Organizing Your Home Office: Putting Your Walls To Work 

Horizontal space is often limited in a home office. When organizing your home office, think vertically and put your walls to work.

• Add shelves above or next to your desk to gain more storage space. You can use open shelves or sturdy cabinets that attach to your wall. Also there are prefabricated products originally designed for cubicles, that adapt to fit any type of wall.

• Use bulletin boards to store memorabilia, "fan letters" or inspirational quotes. Avoid posting tasks to accomplish or important project information unless you know that you will refer to it daily. If you are visually oriented and want to see at a glance the status of various projects, use a bulletin board to track your progress. Make sure you divide the bulletin board into columns and label each column.

• Consider using a white board instead of a bulletin board. White boards are available with or without lines dividing various sections of the board. Make sure that you have plenty of extra white board markers on hand and something nearby to wipe the board clean.

• At the end of each month, review your bulletin board or white board and remove information that is no longer valid. 

• Attach wall pockets or "hot files" (plastic holders) to the wall to hold papers, supplies, or anything else you need to have within reach. Wall pockets can hold about 100 sheets of paper or four to five interior folders and are an ideal way to keep papers in sight, yet organized. Make the holders easily accessible by placing them near your desk.

• If you are constantly pulling the phone off of your desk, attach it to the wall. Also, use an extra long cord to give you the flexibility to reach information or supplies you may need while on the phone.

The next time you feel the need for more space, keep in mind that there is nothing wrong with letting the problem drive you up the wall...literally.