by Wendy Connick

Created on: December 10, 2010

Keeping work and home life separate can be tricky for anyone, but for a home business owner it's particularly tough. The key to making a home business function is compartmentalizing your work life and your home life. And to do that you need to stay organized.

-Set Aside a Space That's for Work Only

Ideally, you should have a separate room that's your home office and is used for no other purpose. If you can't manage a whole room, get some partitions or string up blankets and section off a quiet corner. Then sit down with your family and explain to them that this area is your office, and they need to leave it alone.

Having a dedicated space helps keep your important papers from mysteriously vanishing and you won't have food stains randomly appear on your desk (unless you make them yourself). It also helps at tax time, since you can deduct the expense of a home office from your taxes IF you use the space for work-related activities only.

-Create a Filing System

Get a filing cabinet and set up a system that works for you. It doesn't matter if it's alphabetical, arranged by date, or organized by your star charts, as long as it is a system you'll remember. If you have small children, keep your cabinet locked when you're not in the room so you won't end up with sticky fingers in your files.

-File Immediately

When you're sitting at your desk with a piece of paper in your hand and the phone rings, or a toddler shrieks “I'm telling,” it's tempting to just set that paper down and deal with the problem. Do not give into temptation! The second you are finished with something, file it away in its appropriate location. If you're not organized by nature you may need to practice for a while, but eventually it will become a habit and you'll file things without thinking about it.

-Organize Your Computer, Too

Store all your work-related electronic documents in a single folder on your computer (one called Work Files on your desktop is a great option). Then set up more folders inside that folder to keep your files organized. This system has two benefits: it makes it simple for you to find files even if you don't remember the specific file name, and it's easy to make backups of those files because all you have to do is copy the master folder. You DO back up your files regularly, right?

-Keep a Task List

When you have business responsibilities and home responsibilities at the same time, keeping track of what you've done (and what remains to be done) is vital. Plus it's very satisfying to scratch a fat line through a task and feel the satisfaction of a job well done. At the end of the day, review your task list and add any unfinished items to the top of tomorrow's list.

-Maintain an Inventory

Make a list of your office supplies on hand and order more as they are getting low, before you actually run out. You don't want to discover you are out of stamps when you have a critically important document to mail.

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