For most of us, your desk whether at home or the office tends to get cluttered up after a while to the point where it starts looking like a tornado hit it. You might even find yourself looking too long for simple desk items such as a pen or paperclip! Before you find something really essential such as a tax file missing in action, you should really get to decluttering your desk area. Here is a guide that will show you how to declutter your desk and reorganize in only a few simple tasks.
Of course to declutter your desk, you will first you’ll need to clear out everything! Grab several boxes to sort your desk items into. Have a box for writing supplies and paperclips, another box or two for books and files, a box for computer disks, etc.
Once you have successfully accomplished the actual declutter of your desk by removing everything, take the opportunity to clean up that desk proper! Wipe off all the dust bunnies on the desktop surface, and don’t forget the top of the desk hutch and any shelves. Take the time to untangle and reorganize any cords from lighting and computer equipment. All you need is some of those ties you can get from the produce section at a grocery store to fashion cheap yet highly effective cable ties.
However, now is a prime opportunity to remove items that you don’t need! So grab a garbage bag and start rifling through the boxes containing your desk stuff. Check pens to see if they actual still work, if not, toss them in the trash. What good is a bent paperclip? Toss it! You probably don’t need those ten year old tax files anymore, so bid them farewell. Did you ever go to that event five years ago, and even if you did, does the flier for it still deserve a place in your desk as a cherished memento? Probably not… So dump that kind of stuff as well!
As you add items that are keepers back to your desk, try to follow some simple logic. Items that you use often should be placed in easy reach. Keep things grouped together, such as pens and paperclips together in the same general area of a drawer or desktop organizer. Items accessed daily should be placed forefront in an easy to reach area on your desk. Items that are accessed less commonly or hardly ever at all should be placed behind the more commonly accessed items in a rank and file type of organizational hierarchy whether it be in a drawer or in the file cabinet. Now is also a good time to label files if need be. Some may have never been labeled as you quickly sorted and stashed them, or you may feel that some need to be relabeled. If you feel that grabbing a new and different drawer organizer or file rack at the local office supply store will make a nice difference, then go ahead and treat yourself! It will make the job a more fun and rewarding after all!
Viola! You’re done! Everything looks so nice, shiny, and actually organized again! And to think that performing this job by following this guide on how to declutter your desk only took about an hour or two out of your life. You’ll find that time well invested when your boss asks you to get him a file, and you are quickly able to comply!
