Declutter Your Desk and be More Organized

Cynthia Miron
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

Have you ever noticed that the more stuff you have on your desk, the less organized you are, and the less work you get done? This happens to the best of us every so often, and we need to take a step back and figure out how to declutter the work space and become more organized.

  1. Figure Out what You Really Need — Chances are that you don’t really need everything that is in your workspace. For instance, do you need that old newspaper from last week? Does that knickknack have a purpose or special meaning? Look around your work space and find the things that don’t have a purpose, and pack them away.
  2. Create a Flow — Once you have decided what you are getting rid of and what you are keeping, you need to organize the stuff you are keeping. Try to create a flow. Organize the items in drawers by their importance. What you use regularly stays up top, while the less-used items can go into the lower drawers.
  3. Clean Up Daily — It only takes a few minutes to throw away food containers, put pens in the desk drawers, etc. Before you leave work each day, take five minutes to clean up your work space. When you get into the habit of keeping the area clean, you won’t have to walk into a disorganized work space every morning.
  4. Create More Space — Just because you only have a limited amount of office space, it doesn’t mean that you can’t create more space by making the most of what you already have. For instance, put a riser on top of your desk, and your monitor can sit on that, leaving room for other items underneath.
  5. Get Rid of Old Tech — Do you have an old laptop computer sitting on your desk that isn’t getting much use? If so, sell Dell laptop and make some extra cash. You can put it towards a new laptop, or use it to get the items you need to make your office space more organized, such as shelving.
  6. A Place for Everything — Have you ever heard the old saying, “a place for everything, and everything in its place”? These are words to live by. When you set up your desk after cleaning it up, make sure that everything you need has a place, and that you always keep it in that same place. This is going to help you stay organized, and get a lot more done because you won’t always be looking for stuff.
  7. Use a Daily Paper System — Contrary to popular belief, there is pretty much no such thing as a paperless office. Create a system that has baskets or hanging files that are labeled “to do”, “to read”, “to file”, etc. This is going to help you to get rid of a lot of the paperwork you don’t need, and have what you do need right at your fingertips.
  8. Organize Cables — You don’t have to have a mess of cables sitting on top or beneath your desk. Get yourself an inexpensive cable organizer, or make one yourself using a piece of rain gutter, which you can find at your local hardware store. You can even use bread ties to mark your cables and keep them organized.
  9. Put Up Coat Hooks — Get rid of the coat rack that takes up space, and stop hanging your jacket or sweater on the back of your chair. A few hooks on the walls are ideal for hanging your coats, sweaters, etc., and you will have that extra floor space. Just make sure that you are using a good stud finder so you put the hooks on a sturdy stud instead of just in the gyprock.

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