According to estimates, managers waste 1 hour a day because of disorder and clutter.
This wasted time adds up and could lead to thousands of dollars of lost revenue and productivity. You don’t want this to happen to your business.
Luckily, effective business storage can help you get your time back and let you focus on running your business.
Read on for 9 useful storage ideas that can transform your workspace from cluttered and confusing to clean and organized.
- Designate a Spot for Everything
This is the number one tip to follow if you often find yourself misplacing your business supplies. Make sure everything has a spot, whether that’s office supplies, supplier phone numbers, or customer information.
For example, if you have a lot of tools, consider hanging them on a wall with labels or putting them in labeled toolboxes.
If you’re having trouble remembering where to put everything, make a list and put it somewhere everyone in the company can see. A list is especially helpful for new employees who might not know where everything is yet.
- Store Items According to Frequency of Use
This method saves you a lot of time because you don’t have to keep taking things out and putting them back.
If you use a lot of new office supplies like pencils, erasers, and paper pads, keep these at the front of a storage shelf or a top drawer. If you’re at a desk for most of your workday, put the items you use often in the drawers closest to you.
As for things you don’t use very often, like spare parts or rarely used shipping stickers, feel free to put these in the back of cabinets, stored boxes, or on the top shelves of your workspace.
- Create an on-Site Storage Facility
If your business has land available, then why not consider creating an on-site storage facility? Companies spend thousands of dollars on offsite business storage facilities, so if you have extra space, then this is the perfect time to take advantage of it.
On-site storage is the perfect place to store spare parts, tools, and inventory. If you need something durable and rain resistant, there are many metal sheds for sale that can suit your needs.
- Look at DIY Experts
DIY experts aren’t just useful for home decor tips. They can also help with storage for business and give you creative ideas you may not have considered before. Many workspaces have similar items that a home would have, such as kitchen cabinets, bathrooms, and filing cabinets.
Plus, we all know that specialty office stores can be incredibly expensive (and overpriced). DIY experts often show you how to repurpose the materials you already have and use them for storage, saving you money on your business budget.
- Create an Archive
Whatever type of business you have, chances are you’ve accumulated a lot of paper documents over the years. While some of this paperwork can’t be shredded or recycled, you want to create an archive to keep it safe but out of the way.
Make sure to check your field’s archiving rules and legal regulations, as these vary by industry and specialty.
- Have an ”Organize Later” Pile
If you have a lot of incoming paperwork, items, or shipments, then you might want to create a separate area for things that need to be sorted later on in the day or week. You don’t want to trip over piles of boxes in your workspace, nor do you want to lose important materials.
A good storage place would be an unused room or a storage closet. You can also think about creating a shipment log and write down what you received and when so you know exactly what you need to put away.
Don’t just let things sit in this pile, though. Designate one day of the week when you will categorize and put away all of these incoming items so that you don’t misplace anything.
- Invest in Vertical Business Storage
If you have a small space, vertical storage is the way to go. These are usually high shelves but could also include hanging storage or wall hangings with pockets. Remember to store frequently used items at the top and most often used items at head or waist height.
If you have very high shelves, you still might need to reach up and get something from time to time. Make sure to keep a stepladder nearby, or, if you’re short on space, consider a folding stepstool.
- Take Advantage of Scanning and Shredding
When deciding what to shred and what to scan, follow your industry’s regulations. For some things that can’t be shredded but that aren’t sensitive information, consider scanning them to your computer. Make sure to back up all these files on a secure cloud server or an external hard drive just in case.
For shredding, many companies offer secure, on-site shredding services, and some even provide the shredding bag and boxes for you to keep at your office. If you’re on a tight schedule, these companies are perfect because they come to you.
- Use Dividers To Organize Everything
No matter how much space you have in your filing cabinets, disorganized drawers are guaranteed to waste a lot of time. Dividers are a simple way to organize and label everything so that you can find the documents you need in a matter of seconds.
Even if you store everything in manila or accordion folders, you can use dividers to keep everything organized. If you have several categories in your business, such as orders, receipts, or client names, consider color-coding them for quicker retrieval.
Ready To Amplify Your Organization With Business Storage?
Storage is essential for saving time across all types of businesses, whether you’re a startup office or a mechanic.
We hope this article gave you some useful business storage ideas that suit the unique needs of your business.
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out more blog posts from our business category.
