Working From Home? How Binder Dividers Can Help You to Get Organized

During the COVID-19 crisis, many people are working from home for the first time. Here's how you can use binder dividers to get organized.

Working from home might sound like the ideal situation for a lot of people, but for some, it can mean a total lack of productivity (at least at first).

There's a lot more organization that goes into working at home without constant supervision, and while it's totally possible to adapt and slide into your new role, it's going to take some adjustments.

Some of these adjustments will be in your organization. You might find yourself needing new organization tools that you've never needed before just to keep your head on straight. Binder dividers are one such tool that could totally take you from frazzled to fine-tuned.

If you're looking to streamline your at-home work process, here are some ways to use binder dividers to get organized and get yourself back on track.

Add a Planner Section

Your planner and your binder are probably two separate things right now, but do they need to be?

Keeping everything together in one space will make it significantly easier to keep yourself on task. Moving everything around makes it easy to lose track of things and get distracted.

If you don't already use a planner, now is a great time to start. There are plenty of planner templates online for free, or you can purchase one online to place easily into your binder.

These are super convenient and a great way to get organized and stay focused. When you work from home, days can run together. With clever use of a planner, this doesn't have to happen.

Add a Reference Section

If your work requires a bit of background info that you're often running to the web for, consider adding a section only for reference. This can go in the front or back of your planner and can be a glossary, a math section, or really anything that you will need to use frequently.

This can stop you from running to books, the internet, or others to ask questions, at least quite as often. Running away from your work can easily lead to distraction. Having a reference section is really handy, and even the process of including it can make you feel more organized and productive.

Like planners, some reference sheets for common issues are available as printouts or purchasable inserts online. Otherwise, they're a simple DIY activity.

This will continue to help you once you're no longer working at home as well.

Subdivide Using Extra Dividers

While you may have your main sections divvied out fairly easily, subdividing into subsections can really step up your organization game.

Often times, we think we know what sections we need to stay organized and then end up getting a little bit complacent after we really hit our stride. Keeping some extra dividers on hand to use as subdividers will really help to keep you on task when you find an area that could use some extra attention.

Maybe you need specific clients divided out, or specific requests from specific clients. Maybe you need days of the week, but then need the days split into mornings and afternoons. Whatever your specific needs are, if you're having trouble staying organized, it never hurts to get a little more strict with your dividing.

Keep a Hole Punch on Hand

Have you ever wanted to immediately throw something into your binder in the perfect spot but, alas, it's not hole punched.

At work, this might be pretty easy to fix. At home? Not as much unless you've come prepared.

A hole puncher isn't an office supply that everyone thinks to keep in their home, but it might be a necessity if you're working out of a binder.

You don't want to lose any important documents or notes, so make sure you've got a hole punch on hand.

Keep a Folder Behind Every Divider

A super useful hack! While having a hole puncher is important, there are still some things that can't be hole-punched. Sometimes important documents have to stay in one piece. Some documents are too small. Sometimes you might just want to keep track of small sticky notes.

In those cases, keeping a folder behind every divider can be super useful. You don't have to worry about losing track of loose papers, or keeping them all bunched together in the front or back folders that some binders come with.

It will add another level of organization to your workflow (and look pretty neat, too).

Create Post-It Caddies

If your binder dividers are thick enough, dividing up your Post-it notes and making little Post-it caddies in each section can be a great way to add another level of organization.

This lets you stay in your section, not interrupting your workflow. It also lets you work from anywhere in your home, not exclusively your home office. Sometimes you might need to work from different areas in the house, especially in times of social isolation where you might get a little stir-crazy from sitting in one place all the time.

Introducing Post-it caddies to your binder dividers will give you section-specific note areas. Hint: Divide them by color too!

Are Your Binder Dividers Helping You Stay Organized?

Working from home can be a bit stressful if you've never done it before, but keeping yourself organized can turn into a fun task if you let it.

With a little bit of DIY and some creativity, using binder dividers to better organize your workflow is easy and even kind of fun. There's no wrong way to do it, but it never hurts to be a little bit more organized.

For more information on where you can get binder dividers for your home office, visit our site.