editors pick, lifestyle

Organize Your Desk: Productivity Hack

22
Jul

How often are you able to sit at your clutter free desk?

Not very often I’m guessing. But, don’t worry, I had the same problem. Now, I love and look forward to sitting at a beautiful and productive workspace.

I started this journey with trying to be minimal and only using and keeping the essentials. This trick helped me save time on cleaning and allowed me to work efficiently.

REMOVE

First things first, declutter everything. Take everything out of the drawers and off of the desk space. If you can put all these items on the floor, or another counter space. ( my desk is at home, so I put everything on the floor).

Group

Start with the small things, and group them. You can start grouping the pencils, pens, and writing utensils. Move these to a separate pile, so they don’t mix with the other stuff.

File

Now, you can deal with your post-it notes, papers, and mail. You can shred what you need, and file the rest. Here’s how I file my papers. You can use a file bin to keep them easily accessible. Here’s the link.

  • Action items

  • Taxes

  • Business forms

  • Expenses and receipts

  • Coupons

Tech

If you have any wires, cables, external drives, and SD cards, try to place them somewhere accessible and safe. Make sure these wires have velcro straps to keep them together, and if possible a waterproof case for the drives. I purchased mine on Amazon, here’s the link.

pURCHASE

You can purchase organizational trays for the items that you now need to keep in the drawers and on the desk. I personally do not like keeping anything on my desk, and that rule keeps clutter off , because it’s a built habit. I used the trays for my minimal stationary. I keep my drawer as empty as possible to keep my journals and planners inside. The trays I absolutely love are from Muji, they’re simple and stackable, and comes in multiple sizes. I purchase mine in-store from Muji, but here’s the link.

I suggest purchasing the trays last just in case you only need a couple or are able to reuse what you have at home. I always suggest finding trays or bins that are already in your home.

Finally! A clean desk!

Now, you need to put everything back which will hopefully be much easier because it’s grouped! Keeping your whole life under control can be more work and in some cases stressful, that’s why I love the idea and the habit I’ve created to creating spaces that are designated for work and set up for success.