June - 5S the office/study

For me, this means the desk, bookshelf and file cabinets where I work from home one or two days a week. 

1. Sort

Desk

Time to dump out the drawers and throw out the random trash that tends to clutter up. Get rid of old pens and other broken or unused supplies. You only really need a handful of pens, so consider donating the excess to a school or charity. 

File cabinet

The desk is probably the easy part;  sorting paperwork is much more daunting. Start by reviewing the recommendation for how long to keep documents. Then sort into general piles, like financial, health, work, personal, etc. (we can get more specific as we "Set" back in place). 

Save recommendations:

Tax documents and annual financial summaries - save for 7 years

Retirement planning, tax returns - save forever

Expired cards, credit card and bank statements - Shred

Keep in mind what you can access online.  No need to keep paper copies when you have soft copies online. 

Bookcase

This is also a difficult area for me, because our family loves books. Regardless of the fact that my husband has an e-reader that he uses daily and we go to the library every week. My son has so many kids books, I have started rotating them every week, so he feels like he is getting fresh books regularly.  So I have to really consider if the books we have will be read again (or ever), or if they are better in someone else's hands. You can test this by rotating some of your own books out for a month to see if you miss them. I have also tried bringing books to my bedside to see if I would still be interested in reading them. If I start them, but tire quickly, I will put them in the donation pile. 

Keep in mind, the library is always a great place to borrow books if you decide to read it later. Most timeless classics are also free on e-readers. 

2. Scrub

Clean out drawers and shelves.  Wipe down the top of your desk and work areas. 

While empty, move furniture and clean behind, if possible. These areas are often hard to reach and do not get attention. 

3. Set

Desk

Decide what you really need at hand at your desk and keep it on the desk or top drawer. There are plenty of desk caddies out there, but the top of the desk can get cluttered quickly. 

At my work, we have an open office environment and we do not have assigned workspaces. Besides a keyboard and mouse, I keep most of my supplies in my laptop bag (pen, notebook, etc). This forces me to be extra savvy about what I really need. 

If there are generic supplies that you use every once in awhile (stapler, tape, etc), those can go in a drawer, out of the way. 

Our other challenge is that we have small children that like to explore drawers. We use child locks, but have not found an effective device for the desk drawers yet, so we sometimes need to get more creative about where we place supplies (in closets or on high shelves).

File cabinet

Find a system that works for you. I used to separate my financial documents in multiple files, but have started simplifying, since so much of it is online now. 

A couple recommendations from justorganizeyourstuff.com

Everyday file - current year records and frequently accessed.

Reference file - accessed when needed.

Important file - previous tax records (accessed infrequently). 

Vital file - vital documents, keep in a safe place. 

Bookcase

I have seen examples of artistically organized book shelves. Putting books of similar colors or heights together, looks more pleasing to the eye. You can also arrange keepsakes and knic knacks strategically with groups of books for aesthetic value. 

Like I have said before, do what works for you. I like to organize my books by genre (leadership, organizing, travel, cooking). I put the kids books on low shelves that they an reach. I put the special books high, where they can not reach. 

4.  Standardize

Paper clutter can build up fast, so plan a system for sorting the paper (mail, receipts, etc) as soon as it comes in. 

When paper comes in, consider:

Do you need this? (tax paperwork, reimbursements, bills - take action or file).

Will you use this? (Reference docs or articles - take action, file or scan).

Does it make you smile? (Kids artwork - frame or scan).

5.  Sustain

Target clearing your work space weekly. 

The filing system should be reviewed monthly and fully cleared out after tax time. 

Good luck and let me know if there are other ideas that work for you.