Tax season is approaching. You’ve got receipts from Christmas gifts, both ones you bought and one’s you’ll be returning, piled up. Those last minute deadlines that require your attention before 2017 hits has caused you to pile up Starbucks cups and snack wrappers. Clutter is everywhere and it’s threatening to consume you.
It’s almost 2017 — why not greet the New Year with a new desk? You’ve got a lot to look forward to with the new year coming, so make room for it in your mind by making room for it on your desk.
Quick Organization Tips
Before looking at some organization tools, let’s look at some tips that will help you save space no matter what trinkets you buy to make things less cluttered:
- Remove Unnecessary Distractions — Sometimes we think we need things on our desk when we don’t. There’s always something extemporaneous on our desks, like sticky notes, business cards or excess pens and pencils. Clearing up and straightening these things can be a distraction, and they also add to clutter.
- Go Through Your Stashes — Do you really need 10 packs of sticky notes? How about a whole pencil compartment of pens and highlighters? It’s good to have a backup, but our backups don’t always need backups when it’s something as simple as office supplies.
- Don’t Neglect Your Drawers — Many desk jockeys like to think that having everything on their desk’s surface is a good idea because it keeps things at arm’s reach. This might be practical, but drawers are there for a reason. Put important supplies in top drawers and excess stock and unimportant items in bottom drawers.
Organizational Tools to Consider
- A Trash Bin — This isn’t an organization tool, is it? Actually, it might be the most important organization tool you can ever have. Sometimes the reasons our desks get so cluttered is because we don’t think to throw away simple things. We think that we’ll get up and throw it away, but instead it piles up. Buy a little trash bin and set it right next to your desk. You’ll be amazed at how much clutter that eliminates.
- Hanging Folder Racks — Leave your folders out of your desk and off of its surface. Hanging folder racks allow you to hang hundreds of folders right on your wall within arms reach of your desk.
- A Bulletin Board — Have a lot of excess important papers? Don’t leave them hanging around your desk for months. Instead, keep some tacks in one of your top drawers and a bulletin board on your office wall. Simply stick a paper to the bulletin board and remove it when you need it or it’s not necessary anymore.
- Storage Boxes — The goal is to remove as much from your desk as possible. All those extra supplies in your bottom drawers? Get rid of them entirely with storage boxes. If you care about an aesthetically appealing office, many stores sell fashionable bins to keep your things in.
Getting rid of clutter is no simple feat, but it can be easier when you have the right tools. All of the above tools are cheap and easy to find, so you won’t have to break the bank to get organized for 2017.
