I’m doing a lot of learning from Plan A Professional Organizing & Design, a client a with some really interesting stories of how they’ve helped business owners across a myriad of industries better understand that underneath cluttered stockrooms and vacuous post-reduction workspace is time and money that can be reclaimed. So much of what we hear in a recession economy is the mantra of “doing more with less.” It is the current foundation for workforce contractions (aka layoff or downsizing) and shrinking payroll budgets. But if you have too much stuff, or your remaining staff is ambling by empty cubes, the truth is: you’re doing “less with more.”

This year is the season of change for businesses of all sizes — from GM to the Boston Globe to a suburban private physician practice. Staffs are being reduced with residual unused office space to cast a sobering if not paralyzing reminder that recession survival is fatiguing. Fear is rampant, depleting good energy from employees to the detriment of productivity. Add to this any company’s propensity to archive files over years — a practice that transcends industry or office footprint. I’ve come to learn that even with eco-friendly business practices, Clarity’s collection of magazine and newspaper subscriptions and client records can quickly over-accumulate if not managed.

Plan A’s insights have helped me to see the light. Mindful of their stories of the 8-employee company with over 20 staplers, I ventured into the office supply closet, perplexed about the small nation Clarity could outfit with 3M Post-Its. There were boxes of collected business cards that were destined for the CardScan database organizer. It will be liberating to empty the plastic bin accurately labeled “old technology” into the trash — after all I haven’t used my Iomega Zip Drive for probably a decade and Win 95 might as well be a Commodore 64, especially since my MacBook Pro is my current laptop of choice.

So in this season of spring renewal, consider scheduling a day for a good office excavation or compress your surplus space to fit your true staff needs and sublet the rest after appealing staging. Doing more with less really can feel and look good! Need inspiration? The organizing and space style experts from Plan A will travel anywhere in the US, including Hawaii.