A neat and organised office will always create a better environment that is more conducive for effective work. On top of that, it’s simply just a nice thing to be able to work in a cosy, uncluttered space. The good news is that you don’t have to buy fancy organisational tools and items to keep your space looking tidy and well-kept. If you’re on a budget or just enjoy creating your own projects, then check out these five DIY projects that will help to keep your office organised, clean, and always ready for working.
Basic organisers
There are many varieties of organisers for the office that allows you to store whatever you’d like. We suggest crafting the simplest version in the form of a box. To create this organiser, you will need a thick cardboard box, fabric, a leather strap or a thick ribbon for the handle, screws, a screwdriver, and scissors. Measure the sides of a box and cut out fabric according to these dimensions. Connect the patterns in such a way that the box fits snugly into this case. Tuck the upper part of the fabric inside the box and fasten it with staples or glue it. Attach the handle to one of the side of the box and secure it with screws. You can also craft a wooden box rack to fit 4-6-9 such boxes, arranged in several rows.
Pen holders
Your desktop needs a convenient organiser for pens, pencils, and other small office supplies. In order to make a pen holder with DIY methods, you will need two small boxes, thick fabric, double-sided duct tape, glue, and scissors. You can play with the shape of the boxes, for example, by slightly cutting their edges so that one side is higher than the other. In this case, the junction of the boxes will be along their long sides, and the short sides of the boxes will be directed outwards. Next, take the fabric and cut out the figures in the shape of each side of the boxes. Connect the boxes with a double-sided duct tape. Attach fabric to the pen holder with glue. That’s all, your nice looking pen holder is ready!
Tote bags
They may not seem super obvious, but tote bags can be used not only for shopping but also for organising papers in your office. For example, you can employ them to stash archives of documents or to store other papers such as printouts, contracts, invoices, etc.
It’s quite easy to make a tote bag with your own hands. You will need some cotton fabric, canvas straps, scissors, threads, and basic sewing skills. The whole process of creating such a bag will take no more than a couple of hours, even if you’ve never created anything like it before. You just need to cut four identical rectangles from the fabric (two for the outer layer, two for the inner lining), sew them on three sides, process the edges, and attach the straps. And now you have yourself a tote bag!
You can use fabric with a logo of your company to give a tote bag more individuality. Handmade bags like these can be used not only for storing stationery but also as packaging for giveaways and souvenirs for your customers and clients. You can prepare a small gift set for your customers, for example, consisting of personalised pens, custom-made cards, notebooks with a logo of your company, and other stationery and beautifully pack them in such a handmade tote bag.
Business card holders
Many business people simply can’t bring order to their business cards. They usually can be found in all the drawers of a desk, in a wallet, business card holder, and basically anywhere in the office. In order to efficiently store business cards, you can craft a simple wooden business card holder. To do this, you need a small wooden bar (for example, nine 3/4 “length and 1 3/4” square), a ruler, a saw, and sandpaper. With the help of a saw, you need to cut the edges, giving a bar a triangular shape. Then you need to make several neat cuts at the top of a bar where you will place business cards. It’s important that the width of the slits corresponds to the thickness of the cards, otherwise they will not hold in place. After you make the necessary number of cuts, treat your cart holder with sandpaper. Such a business card holder will be useful not only in the office but also it can come in handy if your company participates in various marketing events. For example, you can take such a holder to a trade show and place your business cards in it so that visitors will be more willing to take business cards from such an unusual device.
Mail Sorter
Every office receives and sends dozens of emails every month. Usually keeping such correspondence organised can be a real headache. Scrambled piles of letters and their contents can really spoil even the neatest office. In addition, the risk of losing an important letter increases when mail isn’t organised properly. In order to prevent this, you can craft a simple mail sorter.
You will need a dense cotton fabric, elastic or ribbon, and threads. Cut out a rectangle of the size that will fit your needs. Fold this rectangle in half along the long side so that you get something like a very wide pocket. Sew the sides together. Then you can use vertical stitches to divide the item into several smaller pockets. For example, you might want to sort your mail into four categories (to be sent, to be paid, to be filed, and action required), then you will need to make four pockets. You can attach a card to each of them with a text saying for what category each of their pockets is designed. The last step is to attach an elastic or ribbon so that you can hang your mail sorter. That’s all, and now your mail sorter is ready to go!
