My office was in desperate need of organizing! I can’t believe I ever let my office area get so cluttered. Somehow it gradually came to look like a war zone. My office is in the unfinished basement of a house built in 1940, so it’s not your typical home office. I’m at my desk every day and knew it could look and function a lot better. I knew that I could get some get modern office art at Bumblejax to spruce up my space so I thought I’d start there. Then, onto decluttering…
My office before:
The first order of business was to move all the boxes, papers and “stuff” out of the area so that I could clean. This made me realise how much paper I have been using and, in reality, I probably didn’t even need most of it. I decided to research some options for going paperless instead and found FileCenter. They offer a document storage solution and also let you edit and split PDFs (https://www.filecenterdms.com/info-pdf-splitter.html), which I thought would be quite useful. This is something I am going to consider further. Once I finished removing the clutter, I decided that I would go shopping around the house to find things I could use to help get organized. I really didn’t want to spend any money on this project. The first thing I found was sitting right there all along – an old cabinet that I remember being in my Grandma’s house. I thought it would come in handy for all kinds of storage. Next, I found an enamel bread box that I bought at a flea market a few years ago. It looked good and would fit nicely on the desk. Then I remembered buying a set of nesting boxes from Costco about four years ago that were in my closet upstairs – never used. Last on the list was some old scrapbooking paper that I could use to make some “homemade” wallpaper.
Now it was time to sort through all this stuff that has been collecting for a while. I threw out a lot of old papers and “stuff” that I haven’t used for at least three years. I also found two cd’s that I had been looking for – extra bonus. Then I used the nesting boxes to store the things that I don’t use everyday; pictures, picture cd’s, operating manuals, shipping materials, computer paper, pencils, toner cartridges and magazine clippings. I used the drawers in the cabinet for wires, cables, cords and books. I put the boxes inside the old cabinet. My current projects went inside the bread box – right on top of the desk.
Now for a little quick and easy cosmetic upgrade…. I took nine sheets of scrapbook paper and laid them out on the floor pattern side down and used package tape to tape them together. Then I hung it on the bare wall behind the computer. At fifty-nine cents a sheet I can change them as often as I want – what a bargain!
My organized office:
What an improvement! I’m so glad I did this – and it didn’t cost a thing.
For more organizing tips, check out Organize With Sandy.
