Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter

Office Supplies

Last week I promised we’d talk about office supplies—a major issue for a lot of my clients. Why do we have so much? Do we need it all?  How do we organize them?

When I was a kid, my mom had a few boxes of stationery, some envelopes, a couple pens and a roll of scotch tape. If she needed a folder, she’d ask my dad to bring one home from the office.

Now, between Staples and Amazon, we can get anything we think we might need immediately. Compounding this is the fact that once dull, utilitarian products are now eye-candy: colorful Poppin Products, Martha Stewart and Marie Kondo boxes, guaranteed to disguise all your unruly piles, and for the more fashion-forward, Cynthia Rowley file folders. It makes it oh-so-easy to rationalize these impulse purchases: You need this stuff. It’s practical. You’ll use it, eventually.

The problem begins as soon as you bring home your 50-pack of clear plastic envelopes and your box of Paper Mate fine-tip pens. Where does it all go? Desk drawers are great for a box of paperclips, a few note pads and a back-up box of staples. They aren’t sized to deal with the volume of office supplies many of us accumulate. I’ve seen reams of paper on the floor of a coat closet, boxes of pens in the back of the file drawer and printer ink in an Amazon box on the floor. Not only is it hard to find places to put it all, it’s hard to remember where you squirreled things away. And then you end up buying more.

The ideal space for office supplies is usually a shelf. Paper and boxes of folders and pens stack nicely. Designate a shelf in a nearby bookcase or install a shelf over your desk. My printer sits on top of a small cabinet that stores my office supplies. If your home office space is less defined due to space restrictions (a caddy, say, that you pull out when you need it), you can dedicate a small portion of a closet to office supplies— a small bookshelf or a few stackable drawers can carve out some functional office supply storage in a closet. Even a kitchen cabinet can work: With the pandemic making a home office a necessity as much as a luxury, it’s important to be openminded and flexible.  The main goal is to have all your office supplies in one spot, so you know what you have and where it is.

The key to having everything in one spot is managing your inventory. You may think you need lots of office supplies, especially since you work at home now, and your partner works from home now too, and maybe your kids are going to school at home, but I’d like to challenge that idea. Rather than buying huge quantities simply because you can, practice good inventory: Gather all your supplies, figure out what you actually need on hand, and what makes sense to have a backup for (it’s always smart to have a back-up of printer ink; you should never need more than one box of pens on hand). Try buying one ream of paper at a time. Buy a three-pack of pens instead of a box of 12. You may find you don’t need to reorder as often as you think. There’s less waste when you’re on top of your inventory. Sometimes the simplest changes can bring a surprising amount of satisfaction, and that, is something you can never have too much of.