Desktop Organization

[barbszy]

I have all the best intentions for keeping my desktop neat, but it always winds up buried in stuff. If I keep everything in the drawers, it's "out of sight, out of mind." Do you have any tips on keeping the desktop clean and still keeping track of the things I need? (This is just family paperwork, nothing work-related).

[SherriO]

I have a combination of work and personal paperwork that I have at my fingertips at all times. I also need to keep these piles in site otherwise I will forget all about them.

I ended up buying a couple of small shelving units (If you do a search at Target.com use the term "Modular Cube Storage System". I have getten them at both Target and menards...

I bought the two-tier shelves and they sit nicely in the corner of my desk, next to my CPU. One shlef is for personal paperwork, one is for business stuff, one is for products I need to review, and one is for fun crafts I want to try.

This keeps everything in my site and atleast once a week I review the items in each stack to see what I need to get done!

[apricot]

Hi Sherri,

Do these units store the papers horizontally or vertically? I've tried tray tiers and end up with huge piles that just keep growing and then have to be sorted every few months or so.

[megrayau]

Great question Barbszy. I agree with Laura about the piles, but I might try the upright type at work and see if it helps.
My boss has a 'clean desk' policy which means nothing in the desk at home time. He has gotten used to me not playing by the rules!

[barbszy]

Right now I have 2 vertical organizers. One is a magazine holder for full-size papers and one is a greeting-card holder that holds smaller things like postcards, address labels, church envelopes, stamps, and other things I need at my fingertips. Plus I have a basket for miscellaneous small items like sample lotion, mp3 player, and a granola bar or 2 , and a pencil cup.

HOWEVER, I also start piling up things in front of the vertical organizers. So my clipboard has a stack sitting on top of it, 2 inches high!

The pile part is what always gets out of control.

[bluebird]

My piles get out of control too. I have two desks! One is an old teachers desk that my laptop is on, the other is a small rolltop desk. I have plastic file boxes under the teachers desk, on a book ledge. I tend to shove things in the drawers if the top gets too full.

[dval]

I'm one of the pile-makers. I bought one of those closet shoe racks to raise my monitor and give myself twice as much room to make piles! Yay clutter! LOL!

[SherriO]

These shelves are horizontal... I sort through the piles weekly to try to keep them under control. Anything that does not have to be reviewed weekly goes into a special folder and is tucked into a drwer which I sit down and sort through every few weeks.

[SherriO]

Love the shoe rack idea! So many little cubbies to organize! Now I want to go shopping to find one. LOL

[Crafty Amanda]

Originally Posted by dval

I'm one of the pile-makers. I bought one of those closet shoe racks to raise my monitor and give myself twice as much room to make piles! Yay clutter! LOL!

That IS an awesome idea! Not only does it raise your monitor, but then you have two shelves to store things on. Smart!