The home office has slowly become the foundation of the modern day household. We pay the bills, organize recipe files and photo albums and develop calendars and schedules on our computers, and some of us make a living from here. With so many different activities happening here, it's easy to see how it can easily become the most disorganized and unkempt area of the home. A clean organized desk and home office can save time, stress and even money if we work from home. So if you're feeling overwhelmed by your messy desk and disorganized office, take a good hard look and see what's overwhelming your order the most.

Mail is probably the biggest contributing factor to our messy desktops. Get in the habit of dealing with your mail on a daily basis. Toss what you can, place those things that need to be shredded into a shredding bin and shred them once per week, and file the rest away properly. This might also be the time to update your filing system and make folders for current years or months.

Another culprit of office clutter is computer storage media such as CDs, DVDs and floppy disks. Take the time to ensure each is properly labeled and placed in a protective file or case. Categorize and alphabetize them for easy access.

If you have an office area that is commonly used by all family members, it can easily become cluttered with glasses, coffee cups, food wrappers and dirty dishes. Since computer equipment can easily be damaged should something spill on it, it's probably wise to impose a rule forbidding eating and drinking while using the computer. This would help to eliminate some of the clutter as well. If you are working in your home office for several hours a day and you have the space, you should try to have a separate area, away from your computer and work space, where you can set your food and beverage without fear of spilling on electronic equipment.

When using a bulletin board, make sure you keep it current. Any items that are not current should be filed or thrown away. Your calendar should always be set at the current month so you can check all your scheduled activities or appointments at a glance.

Office supplies have a way of easily cluttering up our workspace as well. Take the extra time to clean out and organize desk drawers if necessary and make sure all office supplies have a home other than the top of your desk.

By thinking, planning and using discipline, your home office can become a productive, efficient and serene place to work.