Is your office desk buried under mounds of clutter? Do you have trouble finding your phone when it rings?? Are you STILL looking for that half slice of pizza you were eating for lunch 3 days ago?? OK, that’s just nasty! Reorganizing your desk can give you peace of mind, allow you to find things you’re looking for more quickly, and make a good impression on the people who see your work area, such as your boss, customers, and other employees. You will be more productive and will benefit from having a tidy and attractive workspace, as you can better focus on your work without so many visual distractions. Even if your desk looks like the above, all hope isn’t lost! Here are a few tips:

Step 1: Clear it Out! Pull everything (except perhaps very large items, such as computers or printers) off and out of your desk.

Step 2. Scrub It! Now you can clean your desk! Get out the Pledge and glass cleaner and wipe down your desk and drawers, including all the nooks and crannies (what WAS that gunk in the back of the drawer?). Amazing the things you find back there, isn’t it!

Step 3. Sort It! Sort through your things and group similar items together, i.e. office equipment (pencils/pens, paper clips, rubber bands, post-it notes, white out, staplers) accessories, filing materials, paperwork, knick knacks (framed pictures, work awards, etc.)

Step 4. Keep or Toss? Keep a recycle bin and garbage can nearby to get rid of things - especially paperwork - you don’t need. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help determine what to keep and what to TOSS. Is the item an unnecessary duplicate? If the answer is “Yes,” toss it! Is the item current and relevant to my work? If the answer is “No,” toss it! How often will I need to use or refer to this item? If “Never,” toss it! Does this item add anything to other information on hand? If “No,” toss it! Don’t forget to recycle!

Step 5. Strategize! Now it is time to define a place for everything. In doing this, follow two principles: the Frequency-of-Use Rule and the Grouping/Separating Rule.

Frequency-of-Use Rule: Items should be placed according to how frequently you need to access them. Items that are accessed quite frequently (i.e., on a daily basis) should be placed within immediate reach/view, while things that are used less often (i.e., weekly, monthly, or yearly) should be placed further away so that they do not interfere with your daily work. So first, think about what items you need most at your fingertips – i.e. telephone, rolodex, calendars and planners, frequently-accessed reference materials, staplers, pens, etc.  - and place these items in easy-to-access places in, on, or above your desk. Items that you use fairly frequently, but not every day should be placed either in desk drawers, filing cabinets near your desk, or shelving above or near your desk.

Grouping/Separating Rule: Similar items should be placed together, while dissimilar items should be separated from each other. For example, put similar items together, such as paper clips, and separate them from dissimilar items, such as pencils.

Step 6. Organize! Store items in storage areas and containers designed to accommodate them. Action items can be stored on your desktop in single or multiple stacking paper trays. Store supplies like paper clips, rubber bands, pencils/pens, scratch paper, Post it, and white-out in desktop supply caddies or drawer divider trays designed to organize such items. Arrange the items you need for clear viewing under a clear desk pad or in an orderly fashion on a tackable board over your desk.

Step 7. Nix the Knickknacks! If you can bear it, try and keep the number of knickknacks to a minimum (you don’t need five pictures of your kids), and place them in areas on or above your desk that will not interfere with your work.

Step 8. Make Your Work Area More Functional! Obviously you need to leave some clear space on your desktop for writing purposes and to give your desk a tidy appearance. Make use of the numerous office organizing products on the market - e.g., paper trays, drawer divider trays, computer disk holders, desktop supply caddies, shelf dividers, etc. Don’t be afraid to purchase something or ask your boss to purchase something for you if it will help you get more organized.

Once you’ve organized your desk, keep it that way! To maintain your new found tidiness, make an immediate decision about what to do with each item that comes across your desk. Resist the temptation of saying to yourself, “I’ll just put it here for now.” If you keep files in your desk, make appointments with yourself to go through them several times per year to discard outdated material (again, don’t forget to recycle!) Try to put things back in their proper places as soon as you are done using them. Straighten up your desk at the end of each workday. It only takes about five or ten minutes and it is much easier to clean up a day’s worth of mess than a week, month, or year’s worth.

HAPPY ORGANIZING!

[via www.thecluttercoach.com]

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While the economy is rolling down the hill, the Christmas spirit does not have to!

The team at Ocean Lakes Family Campground (OLFC in this article) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has issued a contest in which each department of the team has to decorate a tree or a wreath using nothing but things they can find in their own department. According to Barb Krumm, Marketing Director of OLFC, the contest did not started out as is, it was merely a creativity challenge. Everyone in the team was very excited when the challenge was announced, and when all the creative mind unleashes their powers all at once, a challenge turned into a contest.

The requirement of the contest is that purchased decoration is not allowed. Things that can be used include office supplies, signs, electronics, parts of an object and anything else within the competing department. Not only does this contest promotes creativity, it also promotes recycling and the use of extra resources.

With a camper tire, a couple tail lights and other camper parts, the OLFC storage team created a pyschedelic wreath(in the banner above). The front office dug up a 3-foot tall tree from the camp ground that is now festooned with light switches, neon materials, reflectors with a star made out of a washer on top. The game center decorated another wreath with game tickets, glowing objects and toys. The scent of Christmas is prevailing in the office.

The OLFC team are planning to auction out the items to their summer guests to raise money for charity, but before then, three winners will be anounced - Most Festive, Most Creative Use of Department Supplies and Wow!. ■

via {PRWeb}

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Last time I check, our mother earth is sick. Ever since the movie – An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006, the term ‘Global Warming’ has drawn a lot of attention. ‘Pro-green’ activists groups are being formed all over the country, rather, all over the world. While the first Smart car first greeted the American public in 2008, President-elect Barack Obama promised to introduce a million plug-in hybrid cars to the America by 2015. On the other side of the globe, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean governments are experimenting with the use of solar panels – and are preparing to bring such technology to the public at an affordable price. Pro-green advertisements are everywhere on the web and the same applications and widgets(such as Green Office by shoplet.com) can be found all over the place in the world of social networks such as Myspace and Facebook. It seems like the world has came to realize the meaning and the importance of ‘Going Green’. Most of us probably spend most of our time in our office during the week, so what can you do to make your office a greener place?

Here are a few tips:

Lights: LED and Compact Fluorescent
Although LED lights bulbs are slightly more expensive, they consume much less energy which, at the end of the day, not only are you saving energy for the world, you are also saving yourself some money from your electric bill. If LEDs are not an option, consider compact fluorescent lights. They use ¼ of the energy used by regular lights and can last up to 10 times longer.

Digitize
In this digital age, a lot of the printed materials in an office are only being used a few times. Think twice and evaluate the necessity before printing. If you were to just print an article and read it once before you toss it away, why not keep it in your computer and read it on-screen? Also, If your job requires you to face the computer screen most of the time, wouldn’t it be more convenient to take notes using light-weight software like notepad instead of using paper. At least you are not tiring your neck by lifting your head every other second.

Pack Your Lunch
Not only are you eating healthier when you pack your own lunch, you are also helping to save the world by not using those packaging made by toxic material that is difficult for mother earth to ‘digest’.

Bring a Mug
Instead of using plastic bottles for your drinks in the office, bring your own mug. You will be saving the use of a lot of plastic.

Recycle: Paper; Bottles; Cans
Try to recycle as much as possible. Things like paper, bottles and cans can be recycled and SHOULD BE recycled. If there is a recycling bin sitting around the corner, treat it like a recycling bin rather than a trash can. Encourage your company to adopt recycling. If there are documents that are inevitable to be printed or bottles that are inevitable to be used, go ahead, but please remember to recycle.

Computers: Laptop. Energy Saver. Shut It Down.
Use a laptop instead of a desktop if possible as laptop consumes close to 10 time less energy than a desktop. There is also less packaging that comes with a laptop than a desktop, and because of a smaller size, it means less space is needed during transportation thus less transportation is used. If using a desktop cannot be avoided, optimize your energy consumption by turning on the energy saving option on your computer. Finally, if you are not using a computer, a printer or any other devices, shut them off.

The Printing Habit: Go Both Ways
We all know that: yes, we can avoid printing as much as we can, but there is absolutely no way to not print anything in an office. Try to use both sides of the paper when printing. Use eco-friendly ink such as soy based ink. ■

Green Office by shoplet.com
Check out the aforementioned shoplet.com widget on facebook

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Here is another little gizmo that I supposed to help with the carbon footprint.  Each time you take a short or long break, a phone call, go for a meeting etc. you simply press the ecobutton™ and your computer is put into energy saving ‘ecomode’ which ensures that both your computer and monitor draw only the same nominal power as when they are shut down!

The ecobutton™ is illuminated and sits on your table/desk top next to your keyboard for easy access. It connects to your computer via a USB cable. Each time your computer is put into ‘ecomode’ the clever ecobutton™ software records how many carbon units and how much power and money you have saved by using the ecobutton™.

What some may criticize that the ecobutton™ is just anoter shortcut for hibernating your computer the people behind it claim that the ecobutton™ mode turns off all the components inside your system except the essential memory. When in ecobutton™ mode your system is using as little as 1.8 watts.

You can find more facts facts on Ecobutton and stats on the savings of electricity bills and C02 reductions

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