DESK ORGANIZING

The number one reason people wind up at this website is because they are searching for that perfect way to get their desk organized once and for all. It is a lot like the elusive perfect diet. The painless way to lose weight while eating all the foods you love, and never gaining it back again. But then what? It is the daily habits and routine activities that make it last.

There are as many ways to organize a desk as there are diets. Each one is different from the next in some way, as is the person that uses it. However, there are standard items kept on and in most desks and we can make general rules to manage these items effectively. Read the rest of the article here ...

You can push everything off the desktop onto the floor, and dump all the contents of the drawers onto the floor. Or you can remove everything from the desk and place it into boxes. Or you can organize one corner of the desktop, then the next, then each drawer at a time. I recommend working on it no more than 3 hours at once to avoid getting tired and discouraged.

Whichever way you choose to get started, the desk should be bare and clean. You can then start by laying out only the items you use daily. Everything leftover should be relocated to an area out of sight but close by (or disposed of if appropriate).

Once you see what you have to put back and the places available for keeping it in, you will be able to see what makes the most sense and what will make it easiest to keep your desk organized.

If you put all the pens in a box at the very back of the drawer, what is going to happen every time you want to use a pen? The things in the front of the drawer are going to be disrupted out of their neat and organized places, and the pen will not be returned to its home.

The pencil drawer can be fitted with more than one pencil tray. These are especially handy if you have a lot of markers, pens, pencils and hilighters. A large mug is very useful for holding markers or pens that you use a lot.

Small plastic boxes such as those found in dollar stores for fishing tackle or sewing needs, without lids, are great for holding small items, and fit nicely right underneath the pencil trays. Pushpins, sticky notes, elastic bands, paper clips of all types and all small items that can be held in their own little compartment
are easy to find and replace in containers like these. Putting things back where they belong is the most important part of being organized.

Things that hardly ever get used, but don't necessarily deserve the boot are fine at the back of the drawer, because they keep the things in the front from lurching around and getting lost.

A totally clear desktop except for monitor and possibly printer is the best way to keep your desk looking and feeling organized. There is always room to spread out the project you are working on, with no chance of having it get mixed up with anything else
that is laying out.

Just remember to put that project away at the end of each session. I know, if you leave it out it is a visual reminder that it needs to be done. But when something more urgent comes along, that gets
second priority and the urgent work gets spread out on top of it. Then something else crops up and a third layer is applied.

Instead, put everything away and write on your To Do list the action that must be taken on that project. When you want to work on it again you'll know just where to find it.

A place for everything and everything in its place - that's the way to organize a desk, and that's the way