Top Tips for an Efficient Office Clearout

November 28, 2024

Top Tips for an Efficient Office Clearout

If your office is full of the brim with clutter and you're trying to clear out ready for the new year ahead, you're not alone. Many business owners will be using these next few weeks on the lead up to Christmas to clear out their offices and get the space ready and fresh for the new year.It's always going to be the case that officers will have clutter. 

When you have more than one or two people moving in and out at any given time, there's always going to be things left behind. This is especially the case when you are trying to clear out ready for a move. Whether your office is due for a renovation or you're moving to new premises, or you simply just want to keep it tidy, then giving your office a clear out is a good place to begin. You need to be able to manage it in a way that is time friendly, so let's take a look at some tips to help you get started.

Key Takeaways on Efficient Office Clearout

  1. Make a list: Start by creating a checklist of items to declutter, including old furniture, electronics, and filing cabinets. Having a list helps ensure that nothing is overlooked and allows you to focus on recycling or reselling items as needed.
  2. Set aside dedicated time: Office decluttering isn't a quick task. Set aside specific time to avoid interruptions, ensuring you have enough hours to clear out before a move or renovation without affecting business operations.
  3. Involve your team: Decluttering is easier when done as a group. Assign different teams to different office areas to manage the task in small chunks, minimising disruption to work while making progress each day.
  4. Focus on recycling: Prioritise recycling over throwing away items, especially old electronics and furniture. This not only helps the environment but can also make room for new, more efficient office setups.
  5. Resell unwanted office furniture: If the office furniture is still in good condition, consider reselling it. This can help recover some costs while ensuring that your office space remains functional and organised.
  6. Prepare for the new year: Use the decluttering process to refresh your workspace for the new year. A clean, organised office can enhance productivity and set a positive tone for the year ahead.
  7. Consider the bigger picture: Decluttering now will reduce the amount of items you need to move during an office relocation or renovation. Less clutter means fewer moving costs and a smoother transition to the new space.

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1. Make a list

Rather like Father Christmas, in the lead up to the festivities, you need to be making a list and checking it twice of all of the things that you want to declutter. You can start with metal recycling. If you've got any filing cabinets that need to go because everything's been moved to a digital platform, your office is going to need some order. And for that to work, you need a list to follow so that you can tick things off along the way. If you are organising and decluttering, you need to know what's going to go to recycling and what isn't so that nothing gets moved by accident. Recycling is important, especially if you have old electronics, old furniture, or old filing cabinets that need to go because you don't want them to go to landfill. There are places you can go to resell your old office furniture, but if you're looking at recycling, call in a company to help.

2. Put the time to one side

As much as you don't want any business interruption, you do need to have some time to get this done. Decluttering your office is not going to be an overnight job, so setting some time aside to have a good clear out before you relocate is going to save you a lot of money. Not only will you be able to avoid moving the unwanted items to the new office, but you'll be able to free up some space in the new place because you're going to be taking less with you. This will give you far more to work with so that your team can become more productive and more efficient.

3. Get the team involved

Speaking of the team, you need to make clearing out the office a team effort. An office clear out is an overwhelming thing to consider, but it's a lot easier if you're not doing it alone. You don't have to do the whole thing at once, and this kind of interferes with work commitments. So go team by team and have each team in charge of a specific area of the office so that they can clear out their side. This way you only have to do things for an hour or two per day per team.