Starting Organization in the Work Space – Getting Your Office Tidy
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In our house, we have one very small computer desk that I’ve had since high school. I would love a big beautiful desk, but not only do I have no place to put it, but I don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend either! As you can see I barely have room on the desk for my monitor, tower, and printer!
The first step for me was to get EVERYTHING off of the desk. That meant unplugging the computer and cleaning it. It was full of dust and fuzzies – ACHOO! Once it was cleaned off, the only thing I put back on was my computer equipment. No papers, no writing implements, nothing. I did not have room to have junk all over my desk – there simply isn’t much room. As you can see I have a lot of cords there. I don’t mind for us, but they do sell computer cord labels, storage containers for cords, and a myriad of other products to make your cords look neater.
One thing that took up a lot of room by our computer on the desk was our wireless router and cable modem. I didn’t see any way around organizing it nicer, until my husband showed up with a hammer and nails. He hung them on the wall! And so that it doesn’t look incredibly tacky we actually have a tall storage box in front of it so that you do not see it immediately when you walk in the room. Again – it may not be pretty but it’s a heck of a space saver and very functional!
I mentioned these stacking containers yesterday, but we these block the cable modem hanging on the wall and also hold our pens, pencils, tape, and other office supplies that I need to have handy. They cost $1 for each bucket at the Dollar Tree. I like the fact that everything is very easy to grab when needed, but I don’t care for the fact that you can plainly see everything in them.
With technology comes lots and lots of cords, cards, cases, chargers and anything else that we need to make our gadgets work! So I purchased for a total of $2 these nice blue storage containers you see above. In the bottom I have saved all of our family photos onto CD’s. You can also buy photo boxes or special media boxes for this purpose but they tend to be pricier. The top container has all of our electrical cords, chargers, headphones, webcam, etc.
I have seen people that do a lot of crafts or sewing also use small rubbermaid containers with lids and stack them up. There are plastic containers with drawers, homemade wooden shelves, or even a box filled with little ziploc baggies!
Quite some time ago I was looking for these mail slot organizers which are incredibly expensive! Wow! I did not realize how expensive they were!! I thought this would be a good way to organize our coupon inserts since we coupon to save money on our groceries. After a few months of looking around I happened to find this one for $2 at a yard sale! A few weeks later I even saw one laying on the side of the road that someone was throwing away! So keep your eyes peeled. You never know when you will find something you can use.
If I am out and see someone giving away or cheaply selling a storage container I rack my brain to see if there is any possibility that I would be able to use it in the future. I would rather buy storage containers before I need them at an inexpensive price than pay full price at the time I need them. However, do NOT keep buying storage containers because “some day I might need them” and then end up with a house of empty containers! You must find a balance. If it looks cute and it’s a good price – don’t get it unless you really think you will use it. Not only will it take up more space which you are already trying to declutter but you will be wasting your money as well.
