Three-ring binders are inexpensive and versatile tools for organization at home and at work. Binders can make organizing your desk, office, business, and paperwork a snap. Don’t miss these 7 ways to organize your office with binders along with a few of my favorite tips and binder accessories!
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7 Ways to Organize Your Office with Binders
Binders are one of the first tools I reach for when I need to clear the paper piles from my desk and get my office organized. They’re versatile and affordable, and I love the plethora of accessories available for making them even MORE versatile organization tools!
Before we jump into the 7 ways to organize your office with binders, let’s talk a little about why I love this humble office supply.
Why I {Heart} Binders for Organization
I’ve always used binders to organize my business and my life. In fact, one of my friends in college used to joke about my obsession with organizing with binders: “Oh, you have a binder for that? Who would have thought?!” 😉
My friend’s mocking aside, I do love organizing with binders, and here are a few reasons why:
- They’re easy on the budget.
- And versatile.
- They’re available everywhere.
- It’s easy to store them when in use and not in use.
- They’re portable.
- And easily personalized.
- You can purchase them in a variety of sizes.
- There are tons of binder accessories, which help you to be even more organized.
See?! Binders are pretty nifty organizing tools!
So, now that I’ve told you why I love binders, let’s talk briefly about the amazing versatility of binders!
Let’s Talk Versatility
Binders are an incredibly versatile office organizing tool!
If you just want your papers corralled, you can stick them in a binder and be done with it.
Or, if you need things broken down and further organized, you can create sub-sections with dividers. If a binder becomes too full of papers, it’s easy to remove a sub-section and add it to a binder of its own.
A binder can be used for a large, non-specific group of papers (business-related papers) or it can hold items related to a specific, niche topic (like a single step of a larger project).
I could go on, but let’s get into the actionable part of this post: ways to organize your office with binders!
Ways to Organize Your Office with Binders
Currently, there are 14 binders in use in my home office. They’re one of the first tools I turn to when I need to organize my desk, my office, and my home.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to organize your office with binders:
Organize Your Business
I have a 2″ binder that I use to organize my business. It holds all the things I need on a daily basis to effectively run my business.
It holds my:
- Current To-Do List
- Master To-Do List
- Business Plan
- Editorial Calendars
- Post Ideas and Research
- Business Trackers (for example, things to do before and after publishing a new post)
- Notes and Research (like Title Tricks)*
- Blog Stats
- Blog Style Guide
- Social Media
- Email Marketing*
- Product Development*
* When a section gets too bulky, I break it out into a binder of its own. That’s one reason I prefer a 1″ or 1.5″ binder, because it keeps my binder portable and keeps me from becoming overwhelmed when I get into it!
When I’m working in my office, my business binder sits on the corner of my desk, so that it’s within arms’ reach. I refer to it hundreds of times a day. And whenever I need something business related, I almost always find it in my business binder (unless I didn’t put said something away…but that’s a topic for another day)! 😉
Another tool that I find indispensable when organizing my office and business is printables. You can organize your home business with FREE printables, too!
Educational Materials
I’m kind of an online course junkie. I LOVE to take classes and learn new things that I can implement in my business!
Since I’m always in the middle of several courses, I keep everything I need for each one organized within a binder. If it’s a shorter class, I put it in a binder with other courses. If it’s more in-depth, that course gets it’s very own binder.
I have one spot on my shelves where I put my course binders, so that when I have a “Training” block in my schedule I just grab my binder and jump in!
One of my favorite courses is Building a Framework by Abby Lawson. Check it out HERE! (*affiliate link*)
Ebooks and Workbooks
This year I purchased a copy of Your Best Year (*affiliate link*) by Lisa Jacobs.
* FYI, it’s an amazing business resource, if you’ve never read it/used it!
Because I knew I’d be referring to it often and wanted it handy, I printed Your Best Year, hole punched the pages, and put it in a binder. That way I was able to annotate it by filling it with highlights, notes, underlines, circles, sticky tabs, etc.
I can refer to it quickly and easily by grabbing my binder!
Planners
I love printable planners and specialty planners for the holidays, special events, and projects!
And there’s no better way to corral all of the important planner printables than in a binder. I love that I can remove a page from my binder to fill it in without having to work around the 3 rings. And I can flip through it to make sure I have all of the important details covered!
Special Projects
Some projects require A LOT of planning and it’s no surprise that I turn to binders to organize all of the important papers related to my special projects.
I have a binder for an upcoming product launch, a new email marketing series, and all of the information related to my son’s college choice and the start of his freshman year this fall (not business related, but it lives on the shelves in my office, so I’m including it).
All of our backyard landscaping items are organized in a binder. Included in this binder are magazine clippings, drawings, plant care handouts, and a plastic envelope that holds all of our plant care tags. I never have to search far for the answer to how often I’m supposed to fertilize my Jackmanii Clematis (again, not business related, but it’s on my office shelves, too)!
Inspiration
One of my favorite ways to refresh my creativity is to put on some good music, flip through my old magazines, and clip anything that I find inspiring: images, articles, words, colors….
But what’s a girl (or guy) to do with all of those magazine clippings?!
Organize them with a binder, of course!
I hole punched medium weight card stock and glue single-sided clippings to it. I also have plastic page protectors that I use to hold two-sided clippings or any clippings that I don’t want to glue down.
Now, when I need to refresh my creativity, I not only flip through my magazines, I thumb through my binder of magazine clippings, too! 😉
Household Items
As I’ve already indicated, binders aren’t just for the office!
I have a binder full of keepsake letters and cards (see more in this post, DIY Greeting Card Organizer), one to organize my coupons, and another to keep all of our warranties and manuals together.
I love having my cards, coupons, and manuals organized and easy to find and refer to!
Favorite Binders and Accessories
A post about 7 ways to organize your office with binders just wouldn’t be complete without sharing my preferred binders and a few of my favorite accessories!
These accessories can really elevate your binders as organizational tools.
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy. As always, my favorable opinion of quality organizing supplies are 100% my own.
My Favorite Binders
My favorite binders are found and easily purchased from Amazon: Wilson Jones 1 1/2″ Binders.
These binders are affordable, sturdy, and come in an appropriate size for most of my binder needs!
Binder Accessories
In business and in life I’m an accessories girl! Whether it’s stickers for my planner, costume jewelry for date night, or binder accessories, I’m all in!
These are my preferred binder accessories that wonderfully complement this organizing tool:
Dividers
You can’t have binders without dividers! They’re perfect for creating smaller sub-sections in your binder, so that you can quickly and easily find what you need.
Pocket Dividers
My go-to dividers are pocket dividers, because I’m always scribbling on tiny, random pieces of paper.
I can stick those random bits into the pocket of the appropriate binder until I have time to transfer them to a larger paper. This trick has saved me so many times that I’ve lost track!
A couple of other options if you’re a tiny, random bits of paper scribbler:
Divider Sticky Notes
Another way to create sub-sections in your binders or to add extra notes to specific pages is with Divider Sticky Notes.
I especially like to use these with sheet protectors (see below) when I don’t want to mark up an actual item.
Sheet Protectors
I use sheet protectors all the time in my office (and at home), but I especially love them for holding:
- Papers that I don’t want to wrinkle, tear, write on, or hole punch,
- Double sided items that I can’t adhere to a piece of card stock,
- Keepsakes (archival sheet protectors are especially good for this purpose),
- Small or oddly shaped items,
When paired with self-adhesive tabs or sticky notes, sheet protectors are a solid stand-in for dividers if you find you’ve unexpectedly demolished your stash!
Binders are an inexpensive, versatile, and easily obtained tool! Today I shared just seven of the many ways to organize your office with binders. You can use them for business, education, PDF planners, special projects, and much more. By taking binders and using them in a way that works for YOU, they can become powerful assets in your organization toolbox!
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Related Posts
If you found today’s post helpful, you might also enjoy these related posts:
- The First Step to Conquer Home Office Paper Clutter
- Get More Done with a Mobile Office
- Affordable Office Organizing Supplies on Amazon
Thanks for joining me today! Now, I’m headed out to grab more binders! 😉
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