There are so many benefits to working from home: Your commute time goes down to about 30 seconds, you don’t have to make small talk around the watercooler and you can wear whatever you want.
That said, there’s one facet of remote work that can be difficult: keeping organized. And according to professional organizers, this can be especially challenging for remote workers who don’t set up organization systems before starting a new job.
So, to find out the best ways to prepare for a new remote job, we spoke with two expert home organizers: Jenny Dietsch, Founder and CEO of Getting it Done Organizing, and Ann Dooley, a Master Level Certified KonMari Consultant and the founder of Simple Joy with Ann.
And interestingly, both organizers agree on the most important thing when it comes to setting up a work-from-home space: setting up simple systems to keep you neat and organized.
“A clear space and a clear plan go hand in hand,” Dietsch tells Parade. “If your workspace is cluttered, your mind will feel cluttered too, and you’ll waste work time tidying up instead of actually working. And if you don’t have a plan for your day, you’ll spend your morning deciding what to do instead of doing it!”
“When working remotely, visual clutter can easily distract you from getting any work done,” Dooley adds. “Whether it’s the hamper overflowing or the dishes piling up in the sink, identifying spaces within view of your workspace will help you stay focused and productive.”
Keep reading to find out the six tips Dietsch and Dooley say you should follow before starting a new remote job, as well as four tips to follow every day.
6 Things Professional Organizers Say You Should Do Before Starting a New Remote Job
1. Create a mobile home office
Both Dietsch and Dooley suggest using a three-tiered rolling cart to store your remote work essentials, allowing you to turn any part of the house into your office.
“I suggest creating a mobile office so supplies are easily within reach wherever you do your work,” recommends Dooley. She recommends using the top tier for a filing system, the middle tier for office supplies and the bottom tier for reference books or snacks.
“One of our favorite work from home tips is to create a rolling office cart,” adds Dietsch. “The cart can hold your files and office supplies, and you can even attach a power strip to charge multiple devices while you work. Then when the workday is done, “unplug your cart and roll it into the hall closet,” which allows you to “mentally close out your workday.”
2. Set up a dry erase board system
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If you have a dedicated office in your home, Dooley suggests buying two small dry erase boards, and sticking one on the inside of the door and one on the outside, in order “to reinforce the physical boundary and minimize interruptions.”
The dry erase board on the inside of the door is for you to write down reminders for yourself for the next time you leave the room, such as moving laundry to the dryer. The one on the outside of the door is for others to leave you a message, such as your child reminding you to contact their teacher or your partner letting you know when dinner is.
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3. Choose your systems before your first day
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“Decide ahead of time how you’ll manage your calendar, your task list and your files, whether that’s a digital project management tool like Basecamp, a paper planner, or a mix of both,” says Dietsch. “If you wait until you’re already overwhelmed to figure out your systems, you will never actually build them.”
4. Set boundaries
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“Setting boundaries and communicating expectations with others living under the same roof is another important thing to do before starting to work remotely,” says Dooley—especially if you have children in the house.
“It’s inevitable that little kids will want to be near you when they find your attention is elsewhere,” she explains. To help keep kids occupied when they are nearby, she suggests setting up a small “office” play kit with old office supplies like calculators and keyboards, as this will allow your child to “work quietly near you if they are having a hard time separating.”
“Another idea for kids is to let them design an open or closed sign for the door of your home office,” Dooley suggests. “It’s easier to get children to respect your availability when they are involved in creating that boundary.”
5. Create a morning routine in lieu of a commute
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“When you work remotely, you lose the natural transition time a commute provides, time that used to separate ‘home mode’ from ‘work mode,'” says Dietsch. “Before starting a new job, think through how you’ll create that transition yourself, whether it’s a short walk, making coffee or reviewing your calendar before you log on.”
She explains that “building that buffer in from the beginning helps you show up focused.”
6. Create a shutdown routine
Similarly to creating a morning routine to transition into the workday, Dietsch is a big advocate for creating a shutdown routine at closing time.
“One of the hardest parts of remote work is knowing when to stop,” explains Dietsch. “If you decide in advance that you’ll do a daily reset like clearing your desk, writing tomorrow’s to-do list, closing your laptop at a set time, you are much less likely to let work bleed into your evenings.”
It’s important to come up with this routine before settling into your new job, as “this is something that’s far easier to build as a habit from the start than to retrofit later.”
Related: The 3 College Majors That Lead to the Most Regret, According to Career Coaches
4 Things Remote Workers Should Do Every Day to Stay Organized
1. Keep two to-do lists
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Dietsch recommends keeping both a master to-do list and a daily to-do list, and peeking at them every evening.
“The master list should hold everything you want to get done eventually, big and small,” she says, while your daily list will include tasks you intend to get done the following day.
Every night, you can “use your master list to fill in the holes on your daily list,” explains Dietsch. “This will keep you focused on what actually matters instead of staring at an overwhelming master list, and it means starting your morning already knowing what to do instead of figuring it out on the fly.”
2. Get dressed every morning
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“While working from home means you can stay in your comfy clothes, mentally shift to work mode by changing out of your pajamas daily,” says Dooley. This doesn’t mean you need to put on a suit or do your makeup—but at least change out of your PJs and into a fresh pair of sweats.
Related: Here Are the Top Second-Act Career Change Ideas for Women at 40, According to Career Experts
3. Handle your inbox daily
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“Open new emails right away if you have the time, or flag them and move them into a short-term follow-up folder to be handled within a day or two,” suggests Dietsch. “Letting things pile up, even for a few days, makes everything feel more overwhelming than it actually is, and small tasks are much easier to knock out one at a time than all at once.”
4. Make a breakfast station
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Dooley recommends setting up a simple breakfast station in the kitchen “to avoid the morning madness,” especially if you live with kids.
“For example, keep spoons and a stack of bowls next to easy-to-pour cereal containers. Or bread, jam, peanut butter, with some pre-washed fruits,” she says. “Be sure to set expectations or teach everyone to put their dishes away before heading out.”
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This story was originally published by Parade Home & Garden on Aug 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the House & Home section. Add Parade Home & Garden as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
