While I’ve made a little bit of progress in my efforts to de-clutter at home, I have made much more progress at work. A few months ago I was abruptly “uprooted” out of my office I had inhabited for the past 3 years, and found packing and moving the amount of “stuff” I had accumulated in that time quite cumbersome.

I had kept up with records destruction on time schedules, and still had a lot of stuff to move. This included a lot of personal items that had either been brought to the office by me or “gifted” to me, including a small refrigerator and microwave. All personal items had to be taken home as this was a large-scale move of people out of a building that required temporary storage, and I had only two hours to accomplish this task. Quite daunting, to say the least.

So, to prevent the chaos that ensured on that date in July from happening again, I intend to keep the bare minimum at the office. The plan:

1. Keep only a few necessary personal effects, limited to one small drawer and a few small items for display.

2. Purge all outdated records annually at the beginning of each fiscal year.

3. Permanent file of records by date for easy purging, unless other requirements apply.

4. Follow a personal “clean desk policy” and file all items away by the end of the day, either into permanent filing or in a specific “active” file in a drawer.

5. Give away or throw away office supplies that haven’t been used in over a year.

While I was housed in a temporary location without all my “stuff”, I found I was much more productive than usual. Why? I determined it was because I only had in front of me the items I needed for the task at hand, and not other clutter to confuse me and slow me down. So, I intend to continue as a minimalist in the office, as obviously it makes a difference in my productivity.

I am now 99% moved in and feel more organized than I have felt since early in my career before I began accumulating so much office stuff. As they say, less is more. I’m liking it, too.