For many people, the shift to full-time home working in 2020 introduced big changes to their household. As a hybrid worker before we even gave that a name, I was fortunate to have a well-established home office space. For me, the disruption was minimal. Even so, home office decluttering and organizing is never a bad idea. That’s this week’s focus in the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge.
We made a start on this in March we celebrated Organize Your Home Office Day by clearing out our desktop clutter. This week, we’ll declutter and organize our desk drawers and office supplies.
Are you ready for week 31? Let’s get decluttering!
This post was originally published in August 2021 and republished in August 2024.
What is the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge?
In this year-long journey, we’re tackling one task at a time with the goal of cleaning up and organizing our homes. If you’ve just joined us, no worries. You can jump right in with this week’s challenge. Just check out the first two posts in the series to download your free checklists.
You can get easy access to all previous weekly posts on the main Decluttering page.
Week 31 – Decluttering our home office
In the early weeks of the decluttering challenge, I mentioned that we don’t have a junk drawer in our kitchen. That’s true! In our house, the junk drawer is in our home office. The top drawer of the desk is a place where junk just seems to accumulate and it’s a bit of a disorganized mess. We also have a small portable plastic drawer unit in our home office that I included in this week’s decluttering.
Here’s a photo of how things looked before I started.
This week’s decluttering and organizing tips
Here are the tips I have from week 31.
- Free up space by taking things like envelopes, pens, highlighters, glue sticks and other office supplies out of the boxes and packages.
- Label your electronic cables. They are a huge challenge to keep organized and, I don’t know about you but, we always seem to have more cables than we have devices. A few years ago, I started labelling cables with the name of the device they go with. This makes it easier to identify orphaned cables when cleaning up. Last year, as part of the 31 Day Declutter Challenge, I sorted out a big box of cables and donated them to an electronics recycling drive.
- Repurpose empty boxes as dividers in desk drawers to keep small items organized. Boxes from smartphones and tablets work great for this.
- Try a use-it-up challenge for office supplies. In my decluttering, I have found literally dozens of pens! Most of them were giveaways at conferences and meetings because I can never resist a free pen. I have made a commitment to not buy another pen until I use them all up! I may never need to buy a pen again.
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What I got rid of
Here’s what I got rid of this week. Coincidentally, a grand total of 31 items in week 31!
- 2 empty envelope boxes
- 1 broken pedometer
- 1 memory card to USB adapter
- 7 manuals
- 3 old software CDs
- 2 plastic bags
- 1 luggage tag
- 1 button
- 2 unidentified electronics cables
- 1 pen
- 1 piece of unidentified computer hardware
- 3 pen packages
- 1 drafting kit
- 2 dead batteries
- 1 unopened package of magnetic photo sleeves
- 1 twist tie
And…this week’s candidate for most interesting item. A yellow pages phone book from 2014. I think that must have been the last year the phone company actually printed phone books. It seems so odd now, to think about looking up a business or phone number in a book instead of just searching it online.
And here’s how things look now.
2024 Update
It has been three years so I’m rebooting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge to see how much I can get rid of in 2024.
After I retired from my full-time job at the end of June, I did an initial cleanup of the big items in my home office. Even so, I knew there was more to be done so I was excited to dig into this week’s decluttering tasks.
In total, I got rid of 28 items, including a few that made me shake my head because they were signs of how much technology has changed the business world. Perhaps it’s time for another edition of Clutter Tales!
So that’s week 31 done and our desk drawers are much tidier. Next week, I’m tackling the filing cabinet!
If you have friends or family members who could benefit from a little less clutter in their lives, please share this post and spread the word!
Do you have any tips to keep your desk drawers organized? Tell us below.
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I giggled when I read about your findings…unidentifiable cables and a single button. Have you been peeking in my desk drawers? Thanks for the inspiration…and your readers should get ready…more to come, podcast-style in a couple of weeks! 🥰
Where do all those cables come from? They’re like rabbits. I swear they multiply! It was so much fun recording the podcast with you and Wynne yesterday. Can’t wait to hear it! 🤗
It was fabulous! You’re fabulous! 🥰😎🥰
Aww thanks. I feel the same way about the two of you. 🥰
🥰🥰🥰
No desk really but I store related items in bins that sit in a cube thing. I managed to collect desky, office stuff again when I was helping to homeschool the grands. I’m holding onto some of the items- not because I need them but they are nice memories used to build science lessons. Now that the family is staying permanently in Colorado I think perhaps I can purge some things…
I can imagine you’d need a bunch of supplies for homeschooling, and I get why you’d want to hang on to some of them. Great memories! Thanks Deb!
My desk supplies are always the hardest thing for me to keep organized. I need to do this soon
Yes! What is it about office supplies that makes them so hard to keep organized? I guess it’s how little they are.
Yes. And how you don’t need them till you do…
That phone book! cant believe you found it. You should have kept it. Maybe itmight be valuable one day 😉
I think that about a lot of thinga but it’s unlikely.
Maybe 1000 years from now? It might be worth something to a museum so they could have evidence of how we lived
Maybe but I won’t be around to see it. LOL
That’s awesome, Michelle! Well done on the decluttering of your office desk drawers! It’s amazing when we look at all of the various places pens and office supplies come from (save the ones you purchase). I have a ‘stress ball’ from about 10 years ago, pens with names of places the likes of which I swear I have never been to nor have I heard of them). So good to clear this stuff out! Well, not the pens! LOL
I know. I’m pretty sure I picked up a lot of stuff at conferences but, some of it I have no idea where it came from.
😊
I love the idea of labeling your cords. I will do that now!
It’s definitely a time saver!
I love pens and often feel like I could never have enough of them, but I try to keep them to a usable amount. Nothing thrills me more than finally finishing a pen!
As I just got a new desk, I took the opportunity to go through everything I have between the move and was so pleased to get rid of an abundance of old papers and such. It feels good to be free of clutter. <3
It definitely does. This past week, I have been clearing out and organizing old papers for an upcoming post. It’s amazing how much stuff I have got rid of.
I used to have a serious pen hoarding problem. Lol! I have no idea why I love pens so much! I have an entire drawer full. I finally went through them and threw away the ones that no longer worked. I’m going to take your advice and not buy any more until I use these all up.
Ha ha. Pen hoarding is a sickness!
It is! 🤣
My desk can sure get cluttered with work and mail and bills! My desk has no drawers, but I was fortunate to be able to buy a big set of ikea shelves and storage bins and trays for everything. All my paper stays together, tests have their own bin, I’ve got a binder for each school I work at, and my main therapy supplies are packed in bags under my desk and ready to travel to schools. Clutter is the worst when I want to use a document camera on zoom and have to show my desk!
It sounds like you’re pretty organized Brittany. I love keeping necessary supplies in bins. Back in the days when I was training, I used to have a training toolkit in a totebox that had sticky notes, markers and everything I needed for a training session. It was a great way to stay organized.