With the weather slowly warming up and the sun peeking through the clouds, one thing is on everyone’s minds: spring. If you’re stuck in a cubical right now and feeling the spring fever, you can put that angst to good use by doing a little spring cleaning.

Decluttering the office may sound like an undesirable chore, but with a simple system and the right tools, it can go quickly and give you a sense of accomplishment. This is the perfect time of year to clean your office out and start fresh. Here’s how to do it.

Declutter Your Paper

Most offices accumulate paper like it’s their job—which, it may be, depending on what your industry’s regulations dictate for record retention. But that paper doesn’t have to be a cluttered mess, and it doesn’t have to be kept in hard copy. With a scanner and a document management system, you can digitize records to make them easier to store and secure.

You’ll need:

• Shredder
• Scanner
• Filing Cabinet
• Three bins
• Sticky notes and pens

The first thing you’ll want to do is sift through your papers and put them into your three bins. You’ll organize them by shred, recycle, and digitize.

1. Shred: The paper you’ll want to shred include receipts, bank statements, investment records, personnel information and other documents with sensitive data. Of course, keep any documents that are still relevant or necessary.
2. Recycle: Recycle paper like junk mail, outdated invoices, and other non-sensitive paper that doesn’t need to be kept.
3. Digitize: Your last bin will be for records that should be organized and easy to access. Scan these using a high-quality scanner and organize them into a document management system for easy retrieval.

With the right tools, this job will go quickly, and you’ll be on your way toward keeping the paper clutter down. For more information about document management or high-quality scanners, contact us today.