With a large portion of your time spent at work and home, it is important to keep things tidy to stay productive.
As it goes “Tidy home, Tidy mind.”
Strive to live in a clutter-free space where you can work efficiently. Getting stressed unnecessarily over mess isn’t worth it! Learn how to organize both your office and home desks with these desk organization ideas!
1. Organizing Papers
Work Documents
Do you have messy stacks of papers cluttering up your desk? Store your papers in a desk tray organizer to keep your desk neat and tidy.
Consider implementing a two-tray system – keep your newer documents at the top stack and documents that you’ve already reviewed at the lower stack.
For your other documents, file them instead of piling them up as it makes it easier for you to find your documents when you need it. Use file sorters or book dividers to demarcate your documents and label the files so you can easily identify it.
Image source: Simply Fabulous Living
To prevent yourself from getting overwhelmed, only keep your current and relevant documents on your table.
Home Documents
For home, your papers and documents would revolve around electricity, phone bills and more. Slowly, the accumulated papers would be an unsightly sight in your room too.
Remove your papers from their envelopes and sort them into 3 categories:
- Pending – letters and bills
- Important – papers you need to keep permanently e.g insurance contracts
- Miscellaneous – papers you refer to often
While you’re sorting through your paper piles, remember to get rid of those paper bills that are more than a year old! Here’s a guide on how long you should keep your bills and other paper clutter.
Also read on StyleMag: How To Get Rid Of Paper Clutter For Good (Bills, Letters & Receipts)
2. Organizing Stationery
On Your Desk
If you are always searching frantically under a stack of papers trying to find your stationery, then it’s time for you to get a desk organizer to hold them! Keep your stationery in a stationery organizer to prevent your desk from being littered with stationery.
To reduce visual clutter, your desk should only hold your everyday/essential writing supplies. Additional supplies should be kept in your drawers or at the side of your desk.
Image source: Cute Hairstyles Girl
DIY Hack: Create a personalised stationery holder using a jar or a mason mug! They can double up as a useful storage solution to store any art supplies, marker pens etc.
In Your Drawers
For all your extra writing supplies, use old food containers or drawer organizers to keep them neat and separated. Demarcate space by sectioning different organizers for your different categories of supplies (e.g. highlighters, pens, markers) – it makes it easier for you to grab what you need.
Explore our range of Stationery Organizers here.
3. Organizing Cables
Tangled wires can really get on your nerves, isn’t it? Not only are they a safety hazard1, but they’re a sight for sore eyes and it takes a long time to untangle them. Eliminate those tangled wires and store them neatly in a cable management box.
If you often find yourself bending down to pick up sliding wires, our Deskly Cable Management Clip (8pc set) is definitely going to be your life-saving desk companion!
Tip: Handy labelling hacks! You can now identify cables easily using washi tapes and bread ties. Remember to keep those bread ties the next time you finish your loaf of bread and reuse them as a cable labeller instead!
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- Image credit: Homehacks.com
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- Image credit: Dabbles and Babbles
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4. Organizing Sentimental Items
Photographs of your loved ones, gifts from colleagues certainly do add a unique personal touch to your desk. However, do not display more than 3 sentimental items as it could cause distractions.
You could also free up desk space by showcasing sentimental items on your walls. Utilise your wall space by hanging up a pegboard, bulletin board or simply DIY (Do-it-yourself) using a clipboard as seen below.
Tip: Spice things up with wrapping paper (use those from your Christmas presents) to brighten up basic clipboards.
Image credits: Martha Stewart
5. Expand Work Surface Area
After organizing, take a step back and look at your desk. If you feel like it’s too cluttered, consider expanding your work surface.
You don’t need to buy a whole new table – simply slide a rolling cart or trolley next to your desk to store your additional work supplies. You can also utilise vertical space by installing wall shelves above your desk.
Image source: CNN Business
As seen in the image above, place your work essentials such as your phone, paper organizers and stationery at the perimeters of your table so your main work area would be free of items. Make sure to leave at least a paper-sized empty workspace at your dominant side for when you’re signing documents or filling up your to-do lists.
6. Do A Daily Clean Up
At the end of every day, take the time to wipe down your work surfaces and remove any clutter. Return your belongings to it’s designated space so you’ll know where to find them the next time you need it.
Consider adding a tabletop dustbin so you can immediately dispose of papers you no longer need – don’t wait until all your papers pile up before removing them. It’ll also motivate you to keep your desk clutter-free!
Being greeted by a clean, organized and dust-free workspace in the morning will improve your mood and boost your productivity for the day!
Having a view of an organized desk each time you start work or wake up in the morning certainly does brighten up your mood.
Moreover, you do not need to flip your table (literally!) to find your documents and other stationery.
Find the best way to display your items so that it makes them easily retrievable!
