Spring-Clean Your Workplace

Spring is just around the corner! The changing of the seasons often signals a sense of renewal and with that comes a reminder to clean up your life, whether it’s your workplace, your personal life or your garage. Here are six spring-cleaning tasks that will lead to an organized environment, which often leads to a clearing of the brain, which leaves you wide open for inspiration. How’s that for a rebirth?

1. Clean up your desktop. Does your desktop look like someone planted icons all over it? Are all the abbreviated mumbo-jumbo titles running together? If so, it’s time to organize. Get rid of that Illustrator file you were playing around with that never became more than a few lines, file similar documents into one folder, and click on the images that are unfamiliar to you. You might discover a new piece of inspiration or remind yourself of an unfinished task. 2. Change the battery on your smoke alarm. It’s recommended to change this battery twice a year when you also change your clocks. Sunday is Daylight Savings, which means we spring forward! Also check the battery on your carbon monoxide detector. 3. Back up your files. I cannot stress this enough: As a graphic designer, a freelancer or some other work-at-home person, you are responsible for backing up your work. All it takes is one fried hard drive to erase hundreds of hours of painstaking work. And how will you explain that to your clients? 4. Check your inventory. Do you have outdated supplies? I’m talking toner for a printer you no longer have or envelopes with your old address. Chuck those into recycling or the trash. Meanwhile, make sure you’re stocked up on all other office supplies. Here’s a supply checklist to get you started. 5. Recycle old magazines and newspapers. Don’t let your office turn into a fire hazard – get rid of the clutter by clearing out old periodicals. No, don’t even bother to flip through them to find that one article you always thought you’d get to. If you haven’t read it by now, you never will. 6. Clean the coffeepot. Seriously, it’s gross.