The Office Gal

Hey,is that you behind that monstrous assortment of stuff cluttering your desk? Most people don’t even realize it, but a disorganized desk can cause tremendous frustration and lost productivity that can mean staying late at the office. Fact is, a messy desk makes it extremely difficult to go about your daily routine.

To follow are some practical suggestions for avoiding desktop distractions:

1) File immediately. Anyone who visits our news articles section regularly knows that we cannot say this enough: avoid pile-ups! We know it can be difficult to keep up with your filing when you get really busy, but to keep your desk neat and orderly, its imperative that you don’t allow paperwork to grow into unmanageable stacks.

2) Use the tops of credenzas and lateral file cabinets. These pieces of organizing furniture can be found in almost every office. And even if you work in a cubicle, there’s probably a flat-top credenza or cabinet nearby, providing space where you can store such things as binders and catalogs…rather than letting them clutter your desktop.

3) Utilize shelves. This is another smart location for storing things that might otherwise cause confusion by taking up space on your desk. A shelf, not your desk, is the proper place for items such as phone books, magazines and videos.

4) Create drop spots. Perhaps a basket designed to hang on your wall, or some other kind of receptacle to temporarily drop memos, notes and other small papers…keeping those kinds of easy-to-lose documents off your desk until you have time to look at them.

5) Try not to get too personal. Minimize the urge to clutter your desk with an excessive amount of personal items, such as photographs and knick-knacks. Of course, its great to have some of these in your workspace, just don’t overdo it so that your desk is covered with them.

6) Accessorize. Office organizers, such as file sorters with different compartments, and plastic bins that can hold almost anything, are ideal for storing a wide array of office materials that might instead accumulate on your desk.

Do you have a tip or suggestion when it comes to cleaning the desktop? Then share it with the readers of The Office Gal. Leave a comment or contact me and I will add it to our list!

This article was originally posted at and written by Jane Servenio of American Folder Company and has been re-printed at The Office Gal with permission.

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The Office Gal loves items that are personally made because they will give your office a great home-made feel, plus they will perk up the look as well. That is exactly what you will get when you purchase from the Little Pretty Studio at Etsy.com.

The Little Pretty Studio offers unique, pretty bulletin boards that not only will give you some color within a drab office, but will keep you a tad bit organized. The use for a board can range from the little notes you constantly lose, to a broad spectrum of family photos or kiddos art work!

hoop.dee.do bulletin boards are:

• Handmade, stamped, and numbered
• Bright, bold patterns
• Size are 14 in, 12 in, 9 in, 6 in
• Prices anywhere from $12.50 to $32.00 (shipping extra)
• Custom work can be arranged

Don’t need a board for your office? These would make great gift ideas with family photos all around. Just take your favorites photos, attach to the board and you can give your love montage to family all over!

Stop by the Little Pretty Studio and make your purchase today!

Do you have an item that is perfect for the office - any size or type office? We would love to feature it at The Office Gal, just let us know!

This is an original The Office Gal post.

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Anybody who files in a busy office knows that papers are constantly coming across their desk, and if those papers are not organized on a regular basis, messy piles can accumulate…resulting is misfiles, or even worse, lost documents.

An easy and smart way to keep constant track of paperwork as it mounts, particularly documents that relate to ongoing projects, is to create what’s called a tickler file. In addition to making it easy for you to manage the continual stream of papers you have to deal with, a tickler file helps simplify the process of determining what to save and what to throw out by allowing you to temporarily store papers for future use.

To set up your own tickler file, here’s all you do: Just place a hanging folder in your drawer with five interior folders inside the hanging folder. Label each interior folder with a different day of the week. As the week progresses, drop papers for review into the respective interior folders and review at each days end. When Friday rolls around, sort through the entire file for the whole weeks worth of papers and you’ll be able to easily decide what to save and what to
discard…or, what to transfer into a more permanent file.

Tickler files are perfect for projects that you work on over long periods of time. Indeed, many projects tend to take on a life of their own, accumulating mountains of papers some of which are not needed right away. Its those papers that can clog up your days and weeks and rob you of filing efficiency as well as productivity.

Using a tickler file can alleviate the challenges of paperwork build-up, making your entire office and your life more organized every day!

This article was originally posted at and written by Leslie Servenio of American Folder Company.

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Simple thought. Easy enough to implement. From large corporations to a small one-person home office, we all makes waste. Soda cans for that 2 AM wake-me-up; our V-8 plastic bottle for our veggie fix sitting in front of the computer, all the way to the report that printed twice on the same side, waste is all around us, and it can be recycled. The most you need to do, walk to the container and toss it in.

Some great recycling containers are offered through Design Within Reach . Soft, reusable bags are waterproof - great for those soda cans - and are easily washed out. The set of 4 bags are color coded for quick recognition, as well as give you printable reference tags that can be placed in the front plastic windows on each bag. Another great feature is all four bags have Velcro tabs that can keep the bags secure to each other and in place.

The set of four recycling totes is quite inexpensive at $22.00. Think about it? This small amount of money will help keep your recyclables out of landfills that will most likely never be broken down. This helps to create a cleaner Earth now and for future use.

Now, for transporting your recyclable. For a home-office you might be offered recycling pick-up by your local waste company (regular trash). Call your local waste company or review on your city’s web site for information on their recycling program. Small branch offices to larger companies will most likely have to haul their recyclables to the local recycling center for drop off. However, pick-up might be offered depending on the amount you recycle each week, bi-weekly, or month. Speak with a representative.

Don’t forget! Recycling paper is great, but be smart and shred your information. Even if you don’t think it is pertinent, shred it. A convenient size shredder is perfect for the one-man team to a small office and can be purchased at any supply store. For mid-size to large offices, a mobile shredding service might be the right option.

This is an original The Office Gal post.

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If you believe you are disorganized or maybe you have way too many binder clips, then this is a great day to be here! I have rounded up some great links that I have read - and not just about binder clips - but in general that will really help pull you together, get you organized, ready to prioritize your tasks, and make today and every future day successful.

• Remember Day 1 @ Management Craft.
• Permanent Link to Bounce! Ignore the Fear and Go from Failure to Success! @ Life Learning Today.
• Introducing A New Way Of Prioritizing @ Organize It.
• The Holy Grail: How to Outsource the Inbox and Never Check Email Again @ 4 Hour Work Week.
• 8 Ninja Uses for Binder Clips @ The Cranking Widgets Blog.
• Links and Resources for the Chronically Disorganized @ 43 Folders.
• 10 Misconceptions the Self-Employed Deal With Daily @ LifeDev Productivity for Creative People.

Do you have a link that you feel would be great to share with readers of The Office Gal? Then contact me and I will include it in the next link love post.

This is an original The Office Gal post.

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