Stop. Look up. What's on your walls? Photographs, pictures and artwork by your kids? Or are you maximizing your "vertical storage" space with shelves, phone brackets and even a mounted flat-panel monitor? Make the most of your tabletop real estate by using your walls. Papers and mail strewn about on your desk compete with your phone, Rolodexes, penholders and other tools for valuable tabletop real estate. Magazines piled atop filing cabinets. Piles of to-do items stacked nearby, challenging you actually to do something with them.

How cluttered is your office today?

A cluttered office is the sign of chaos running rampant. The result is inefficiency that can stifle creativity, productivity – and ultimately – profitability.

If  filing and storage space in your small or home office (SOHO) seems maxxed out, how about using your walls for storage? Walls and doors provide untapped vertical space, and in the process clear the desk of the stuff that clutters busy minds.

Here’s some creative examples of how to use walls and vertical surfaces for better storage:

• Wall-pocket plastic file holders. Assuming the paperless office is a far-fetched panacea, files, papers and other non-digital documents are a part of life. Plastic file organizers that can be attached to walls or even hung upon the backs of office or closet doors can create a home for these documents. Be sure to keep open documents or files close at hand. The less timely a file, the further it should be kept from the active workspace.

• Shelves for other desktop items. Rolodexes, penholders, knick-knacks and mementoes have no place on the desktop. Instead, install narrow shelves above the desk to take advantage of close wall space. The items remain close enough to reach, but aren’t burdening the desk.

• Hang the phone. Your phone has to be nearby. But it doesn’t have to sit on the desk. Many phones have screw slots on the back for hanging. Insert a screw with a drywall anchor for strength. This way, you’ll clear some space – while still keeping your phone close at hand.

• Hang the USB hub. With all the peripheral devices home officers use today, USB hubs are common accessories. Yet, they too take up precious desktop real estate. Instead, using strong double-sided adhesive tape or screws (for those USBs with hanging slots on the back), hang the hub – preferably behind the monitor. Out of sight, it’s still within reach.

• Flat panel monitors. At almost two square feet, the traditional 17-inch CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor is a desktop space hog. The narrow design of flat panel display monitors like the 17-inch Samsung SyncMaster 760vTFT (which measures less than four inches in depth without the base and 18 inches in width), can be wall-mounted to eliminate the need for any desk space at all. An added benefit: This distance can help ensure the screen is no closer to the user than the 18 to 24 inches recommended by ergonomists.

• Wire chases. Augment your above-desk wall space with wire chases beneath the desk. This will both hide the wires that snake from your phone, fax, PC or other device, as well as protect children and pets from entanglement in the cables.

Look up to your walls to de-clutter your office and find greater organization, efficiency and productivity. You be surprised at how much space you actually have.

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By Jeff Zbar – Writer & Speaker on Technology, Entrepreneurship, Home Officing, Telework & Work/Life Balance. Read the 'Home Office & Times' blog @ www.chiefhomeofficer.com.