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YOUR ULTIMATE HOME OFFICE

Your #wfh tidy desk guide

I’ve worked from home as a writer and journalist for the past 20 years of my life, with intermittent office jobs -juggling school-age children and endless copy deadlines, both of which often had me waking up at 4 am. So WFH isn’t new to me. However, I’m naturally a bit messy - so not the ideal partner to #wfh. I maintain it’s because I like to have everything ‘on show’ so that I don’t forget what I’m writing about (my memory is so diabolical). In truth I just never had ‘a system’ to neatly store things away out of sight. Chances are I’d need them the moment I’d closed the cupboard door, so I just didn’t. Result… mess! Indeed, it took selling our house this time last year to do the ultimate tidy!

Now, in the midst of a longer WFH scenario - the likes of which we have never witnessed before in our lifetime (even during two world wars) - couples, flatmates and families have been thrust together in close proximities, while others face the challenge of living in isolation. Understandably, stress levels are high (a shocking 700% increase in domestic violence in the UK in 2020), as many of us took on additional roles of a carer, teacher, and home-worker.

As basic as it seems, nothing adds interior stress more than mess. Clutter and disorder create chaos in the mind and the heart, which leads to irritation, misery and anger. Clearing your space, especially an environment you work in, however, is ultimately more stimulating, uplifting, and boosts creativity.

So, if you’ve been getting down and letting your environment slip a little…here are a few steps to help you refocus on future days ahead.

Destress Your Mess

Here’s how to help strike the home life balance more by being neater, especially as working from home is more likely for some of us in the near future too. The main concern at home is about creating the most relaxing environment possible for yourself and your family. Wellbeing is everything, so your number one priority is what can you manage to help you feel useful, focused and calm.

Mess = Stress

A neat & tidy, organised room just feels a calmer, more pleasant space to be. It’s also key to surviving lockdown with positivity. By visually decluttering a room you make a big difference to your emotions when you’re living and working in that space.

  1. Once a day, simply stack things off the floor into a neat pile, file papers, post and receipts into designated spaces, empty the bin, plump cushions and turn off computers to rest. 

  2. A tidy room is also easier to clean. Open a window to ventilate the room and breathe in some fresh air into your lungs. Every other day, damp dust surfaces that are in your eye line, and regularly run the hoover around. This ensures a 15-minute job stays manageable.

  3. Make tidying fun: if there are kids at home, turn every deed into a game. Rainbow colour coordinate books on the bookshelf; get them to organise your receipts into date order; Alphabet-ercise the DVD stack, sharpen pencils and clean erasers. Working together with the kids is a lovely way to share tasks, and is a great ay to start teaching valuable independence and life skills for university life and beyond.

Fresh Desk Ideas

JOGB’s pick of the best desk tidy accessories to inspire your thoughts and dreams… Oh, and add a candle, GOJO according to the fabulous Inside Stylists, is the ultimate working from home candle of choice! Thanks Emma MT

THE NOTEBOOK

‘Shit I Should Do’ Notebook, £9, www.textfromafriend.co.uk

Our favourite blank 48-pager, hand-stitched notebook using a traditional hand printing press, to help inspire us all to sort out our life. Use it for ideas, inspiration, the first chapter, a new mission… whatever the idea, you’ve no excuse.

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THE DESK TIDY

HAY Tool Box, £25, www.hay.dk/en-gb

Handy in any office, workshop, studio, kitchen or bathroom, store pens, erasers, scissors,artist materials, paperclips, staples, and anything else you just find fiddly and messy to tidy away. Made by the uber chic, minimalist HAY design company, check out their home office inspiration for furniture, stationery, lamps and gadgets.

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THE WALL PLANNER

Wall Planner Botanical, £10.20, www.thegreengables.co.uk

While being more a paper diary gal than a fan of wall planners, one of these was the first thing we bought when Jim & I started JOGBLiving.com, as a wall planner is immensely handy for helping to create structure to your time frame at a glance, and helps planning when working from home without letting it take over domestic bliss. This one from The Green Gables is pleasing to look at, and designed to encourage positivity, plus environmentally friendly too.

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THE PENCIL

Kaweco Clutch Pencil, £17.50 from www.presentandcorrect.com
The ultimate chunky, refillable lead pencil (3.2 diameter) with which to draw or write: to help design and bring ideas to life. I buy these for my husband, a graphic designer: he loves the Kaweco ink pens too. Present & Correct was founded online 12 years ago by a couple of graphic designers, as a place for all the things they love - modern and vintage - by other designers from around the world. Their passion for stationery is evident! Love this website.

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THE FOLDER

Delfonics Vinyl Briefcase in Metallic, £3.90 (NT$145) at www.toolstoliveby.com.tw

Sort out endless papers into vinyl folders, chic enough to leave in view on your desk (safe from tiny fingers), or take to a meeting. We just love this website ToolsToLiveBy for every office accessory: from beautiful ink bottles to glamorous paper clips! It’s based in Taiwan, hence the dollar sign.

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THE BIN

Pudda Basket, £8, www.ikea.co.uk https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/pudda-basket-20343912/

Oh, we do love a bit of grey felt at JOGB, and this IKEA basket doubles up for easy shelf storage, but also as a rather cute bin too! Fairly durable, soft grey goes with most wall colours and home office decor. These also work in tidying up a playroom, utility room, or to hold snuggly blankets, which frankly my living room is never without on a chilly evening.

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THE STICKY NOTE

Index Sticky Notes at Papersmiths, £5.80, www.papersmiths.co.uk

If you’re out shopping for stationery, once all this lockdown is over, Papersmiths in Brighton, Bristol and London’s Chelsea, King's Cross and Shoreditch, was founded by graphic designers, and is a curated edit of books, stationery, gifts and office essentials. You kinda ‘need but don’t’, yet can spend a fortune and have endless fun!

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THE PAPERCLIP

Monograph Arrow Paper Clip, £5 for 15, www.theconranshop.co.uk

These stylish Arrow-shaped Paper Clips from House Doctor, an indie store (via Trouva), add a tasteful update to the stationery staple! It’s those little details that make all the difference to working from home just a bit more fun …

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What is inspiring you to work from home - or go freelance? Any tips you’d like to share with people who haven’t set themselves up at home yet? It helps us all to be more flexible about work…that may well be our future. Let us know what works for you. Get in touch jogb@jogbliving.com or below in comments.