Ready to attack your home office clutter? Declutter your home office by removing these 10 things NOW!
Last Updated: November 2022
When I did some research into my blog analytics at the end of last year, I was a little surprised to see that my post on things to declutter in your kitchen was at the very top of the list. OK. So you clearly liked this list!
In keeping with my promise to deliver more concrete help with decluttering this year, I decided to go ahead and create a regular No Brainer Decluttering series. I’m all about giving you more of what you love!
My plan is to create a monthly post centered around the specific area of the home that we’re zeroing in on as part of the Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge.
Since February is home office month in The Challenge, I’ve compiled a list of 10 “No Brainers” that you can immediately place into the “toss” pile during your home office declutter sessions. All I had to do was take a peek around the two home offices in my own home to get a boatload of ideas 🙂
The Home Office Declutter Guide: 10 No Brainer Things to Toss NOW
1. PAPER
After clearing out the obvious trash, the first order of business I like to tackle in any home office decluttering project is the paper (you CAN’T be surprised to hear this, from ME, right?). Gather up all of the random pieces of paper strewn around the office and toss into a laundry basket to deal with AFTER you declutter and organize the rest of the office.
Paper decluttering is a project in and of itself. Check out my paper decluttering series to learn how to set up a paper management system, as well as organize various types of paper clutter.
2. OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY/SOFTWARE
Yeah, you read that right. We’re stockpiling software in my husband’s home office that’s nearly 2 decades old. Because, well, you never know WHEN you’ll need to reinstall MSOffice 2000.
3. MYSTERY CORDS/CABLES
Fess up. I know you have this same box lurking around your home (ours happens to be in the home office closet). You know the one. It’s full of those mystery cords and cables you’ve collected over the past decade. Chances are many of these cords represent outdated technology and aren’t even usable anymore.
Go ahead and pitch ’em. You’ll be o.k. I promise.
4. BROKEN EQUIPMENT
If you take a peek inside our home office closet, you’ll spot the sad remains of my 7-year old laptop PC. It no longer works and I’ve transferred all of the data from the hard drive to my current computer. Why is breaking up so hard to do?
I’m mustering up the courage to take this relic to its final resting place this week. Look around your home office for old computers, printers, fax machines (gasp), etc. It’s time to let go of them, my Friend.
5. BROKEN PENS
We have about 40 bajillion pens in our house, many of these are vestiges of my husband’s past pharmaceutical jobs. Problem is, about half of these pens cause major frustration when I attempt to use them.
If you’re like me, you favor a certain style of writing instrument and get easily annoyed when your pen doesn’t feel good in your hand (or requires a ton of effort to write effectively). Do yourself a favor and do a “pen purge” this week. Get rid of any pen that’s broken, chewed on, or doesn’t function at an optimal level.
Life’s too short to use crappy pens.
6. EXCESS OFFICE SUPPLIES
Speaking of pharmaceutical sales promo freebies, can you say POST IT NOTES?
This is one of approximately four bins of branded Post-It notes that we’ve been hoarding away over the years. If I live to be 200 and write 1,000 notes a day, I wouldn’t come close to using all of these.
If you have a similar over-abundance of a particular type of office supply, parse down your collection and donate it to someone who could benefit!
7. EMPTY INK CARTRIDGES
Got a collection of used toner/ink cartridges? Don’t throw them in the trash. DO take them to your local office supply store and recycle them (you may end up making some cash in the process).
Put them all in a bag right now and take them to your car (o.k., after you’re done reading this post).
8. OLD BOOKS
Oh, Cohen & Cohen, how you made my life a living Hell back in the early 1990s during my grad school years. Why oh why do I still have grad school textbooks from 25 years ago? Gah!
I can GUARANTEE you I won’t be wanting to brush up on multivariate statistics or multiple regression any time soon. Bye Bye.
9. EXCESSIVE KNICK KNACKS
So for this one, I’m throwing my daughter under the bus. She is the Queen of Knick Knacks, which is fine– EXCEPT when your corner desk has very little space to work and you INSIST on covering every square inch with art projects, Eiffel Tower figurines and Post Its (did you see the Post Its? we have a problem indeed).
I’m all for infusing some personality into your home office space, but not at the expense of having adequate space to accomplish your work.
10. ITEMS THAT DON’T BELONG ELSEWHERE
When scanning the room to determine what can be decluttered, look for items that don’t belong in that space (i.e., they have an assigned home that’s elsewhere in your house). As I scanned my husband’s office this morning, I wondered how this plastic table cloth made its way into the home office.
Hmmm…time to relocate that!
There you have it! What items will you be tossing from the list? What else would you add? Share with the rest of us one of the items in your home office declutter toss pile!
Need a little more help with organizing & decluttering your home office?
Download the Declutter Tool Kit, a free resource for helping you declutter your home from top to bottom. Click on the image below to learn more about it and to download a copy for yourself:
Check out my step-by-step guides for decluttering & organizing your home office:
- Home Office Decluttering
- Home Office Organization & Maintenance
- Reference File Organization
- Going Paperless in the Home Office
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- Clipboard Wall Organization for Papers: Easy DIY Paper Storage! - September 4, 2023
- How to Plan a Graduation Party to Remember: The Ultimate Graduation Party Planner - May 9, 2023
All About Closets says
Great ideas. The home office can become a catch-all without some diligence and discipline! Best to keep unwanted items out of the space to begin with.
Jackie says
There is a guy who does some really great things with broken or un-useable pens..go to penguyart.com to donate all your un-useable, broken, unwanted pens so they don’t end up in our landfills!! Really great and unique way to help save our planet..because every little bit helps! Spread the word
Natalie Gallagher says
What a great idea Jackie. Thanks for sharing!
Jean Hanson says
Thanks for this, Natalie.
A quick tip for your readers who hold garage sales….A few years ago I did a major purge of office supplies while gathering stuff for my rummage sale: a ton of sticky notes (perhaps as many as you had), index cards, spiral notebooks, file folders, pens and markers, binders, etc. I made “office in a bag” packages and priced them reasonably. I sold out within the first hour. People loved them!
And p.s. on the mystery cables. Do a little matching with your electronics first. I accidentally tossed a cord I needed for an air filtration system that I use only seasonally. I hope your readers are more careful than I was.
Natalie Gallagher says
“Office in a Bag”…That’s a fabulous idea Jean! Yes, I totally agree re: the electronics cords. In my case, that box has sat up in a corner of our office closet for years, without us so much as taking the lid off. I knew that if I hadn’t accessed any of those cords in that time, that they were all useless to us at this point. But a great warning for others!
Leanna says
Thank you for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty
I have a craft room office combination that I am currently cleaning. I read your article with interest. I had tossed a bunch of mystery cords, old dvds and a mountain of pens that hubs must slowly bring home from work. I have to look at it again to see if I have some old excess stationary products I can donate away.
I know one thing for certain, the minute I got rid of the excess it was much easier to locate what we needed. Great practical information here.
Natalie Gallagher says
Thanks so much for the feedback Leanna…AGREED that it’s so much easier to access what you need when all of that unnecessary clutter is gone 🙂
Emily says
I recently rounded up a bin of random cords, gave everyone one week (and a daily reminder) to make sure nothing they needed was in the bin and tossed it, it was so freeing! I’d love to get rid of my hubby’s old text books, especially since several of them are still used and could be resold, but he “apparently” still uses them! Thanks for linking up to #HomeMattersParty
Natalie Gallagher says
Wow, if you can resell old text books, more power to you! I KNOW that everyone has that box of random cords!