Home office organization, bookshelf organizing, home office decor, how to fit as many books as possible on your shelves
Is it time for a home office overhaul?
I just redid my office this summer and it feels great now that we are on the brink of fall!
As you are about to discover, I do not operate on the paperless office principal by any means. As a visual, tactile person, I thrive on using actual paper in my office.
If you also like paper, you might appreciate these practical home office organization tips. These are some tools I have used with success:
Hang papers you rotate. My hanging wire has been up for years and I change out what I hang on it monthly, so it has to be secure. Picture wire strung across an entire wall and secured with screws works well for this. Don’t use nails and secure your screws with anchors if you have drywall. Also be sure to use at least medium-gauge picture hanging wire that won’t bend or kink. I use mini clothes pins to clip my work to the wires.
Clip papers to display. If you are like me, you enjoy changing out the inspiration in your home office regularly. I’ve hung six clipboards on the wall at eye level so I can look up and be inspired by what I clip on them. The nice thing about clipboards is that they can be plain and cheap or fancy. Back-to-school time is a great time to shop for decorative clipboards but you can find a huge assortment virtually anytime.
Sort papers you’ll use or file. A traditional office paper sorter works great for this. This is what prevents my office from being over run with all of my notes and ideas. These can also come in handy if you are writing a book and need to sort large volumes of paper. I chose something like this sorter but they come in a variety of sizes. If I were purchasing one today, I would get this one.
Box items to sort later. Sometimes you just need a place to toss things. I use IKEA cardboard boxes and store them in IKEA cubes. I have 8 cubes in my closet and five rolling cubes. These boxes are great for storing collage supplies, of which I have many. I also toss repetitive mail in these boxes, for examples recorded monthly coaching sessions that I don’t need to sort right now but wish to keep. I use cardboard boxes with covers instead of fabric cubes because I have cats in my office and I don’t want my bins scratched or full of cat hair.
magazine storage for journalists and writers, home office storage, decor, organization, sorting magazines by season
Store magazines by season and type. Another thing I like about IKEA cubes is that they work well for storing magazines, of which I have many. Magazines don’t stand up well on regular book shelves, so I lay them flat in IKEA cubes and put matching sets in magazine sorters. IKEA has great prices on a variety of styles of magazine sorters, but you can find them anywhere.
Display magazines to read. I like to have a place where I can grab a quick seasonal and topical magazine to browse on my way out the door or upstairs. I have never found it practical to store magazines in the bedroom, where they just seem to pile up and get dusty. There may be some wisdom in storing magazines in the bathroom, but of course they can get soggy in there, so my solution is to store them just outside the bathroom. Since I visit the bathroom as often as the next person, this gives me ample opportunities to check out my magazine selection, which is also close to the stairs and the front door. Magazine sorters are made of many materials. Mine just happens to be made of orange fabric.
magazine storage tips for journalists, magazine reader organization, turning magazines into decor
Sort papers in process. I have a couple more fabric sorters in my office that are blue and are perfect for sorting bills to open, pay and file. I also keep folders of projects in process and papers related to upcoming speaking gigs there. Again, any kind of wall-mounted paper sorter can work, mine just happen to be made of fabric.
Bind loose papers to keep. All of my old clips, classes, correspondence, and publicity are stored in three-ring binders with plastic page protectors. I use 3-inch binders for my article clips because there are so many. Ditto for thank you notes and publicity clippings. Courses are printed out and compiled in smaller binders. I am not even sure why they make round ring binders. I much prefer one-touch, heavy-duty slant ring binders that last.
Shelve all those books. Of course, the largest amount of paper in my office is contained within the covers of books. Some folks indulge themselves in gorgeous shelving with lots of decorative accents. But my bookshelves are crammed-to-bursting with all of my writing, creativity, inspiration, and decor books. When I can’t fit them all across the shelf, I stack them up on the ends so I can jam more in. I have been making two cheap variety store office shelves work for me for over a decade. Some day, I will replace them with heavier duty shelves that have more shelves per foot so I can squeeze in even more books.
Now it’s your turn. Do you have papers to sort? If so, I hope this post has inspired you.
If you liked this post, I recently wrote another on “10 Ways To Recharge Your Office After Summer Vacation.” Check it out!
I also wrote “A Continuous Quest For Joy Is What My Creative Writing Process Is About,” which you can read here.
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