30 Things Every Educator Needs in their Home Office
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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Staples Brand Products.
Somewhere between having a baby and now a toddler meant that our home office looked like a UFO hit it. It created an crater sized pile of office supply debris leaving both my husband and I at a loss for the time to fix its devastation! It really is quite embarrassing. Both of us spend time a lot of time working from home so not only do we share a home office but it’s really more of a “corner office” as our office shares a space with my blogging projects and the kid’s art supplies. Every corner of our office is used for something different.
In an effort to fix our work station and corner office I realized that I simply didn’t have the organization and supplies needed to clear the clutter and keep things straight. I was thrilled with the selection of Staples Brand Products available for our home office – it has not only provided a space for everything in our office but it has actually given us a TON more room!
There are several very important things to understand when organizing your home office for success. The MOST important things that make your home office successful are:
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Accurately utilize the space you have available.
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Have a home for EVERYTHING. Everything!
UNDERNEATH the desk-
There is SO much wasted potential underneath a desk!! This is where I make good use of Staples brand products and maximize the extra space. They have an awesome selection of various sizes and shapes of storage tubs with lids. In fact I ordered a 6 pack for a better value! I also store our printer paper and Staples paper shredder underneath the desk along with our trash can. Large totes for large storage – this is the perfect place for it!
ON TOP of the desk –Â
This is crucial to have organized properly because this is the typically the busiest area of a work space and needs to stay clutter free. Although you need space to work you also need your Staples brand products easily accessible to use. I fell in LOVE with this desktop organizer that not only allowed me immediate access to tons of printer paper but it also allowed for horizontal and vertical storage. It holds everything from files to push pins, scissors, pens, notebooks and more!
Because we have so many different needs in our family all smashed into one home office “corner” I needed to heavily maximize our organization space. The above Staples drawer storage cart exceeded what I needed and cleared out a TON of clutter in our office. I still need to add labels onto it but I particularly liked this storage set because it has locks on each drawer along with the options to add wheels! Plus it keeps my toddler out of my work station supplies! I have it stored in front of the shelves we don’t use often since it can be easily moved.
NEAR the Desk – SHELVES!Â
Many years ago I bought a wall sized cube bookshelf and it has been my lifesaver! It gave us a lot of shelf space but I have realized that the large fabric drawers I have tried to use are just too big for my home office area. I needed specialized storage containers to organize our legal paperwork and business supplies. I’m reluctant to admit to you that more than once we’ve lost tax files, passports, and other extremely important legal documents simply because we didn’t have a good way to organize our paperwork. Extra stress and extra expenses are not on my agenda! If you don’t have floor space for a bookshelf go vertical and use wall shelves!
Do you see all those empty shelves next to the desk? Those were piled with stuff before I organized it all! By ordering specific sizes and organizers of Staples brand products I was able to better consolidate what we needed to store and open up a ton of room for other storage! Everything I received was high quality and I am thrilled with it.
AND to celebrate Staples’ 30th Anniversary here is my list of “30 Things Every Educator NEEDS in their Home Office“! I made it in an infographic size for you to share on Pinterest! Did I miss anything on the list? Leave me a comment and let me know what else you can’t live without in your home office!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Staples Brand Products.
I’m not a teacher, but I could use almost all of that in my office. I’m a blogger, so I have almost as many supplies as a teacher does. LOL
YES!! I definitely understand that! It’s kind of nice that our family overlaps into both worlds – we just always have to make sure we’re stocked up!!
This is a great post, I really need to organize my home office! I will put these tips to use!
I am not an educator, but these are all items I like to stock in my craft room. Staples is really a one stop shop for all office supply (and classroom suppply!) needs.
A craft room absolutely can get chaotic without good organization!!
Ooh my husband needs that on the desk wire organizer. It’s beautiful!
I know I fell in love with it! The drawers pull out too! Our poor stack of printer paper ended up horribly folded up thanks to my ever so helpful kids so this organizer will help a lot!
I love my labeler. I used to label everything! It’s so nice to see what everything is with one glance.
I need a home office so I can get all this stuff. I would love to be this organized, and have everything in its place! It would be amazing to be able to do this.
Baby steps! One storage organizer at a time! 🙂
I love those organizer bins! I definitely need some of those in my office.
Hanging file folders are definitely a must to keep up with paperwork without having to dig through stacks.
What a great list of items every educator needs in their home office. I love how organized this is!
Thank you!
I am not even an educator but I would love to have all of these items (and usually do) in my home office. I am addict to these type of office supply items.
I am not a teacher, but still work from home, so I find this list extremely helpful. A storage container or small standing filing cabinet would especially work wonders for me.
I just can’t get enough storage! It’s an obsession of mine!
As a blogger and homeschooling mom, I have a ton of stuff I need and my desk is a disaster. I need to visit Staples to get some things to organize my desk area!!!
My office is in need of serious help, so this post came at a perfect time. Looks like Staples to the rescue.
I was just looking at the vertical storage container over the weekend. I think I may be getting that this weekend.
I love these ideas. I totally need some more storage containers in my office. I’m running out of space!
Running out of space seems to happen a lot doesn’t it!! I can’t believe how much extra room it made in my office just by having a better storage system!
There’s so much more I could do to organize. I really want to turn the closet under the stairs into a homework area. It’s got so much potential.
The desk organizer is one of my favorite items. I got it on sale at Staples a couple of years ago. We’re just now coming out of a fog and getting better organized. What a shock to see what accumulated while other things got sorted out.
I really love those organizers for my office, You’re so lucky to have this
I think I missed out on two-thirds of those items in the list when I was still doing desk jobs. There’s one thing this post made me realize however, and that is to organize my files and clean clutter. By the way, Staples rock!
I am not an educator but I worked at home, I agree, one should have a home office. I have one at home too.
I love this! I’m trying to put my home office together right now, and these tips certainly come in handy!
I’m headed over to enter. Thanks for sharing the contest!
I think this is a great list for anyone that has a home office. I work from home and I love this!