How do i organize my desk?

Question

i do my schooling online and i need some ideas on how to organize my desk. this is the main items on my desk- my computer,printer, mp3 player dock, a copy machine, a pen organizer, dog knick knacks, books, and a couple baskets. i have two 5 foot shelves, a long desk, and a shallow drawer. i need some ideas on how to make organizer and cool items for organizing or tips on how i can make my desk better.

Answer 1

The first thing that you need to do is clear off all the junk - (dog knick knacks etc) anything distracting and not useful for your desk. Put it somewhere else! The only thing that should be on your desk is your monitor. The keyboard should be in a keyboard shelf, and the printer should be on a shelf under the desk, leaving the desk space clean.

Put paper and important objects  in the shallow drawer ( your memory stick, blank DVDs, ruler, calculator etc. Then, get baskets to fit your shelves and fill them with other things you may have lying around (like notebooks, and large art supplies)

Get a small but nice looking desk organizer to go on top of your desk. One that hides your objects is more pleasing to the eye. You can find simple ones like this http://www.citylivingstores.com/mas_asse... at your local hardware store. Put scissors, pens, and pencils inside.

If your desk really needs a face lift, paint it to match your room. Here's a picture of an organized home office you can use for inspiration http://www.pbteen.com/products/p1516/ind...

Good luck!

Answer 2

I like the suggestions above.  You definitely want a clean workspace and several of her suggestions were good.

My suggestions: Use the shelves and any other way you can go vertical using the walls is worth looking into.  Look into bulletin boards and wall baskets.  Maybe try to find some inexpensive spice shelves or other narrow shelving to use below your other shelves specifically for your mp3 dock, pen organizer and knick-knacks. For shelf containers, you can use decorated shoe or photo boxes, baskets or a ton of other creative containers. Look into bookends. Are some of your dogs heavy enough to use?  You can use stackable in/out boxes to separate the materials for each class. Use some sort of shallow containers to partition your drawer or it will quickly become a junk drawer.  

Think about going wireless with your mouse and keyboard.  Cables take up much more space than anyone realizes and are always in the way. You can leave them on the desk as you are using them, but quickly get them out of the way when you need the desk space.  

You said your desk was long, but how wide is it?  If you have plenty of space to work and some to spare, consider putting a small file box of some sort so the papers you often need the most are at hand, but neatly put away.  Make folders for each class.

You said you needed ideas on how to make organizers.  I have found a great site for fresh decorating ideas.  There are several days where they feature make it yourself solutions or solutions that could be adapted to make it yourself projects.  The site has a search feature, categories, and archives.  Check it out. http://decor8.blogspot.com/  

Hope this helps,

- Laurel Plum

http://laurelplumonline.com