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How to unclutter your home office in Silicon Valley and other places

By
Real Estate Agent with (408) 425-1601 CA bre 1519182

                                                                               Sam Shueh

                                                        Realty One Group

                                                        Silicon Valley, CA

 

Many of use work from home at one time or other. Paper is a mess for most of us.  It took me years to convince my spouse to stop newspaper subscription as they generates the most clutter. We wrote to many catalog companies requesting us to be off the mailing list. Studies suggested 80% of our keep we will unlikely to use or refer to them. I have become paperless on bank statements, charge accounts after real estate transactions are completely paperless. I am fine do everything on line. Most of books were donated or sold on line. In fact, my Amazon account started in 2002 and books were sold some were even out of print type and I did well. I am sure Jeff Bezos made a percentage back to get to today's level. Amazon that year made $4 million dollars sales. My Yahoo account started in 1999, Google account signed up by invitation then.

 

After being a realtor comfortable with paperless transactions. I realize all personal old records, receipts could all go also. They were shredded and ended up in recycling bin. That cleared at least one home file cabinet and three book cases of clutter. When the bills are paid I shredded the invoices and those of current year tax value I have a special drawer for safekeeping. 

 

The following is what I learned from a friend. Tiffany has a business and keep her files more scientifically.  She filed  them in the order of accessibility, indexed them so she has access to them without a ladder. She bought these shelves putting more frequent used items at the bottom rows. She type in something on her smart phone and scan it to retrieve them. Having been programmer herself really allows her to customize her device apps. She uses RFID technology, chips that can be sensed a few feet away.                                                        

 

clutter                                                          Figure 1 cluttered office -a replica

                     

frame

                                                        Figure  2  Shelves (2X)  framing the boxes                                             

                                               

after

 

Figure 3  Full boxes are the rigid enough support rest

 

She does not have a home office. Rather, she uses her dining room with dining table satisfying her needs after meals. Like myself her garage is clearly arranged and she use the garage to store her cars not to hoard her junks.

shelves

 

SOURCE:  

Synopsis on Mortgage Interest Rate vs Affordability (Silicon Valley affordability

Santa Clara and South San Francisco Bay Area Home Stats Q2 2016  

How is my Silicon Valley home worth? (Silicon Valley Home Values

Sam Shueh Real Estate Blogs 

Website - Sam Shueh Realtor    SamShuehRealtor at Gmail.com

                                                           (Four O Eight) 425-1601 

Comments(4)

Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Clouds are the new de-clutter tool and how welcome that is for those of us who home office !

Jun 25, 2017 04:42 AM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

A couple of years ago, I decided to get really organized in my home office.    I agree with Sally and David Hanson.  Clouds are a powerful de-clutter tool.  But still, I feel a need to hang onto paper.

Jun 25, 2017 05:14 AM
Sam Shueh
(408) 425-1601 - San Jose, CA
mba, cdpe, reopro, pe

Myrl Jeffcoat 

The key is name the files something you can relate to e.g. Jeffcoat_2017_MainStreet_123_RPA.pdf  etc.

A realtor who has been in business since the 1970s decided to unclutter his office. His big office was moving to a smaller cubical. He got his adult sons hauling records to a recycle center. They leased a 6 wheeler took two trips. He hung on to transactions on same  properties he sold several times. He showed me $65K, 85K, now sold for $835K on the same home. Who cares since most buyers already moved away or died ?  Today, he is used to deal with cloud storage.

Jun 25, 2017 08:03 AM
Belinda Spillman
Aspen Lane Real Estate Colorful Colorado - Aurora, CO
Colorado Living!

Oh man.  That first picture needs a stick of dynamite!

Jun 25, 2017 12:38 PM