10 Office Necessities to help start my year of right
The New Year can be a wonderful time to begin a new habit, but also a good time to refresh habits that you’ve been able to hold onto! In my 10 years of owning a business and being self-employed, I have a few things I go out and get to feel fresh and ready for the year.
In this article, I offer you my checklist of items I use daily to keep me organized and save myself time.
My monthly planner is a VERY important asset to keeping me organized. I know some will argue the digital benefit, but for me, I need to be able to write things down. It helps me remember and process what I’m doing. I have 1 planner for each business (1-yoga studio, 1-store, 1-blog).
Compartmentalizing my planning and thinking of each business as it’s own entity has helped me streamline processes for each organization. Jumping between creates confusion and distraction and I don’t tend to get anything done by organizing myself in that way. So for me, it works best to tackle them separately.
The monthly calendar for the store is much smaller than the other two. I theme my social media there and don’t need the size of a larger calendar, so pocket-sized works best for me.
The blog and studio require more mental Tetris, so having more space to write and think works better for me here.
My spiral lined journal is my running todo list. These from Good Juju are my favorite! I use it for all 3 businesses to streamline tasks and in some cases, errands. I date the top each Monday morning, transfer tasks over from the last week, then add what I know I need to work on that week.
I like that I can fold them back making them easier to use/organize and my pen fits easily in the spiral so everything stays together! I will write the year on the cover with a Sharpie and archive it away with the previous years.
Does everything get done each week? No, but more gets done than doesn’t, and that’s something!
I love post-it notes. They are one of my favorite things! I have used them since I was in middle school trying to remember everything I needed to bring with me that day. And I still use them all the time!
Sometimes they bookmark pages with notes, sometimes they get stuck to the door to remind me to pick up toilet paper or run an errand, sometimes they are left for the teachers to shut something off before they leave.
If you are anywhere near my workspace of any kind, there are post-it notes. Always.
I buy a box at a time because it’s significantly cheaper than buying single reams. I’ll check my stock at the beginning of the year, but truth be told, a box will last a few years-so I just use the New Year to inventory if this is the year a box needs bought.
5. Printer Cartridges
Business taxes are due March 15th and I inevitably will run out of ink halfway through getting everything together for the accountant. So having backup cartidges on hand is especially helpful so I don’t lose my momentum.
Also, Office Depot gives money back on empty cartridges, so take them in in December and get the rebate to buy new in January!
6. Pens
Pilot G-2 07 are my favorite and don’t make my hand tired when writing everything out.
7. Highlighters
Sharpie Highlighters are my favorite because they don’t smear, allowing you to mark different types of paper with ease.
I use highlighters to help organize my calendar, some notes and tasks.
A good variety of colors. Also good for organizing calendars and other miscellaneous uses.
9. Legal Pads
As a lefty, a spiral bound notebook is the worst! I have long adopted legal pads for my note taking, class plans and anything else I need a full sheet of paper for. They are easy to tuck into file folders or books and there is no serrated edge mess to deal with.
Great for tax-time and long term filing.
What are your favorite things to use for organizing yourself for the year?
