetidycooguideto
For my Book, go here: https://www.thetidycoo.com/product-page/easy-life-from-chaos-to-calm-with-minimal-effort
Interested in more? Check out 12 Weeks To Tidy: https://www.thetidycoo.com/12-weeks-to-tidy
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