What To Keep And What To Throw Away While Spring Cleaning

Spring has almost sprung and many people are already dreading the upcoming spring cleaning season. While cleaning and organizing is by no means a “fun” activity, it can be incredibly liberating, and above all, useful, especially if you know what you are doing. Office spring cleaning is particularly important because it sets the tone for your efficiency for the rest of the year. A cluttered work space is an inefficient one. Below are some tips on what to keep and what to throw away while spring cleaning.

Old Paper

This should be prime culprit number one. Search and destroy old, useless paper around the office. Well, don't destroy, definitely recycle it, but most offices have such an abundance of old, useless paper lying around and cluttering up work areas, it’s a wonder they get any work done at all.

Often Used Items

You should have you and your employees make a list of everything that they have at their desks during office spring cleaning and use that as a starting point. Start to rank the things on that list in terms of how often you use them, and what they are used for. By the end of it, you should have a selection of items that you either don't use, or don't use often enough to warrant being out in the open and taking up space, or even around in general.

Don't Get Rid of Old Client Files

By law some businesses are required to keep client records on file for a number of years, even if the business relationship has stopped. Make sure you keep important financial and legal documents on file just in case you need to reference them down the road. This by no means implies that these can't be put into storage and forgotten about until that time comes.

Do Keep Old Office Supplies that Still Work

Many people think office spring cleaning simply means out with the old and in with the new, but that mentality often comes with a lot of waste. Many office supplies can be used and reused. New office supplies come with a hefty environmental footprint, especially things that are made out of plastic. Let your employees know that spring cleaning is about making smart, conscientious decisions about what to keep and what to toss.

Office spring cleaning is important to get right because a cluttered, disorganized work space is an unhappy work space. Keep the above list of things to keep and to get rid of in mind when going about this year's spring cleaning and build a clean, efficient, organized foundation for the rest of the year.