Hoarding isn’t just for desperate housewives. Most small businesses accumulate a lot of stuff over the years that they don’t know what to do with. Small business owners are also very often risk averse, so they’re afraid of getting rid of what they perceive to be necessary items. At the same time, not everything sitting in the back storage is needed to make the business run. Here’s how to sort out the wheat from the chaff and clear out unnecessary junk.
Take An Inventory
The first step is to take inventory of the things you already have right now. Taking inventory isn’t a sorting process. It’s literally writing down everything you have in the back storage or that’s laying around that you do not literally use every single day.
Now, you can use a computer spreadsheet program to organise all of the stuff you have. What’s important is that it’s written (or typed) somewhere. Once you have the inventory done, it’s time to assign an objective value to the items.
Assign A Value
Go through every item and assign a value to it. How much money does it make or save your company? What do you use it for? What’s its inherent value in the normal operation of your company during the year.
Some things aren’t easily quantifiable, and this is OK. If you have seasonal items, for example, they may only have a value for certain times of the year. Poll your employees and bring in an accountant if you have to. Yes, it’s worth the cost.
Clear Out The Unused
Throw away all of the things that do not have a value to the business. If an item is old, or you haven’t used it in over a year, it’s time to get rid of it, buy a new replacement, or trash what you’ve got and don’t look back.
It takes courage to be a company that hires skip bins or Garbage Disposal Bins to clean out a mess, but your employees will appreciate it, and so will your customers. Most importantly, you’ll feel better about having a clean storage room. You may need to rent a dumpster or contact a commercial trash removal company and have them collect your waste and all the items you’re planning to throw away. A proper waste management system will help you achieve a clean and healthy environment.
If the clutter has crept out into the dining or service area, or the showroom, then this is a perfect time to take a good hard look at what the benefits will be after you’ve finished cleaning up.
Sort
Sort the remainder of what’s left into groups. For example, if you have long-term storage boxes or bins, put these items together. If you have seasonal displays, these also go together. Sort by similarities, because this is how they will go back into storage.
Replace
If you’ve had to throw things away, but you need to replace them with new models, now is the time to do that. When you replace things, try to get a replacement that won’t need replacing for at least several years.
Stay Organised
Now that you’ve cleaned up, you want things to stay that way. Create a permanent inventory and keep a watchful eye on it. When you add something to it, analyse it immediately. Do you really need to keep it or can it be trashed? Keeping clutter at bay by hiring a dumpster rental service at grissmandumpsters.com/green-bay-dumpster-rentals/ when throwing out useless items as it is much easier than trying to clean out a cluttered store or storage room.
Another way to stay organised for the long-term is to have an independent auditor come in and remove items that are unnecessary. These are basically commercial versions of home closet organisers. They charge a nominal fee to help you declutter your office space, storage, and showroom or service area.
Keeping a written plan, and rules about how you will maintain control over your office space, is probably the best way to keep clutter at bay. It’s not the most exciting, and it’s not magical. Yes, it takes work but, at the end of the day, it’s always worth it.
Maya Carr-Boyd is a small business owner and writer. When she gets the time, she enjoys sharing what she has learned with others. You can read her illuminating articles on various websites and blogs today.
