By Christina Morton DesAuguste

Christina is the founder of The Organizing Company and has been organizing professionally since 2013. She is currently loving Laurel Denise planners, Dots pretzels (don’t judge), and Teddy Swims.

No A.I. copy & paste here! All our blogs are still written by humans.

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The new year is a great time to refresh your office too! I don’t love that they use the word “clean” rather than “clear” or something like “organize your desk day”, but I’ll get over it. 

The point is to take time to assess what really needs to be there and get it back in the best working order for how you work. Here’s how:

Step 1: Evaluate your needs and your vision for your space. Do you like more clear space to write or open a book, notebook, etc? Do you want to be paperless and only have tech on/in your desk, not traditional office supplies? 

How do you want to feel when you first sit down at your desk: energized, calm, creative? 

Getting clear on the functions of your desk and the vision for your space will inform your decisions in the next steps. 

Step 2: Sort everything into categories. Office supplies can sort into writing utensils (separated into pens, pencils, markers, etc), fasteners and adhesives (tape, paper clips, binder clips, glue, staplers, etc), paper supplies (notebooks, printer paper, loose paper, specialty paper, sticky notes), tools (like scissors, hole punches, etc), tech (cords by type, calculators, devices, etc), personal care (chapstick, cough drops, facial tissue, lotion, eye glasses and drops, etc), and decor (plants, picture frames, and that old school cat hanging from a rope reminding you to “Hang in there.”), to name a few. You’ll also probably have things like active papers, to-do lists, mail, bills, business cards, etc that can sort into groups based on task or priority. 

Step 3: Evaluate what really needs to be on/in your desk and remove the unnecessary (aka curate it). Getting all these things into groups makes it easy to see if you have two staplers, a lifetime supply of hairbands that had been hiding in every drawer, or even a lack of something. 

Now you can make informed decisions about what and how much you want to keep at your desk. Tip: Backstock can always be elsewhere in your office, not in your prime real estate. Look back at Step 1 for guidance and maybe some tough love from yourself.

Step 4: Now it’s time to put everything back in places that work for you, not against you. Put what you use most where it’s easiest to reach (keeping it in categories, of course). Lesser used items can go in lower drawers, etc. Set it up to streamline your work process and so items you use in tandem are stored close together. 

Step 5: Contain it and label it. Maybe you need something to keep the paperclips from taking over the whole drawer, or to keep your pen colors separate (if that’s your jam), or to keep your cords wound up. You can use what you have (those old iPhone boxes you uncovered in Step 2, rubberbands, etc), or you can pick up some drawer dividers at my favorite spot, The Container Store. Labeling each category is a must if you share the desk (or your kids “borrow” pens and you want them to know where to put them back), but is great to do for yourself if you’ve struggled with maintaining organization or if you have lots of categories of things like cords, so it’s quick to see which bin is for which cord type quicker. 

Step 6: Now you can determine how you are going to maintain this tidy desk of yours. I recommend implementing a new rhythm of tidying up at the end of each day so that the day starts out well. I like to even leave my planner front and center at the end of the day so it’s the first thing I touch the next day. Or at least every Friday tidy up your space so that your Monday self will thank you for a fresh start. 

Simple, right? This is just some of what I share in my free Organizing Challenge, so if you loved this, go ahead and join below! It’s free for January only! 

Happy Organizing!

Christina

PS: This gorgeous office was designed by Armijo Design Group and built by Factor Design Build in Denver. My picture doesn’t do it justice, but this wallpaper is to die for!

PPS: You can still join my Organizing Challenge! It’s free for the rest of the month and I guide you on how to work at your own pace after it ends.

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