It’s that time of year again. Spring has sprung & it's the perfect opportunity for a bit of a spring clean to banish those winter blues and give your home & life a refresh! Over the next 4 weeks we're going to be sharing expert tips & tricks on how to Spring clean different areas of your home & life.

For week three, we tackle spring cleaning your workspace & life admin. 

Organise Your Workspace

For ultimate productivity Monday to Friday it's important to have an organised workspace. Now is the perfect time to spring clean your workspace, declutter, organise & freshen up the space so it's functional & practical but also motivating & inspiring. We spoke to our founder, Beck Wadworth & asked for her top tips & tricks.  

First things first - Remove everything & clean the space. 

Like Part One of our series HERE, start by clearing out everything from your workspace including cupboards & drawers. Then, do a thorough clean of all the surfaces.

Declutter

Next...get rid of anything and everything you do not need!

Give everything a place

Look over everything you NEED in your space / on your desk & delegate a specific place for it. Make sure anything you need frequently is easily accessible & that you keep some negative space on your desk for when you want to review things / spread out a little - avoid cluttering your actual desk surface space.

Boxes can be your best friend & also functional storage solutions. Remember less is more. When you're ready start adding everything back to your workspace piece by piece. 

TIP: If you have a lot of cords at your workspace make sure you get some zip ties or similar to collect your cables together in neat little bundles, then tuck them away so you don't have to look at them. Take it a step further by labelling your cords too so you know what is for what. 

Invest when it's needed

We spend a lot of time at our workspace so it's important that we look after our bodies as well. Make sure you invest in a good chair & also the right desk, monitors or other equipment that is needed. 

File away

Create a strategy for your filing that works for you and stick to it both physical & digital. 

Style and function

When decorating your desk, use pieces that also have a function. E.g drawer dividers or an old candle jar as your pen holder. If you don't have a lot of room, think about adding shelving above your desk or storage underneath your desk. 

Label queen

There’s no such thing as too many labels! They separate and distinguish categories with ease. I label all my folders extremely clearly and utilise sticker labels for documents that need to be signed and artwork that needs to be checked, etc.

Pin it

I love visual inspiration around me when I’m working – a pinboard is a great way to create your own mood board to sit behind your computer. It’s also amazing for pinning invites, reminders and business cards onto, instead of having a million pieces of loose paper floating around.

Organise your life

Add some new stationery to your life. My go-to workspace essentials include a diary, notepad & a notebook. Write down appointments, reminders, manage your workload, jot down ideas and everything in between. Check your diary every morning before you start your day, allocate your 3 MIT's on your to-do list (more on that HERE) & tick off the boxes as you go. It’s such a satisfying feeling.

Feel Inspired

Once your workspace is put back together, look around the space & see if you need to add anything for inspiration & motivation. It could be a piece of artwork, a plant, a new candle scent - create a mood & set the tone.

Our number one rule to maintaining your organised workspace. 

At the end of every day, before you leave your desk, ensure everything is back in it's place, all loose items are put away & your workspace is back to how it was at the start of the day. There’s nothing worse than starting a new day with total desk chaos. A clear space = a clear mind. On a Friday afternoon do a deep clean where you wipe down the surfaces, empty the bin etc. 

Life Admin

Once a year, it's always a good idea to look over your life admin & give it a little tidy up. To help you on your way, our Founder shares her recent to-do list she did for her own life.

1. Review & Change Things Up

For most of us we have a lot of monthly or annual expenses that are automated, for example internet & phone plans, insurance policies, utilities, entertainment such as Netflix & Spotify, etc. Now is a great time to look at all those expenses in your budget & investigate if you can save money with a better provider or plan. Quite often your circumstances might have changed within a year & you will be surprised how much you can save.

For example, last year I changed my power company to Electric Kiwi (not sponsored) but the benefit for me was that you get a free hour of power every single day. I've set an alarm on my phone & have seen my savings accumulate just in one month!  

I also called my phone / internet provider & asked them to change my plan to a lower one. I really like the provider I'm currently with, but due to changing circumstances I don't need the extra international travel benefits, or as much mobile data (since I'm at home 24/7 now!) so I didn't want to be paying for those extras each month when I could be saving that money. 

The benefits of these small changes all add up. 

TIP: Don’t be shy about calling your current provider and asking for a better deal. That one phone call could make a big difference to you in the long term & at the end of the day, they want to keep your business too. 

2. Spring Clean Your Budget

Off the back of tip 1, now is also a great time to look over your budget in general & give it a good spring clean. How are you tracking? What changes can you make? What are your goals & focuses financially? Reflect, review & refocus.

TIP: If you own a house, you might want to look at your home loan. Or for others, it might be a good time to also look at things like your personal banking & credit cards etc. 

3. De-Clutter Your Inbox 

Over the course of a year, it's very easy to sign up to a lot of incredible brands databases. However this can in-turn leave your inbox clogged & become quite overwhelming. Use this week to go through your inbox & unsubscribe to any databases or brands that don't interest you any longer. Branded emails can be hugely beneficial - both for keeping up-to-date with the latest products but also from an educational side - interviews, advice & more, so make sure your inbox is kept open for those that you don't want to miss seeing.

4. Book Appointments

Looking at your diary, when was the last time you went to the dentist for a check up? or the doctor!? Time flies by & before you know it a whole year has gone past. Use this week to get up to date with your appointments for the next 3-6 months, especially in the lead up to Christmas. My Advice:

• Book any regular appointments you have up until the NY. For example I booked in all hair appointments & nail appointments for the next 3 months this week in the lead up to Christmas. You don't want to miss out on your pre Christmas colour touch ups because the salon is fully booked! Get ahead & lock those appointments in your diary!
• Organise your life admin & book your annual dentist, doctor & skin check ups. Spread them out over the next 3 months so it's not so much pressure time or money wise. 
• Check your passport, car registration & any other bits & pieces that might need renewing - write down in your 2020 or 2021 diary what date these expire & a reminder to renew them prior to this date.  

5. Organise Important Documents & Receipts 

When life gets busy, it's easy for receipts to pile up & important documents to be in a jumble. Spring clean this area of your life & spend some time getting on top of it all. From filing documents & receipts, to getting up to date with your tax. Another great thing to do is review your Will & see if anything needs updating. And... if you don't have a Will it's a great time to start thinking about one. I know it's not a very nice thing to think about but add it to your to-do list & do it for your loved ones & yourself. 

6. Stock Up

And finally, now is great time to stock up on those bits & pieces in your home you keep forgetting or avoiding! The ones you let slide for weeks. Go around your home & write a big list. From blown lightbulbs that need replacing to picture hooks so you can hang your artwork, to pantry items that are about to expire or have run out. Focus on organising all these little life admin things. Trust me, you will feel amazing once you tick them all off!