The second Tuesday of March is Organize Your Home Office Day. I don’t know about you, but my home office always seems to be in need of a clean-up. This week in the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge, we’ll take a break from closet decluttering and clean up and organize our desktop clutter.
This post was originally published in March 2021 and republished in March 2024.
There’s an old saying that a cluttered desk equals a cluttered mind. Over the years I have worked with people whose desktops looked like they were auditioning for an episode of Hoarders, and others whose desks were so clean I wondered if they ever did any work.
If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?
Laurence J. Peter
The Science Times tells us that some controlled clutter has been tied to creativity and improved production, but extreme clutter is seen as detrimental to both physical and mental health.
My desk usually falls in the category of controlled clutter but there’s always room for improvement.
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.
Are you ready for week 9? Let’s get decluttering!
Week 9 – Desktop clutter
We have two desks in our home office. My work desk is usually relatively clutter-free because I regularly clean and organize it when I’m on work calls. Our family desk is a different story. For some reason things just get dumped there for someone to put away.
Here are some before pictures of my work desk. It’s not too bad.
And our family’s home office desk.
This week’s decluttering and organizing tips
Before we get to what I got rid of, here are my tips and learnings from week nine.
- Stay on top of your filing. A big key to controlling office clutter is to file things right away. I used to pay bills, and review bank statements and then stuff them in a folder to file later. The problem is, I hate filing and the folder would just get bigger and bigger. I’ve learned a few secrets to staying on top of filing.
- First, think about if you really need to keep this piece of paper.
- If possible, choose digital files instead of paper.
- If you must keep paper, file the item right away. Trust me. You’ll spend less time looking for it later if you do.
- Purge old software and manuals. I had a pile of CDs and manuals from software I haven’t had on my computer in years. Getting rid of these items is an easy win. It’s unlikely you’ll ever need this stuff. If you do, you can download the software or access the manuals online.
- Get a vertical storage file for your desktop. I used to put paperwork I needed to attend to in a pile on the desktop. Things had a tendency to get lost in the pile and I’d be forever rifling through the pile looking for things. A few months ago, I invested in this vertical file which has helped to keep my desktop organized.
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What I got rid of this week
As I started to sort through the items on my desktop, I noticed a lot of items had accumulated there that belonged somewhere else in the house. I started a “Relocate” basket. Here’s a picture of it.
And here’s what I got rid of this week. It’s mostly a ton of old CDs and software manuals.
And this week’s candidate for strangest or most useless item is a Typing Instructor software CD. I’m pretty sure we never installed that software on our computer. I think it was a freebie that we got at some point over the years. I kept it because I thought my girls might use it. They laugh when I tell them I took typing as an actual class in high school. These days, I think kid are born knowing how to type.
So that’s week 9 done. Here are pictures of my new, clean desktops. Let’s see how long they stay that way.
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.
Life has been busy lately, so I had fallen back into the bad habit of tossing stuff on the desk to deal with later. A good cleanup was long overdue.
As I sorted through the stuff on my desk, I really wondered why it all ended up there. Most of it should have gone straight in the recycling. In the end, I got rid of 34 items and relocated several others to their rightful homes.
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!
What did you discover when cleaning your desktop this week? Tell us below.
On my list of things to do…typically on Fridays…but I’ve been delinquent. The piles are taking over so it’s time to clear the deck. Appreciate the reminder that some things need to be tossed – as opposed to schlepped around from an old pile to a new pile – LOL! 😜
It’s amazing how quickly it creeps up on us Vicki. Since I drafted this, I’ve got a new laptop and it’s tax season. I must be vigilant!
Go, girl!😎
I got rid of my desk years ago so that took care of any habit of tossing extraneous stuff on it! I had to share a desk at work though and it was awful. I would organize things and come back on my next shift to find chaos. It was the same with our equipment and laptop cart that we used in each room. I am just not meant to share spaces and things with others. It makes me anxious when others don’t see the need for organization 🙂
Yes, sharing a desk is tricky. Our office went 100% to hotel offices a few years ago. Much as that was a pain lugging things back and forth, it at least addressed the different organizing personality types.
Given that I was a contractor working in a healthcare setting both needing to record findings on the hospital system computer as well as lug my equipment and testing computer around the choice wasn’t there…but I would have loved the concept that all the stuff goes with the person when they leave the desk 😉
It does have some advantages, although it makes the workplace a lot more impersonal in my opinion. Seeing personal items or family pictures on peoples’ desks definitely helps us connect with co-workers on a more human level.
I have a small desk so unless my family throws paper on top it’s rarely cluttered. My secret is what I’ll call a file stand, that sits to the side of my desk. I store my laptop there, and I have two other slots. One is for papers I haven’t looked at yet and the other is for things that need to be dealt with, either filing or actively dealing with it. I try to go through this section at least twice a week. It works for me
That sounds like a great system. I just got a new laptop so I’m in the process of reorganizing…again! LOL
It never ends….
Clutter really does sneak up on you, doesn’t it? I too need to be more wary of my desktops, and I think I’m going to spend this weekend decluttering a little. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, it definitely has a way of sneaking up and taking over. I think the secret to desktop clutter is staying on top of things and not letting them pile up. Easier said than done, though!
Well done, Michelle! I really like what you said about filing papers right away. That’s something I am very bad at, but want to improve. The typing CD! I agree; I think kids are born with the ability to type! I sure wasn’t! LOL Cher xoxoxo
Ha ha. Yes, we learned to type one letter at a time. It was so exciting when we ventured beyond the home row. 😂😂😂
Hahaha it sure was, Michelle!! LOL LOL
Your desk is looking great! I have a chore chart with a dedicated day every week for filing, but it almost never happens! There’s just a ‘waiting to be filed’ pile on the floor 🙁 Definitely something I need to tackle soon
I hear you! When I went through my filing folder, there was stuff there from over a year ago. Now it’s organized, I just need to stay on top of it.
Ha ha that’s a hard no. My desk is a mess and I love it like that
Some people work better that way. I won’t judge. LOL
I’ve been using a card table as my desk since assigning our actual desk to the virtual school spot and it gets messy quickly. I use the spot for my planning, bill paying, rock painting, and a few other things. It was a temporary solution that has become more permanent. I need to reassess the area. I’m glad this was your challenge for the week!
It’s amazing how quickly the desktop gets cluttered. I’m trying really hard to stay on top of it this time around. We’ll see how it goes!
I like the idea of storing things vertically. 😀
It is an interesting idea and I find it definitely saves me time.