Conquering Home-Office Clutter

On TV Channel 3 11/08/2002

Walk into Vicki's home office and you'll see that it's not exactly messy. Organized? That's another story.

"I don't like messes, but I'm not an organized person. That's not in my background," Vicki said. "When we wanted something to be efficient, which I know we're going to have to be as we grow, I couldn't do it on my own. I needed a professional to come in and take care of that stuff."

Vicki called Valerie J. Simpson of A to Z Organizing Pros® Don't be fooled, though. Simpson doesn't come in and clean up for you.

"An efficiency expert such as myself is going to come in and work with the client 100 percent of the time with the client being there 100 percent of the time," Simpson explained. "There are several reasons [for that]. One, the client has to make all the decisions as to what to keep and what to throw out. Where is it going? I do not know the things at Vicki's workstation, for example. I do not know what she accesses on a daily basis or a monthly basis."

Simpson is also tackling Jack's office, which is on the other side of the house.

Before she can even begin, though, she has to spend some time getting to know the clients.

"I've gone into many, many offices where I've got a left-handed person with a right-handed set up," Simpson said. "I ask them, 'Are you comfortable sitting here? What if we did this?' and they're like, 'Oh my God.'"

Once Simpson has a chance to analyze the home offices, it's time to get to work.

She says you should start by putting similar items together. She calls it "putting like with like."

The next tip is a great money-saving idea. Look for items elsewhere in your home that you can recycle for use in your office.

What's an office without files? The question, though, it this: Are you using them correctly? Simpson suggests putting labels on the backs of your files.

With both Vicki and Jack guiding her, Simpson spends the next few hours sorting through their desks. Along the way she turned up all kinds of things that were doing nothing but taking up space.

She also notes the couple's tendencies to let things pile up. Her next suggestion was to arrange the desk vertically.

Almost finished, they now need to know how to keep everything organized. To accomplish that, Simpson has created a system that includes urgent, to-do, pending and to-read files.

Simpson says the urgent folder is something her clients will look in daily. The to-do folder contains things that have to be done, but are not urgent. Simpson recommends checking that folder at least once a week. The pending and to-read files are exactly what the titles suggest.

Within five hours, the trio managed to turn the two office spaces into efficient areas.

Jack and Vicki were thrilled with the results.

"Once I get used to where everything is, it will be much more efficient," Jack said. "That's what we're looking for, to be much more efficient."

"Even though it was neat before, it just opened up stuff, which is a lot better especially since we have clients that come in here ...," Vicki said. "It's an inviting place for them to be."

The cost of Simpson's service, including a file cabinet and folders purchased to make the changes, came out to less than $1,000.

When it comes to home decor and do-it-yourself projects, Lisa Haffner is the one in the know. Catch her "Home Life" reports on "Good Evening Arizona," 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. M.S.T

Tips to Organize Your Home-Office