Easy DIY Solutions To Organising Your Cluttered Office Space

We’ve all heard the saying, a cluttered desk means a cluttered mind. If that is the case what does your desk say about you?

Pens strewn everywhere, post-it notes stuck to more post-it notes, a cold and forgotten cup of coffee, the daily rage of rummaging through your desk drawers to find the letter that was meant to be posted out yesterday?

Yeah, mine too.

If you’re like me then read on to find out the top tips to changing it up and keeping on top of your cluttered desk.

Making you more organised, less stressed and the most productive you you can be.

Oh and we’ve even thrown in some DIY tips too so you have no excuses to have the most organised and picture perfect desk in the office.

Let’s get started!

Start Fresh

The best way to organise your office space is to start fresh. And the best way to do this?

Look at every item, look deep into its soul and ask: Are we right for each other?

Alternatively, just think can I chuck this in the bin or do I need it?

Leave the essentials and the ones that made the cut on another desk or space until you get a chance to sort them.

Now you’ve stripped your desk down, it’s time to clean it out, every inch of it.

Don’t even try and “forget” about the drawers.

Even if you have to do the walk of shame to the kitchen with arms full of old crisp packets and Red Bull cans you better do it now.

Get the Dettol out and give it a good scrub, leaving it shiny and lemony fresh.

Alright, now that your desk clean enough that you would let your mother-in-law eat her dinner off it without your marriage ending, we can move along.

Visualise

Your desk is now staring blankly up at you, this gives you the chance to visualise how amazing it can be.

Don’t be afraid to be fun and creative with it as long as it remains organised and functional you can make it into your very own tropical paradise or monochrome slick and efficient powerhouse.

Either way, you are going to be happy in your new space and enjoy seeing it neat and tidy.

Theme

If you’re struggling to visualise because it’s a Monday morning and the coffee isn’t filling the void where your creative juices normally are, think of a theme or a colour scheme for your desk.

Not only does a theme or colour pull everything together and harmonise your desk, it also makes clutter or unnecessary items stand out.

There’s also colour therapy to help you choose.

Want to feel happier and more positive? Go for a yellow colour scheme? Need to be more relaxed? Bring the outdoors in with greens and blues.

Decide What’s Hot and What’s Not

Okay, so at this stage you should have binned everything you don’t need (And well done on cutting down the 20 photographs of your Labradoodle down to a mere 17)

Now looking over the remaining items you need to figure out what you need, but don’t use regularly.

Sure your hole punch looks like a crocodile, and that’s pretty cool. But if you only use it sparingly might it not be better in a drawer?

Or if you have paper piling up that’s now taller than your 5 year old child maybe you should consider a better place for it. Rather than on your desktop overshadowing the worktop like a perilous paper mountain.

You also need to figure out what you use regularly but for the love of Zeus you can never find when you need it.

For example, how many times this week have you accused your workmates of stealing your stapler from your drawer? When really it was just hidden in that aladdin’s cave of chaos.

You need to work out what you need to keep, what space you have and where things would be best placed so you can get the job down as efficiently as possible.

And the final step is figuring out what you don’t have but your works heart desires. A calendar? A clock? Post-it notes in vast numbers?

Okay, now you know what you want. What you use. What you don’t use but gotta keep anyway. And where you want it so you can staple a page quicker than a cowboy pulling his gun in a gunfight, we can move onto the next step.

Get Organised

Now is the time we look at how things can be best stored and organised.

I’m talking pen pots, document trays, filing cabinets. Not having to do an obstacle course to get to the important client folders or burn your hand on your thermos to find your notebook.

First…

Tidy Up The Little Things

There are so many cheap and easy options here for tidying up your pens and paper clips. You can literally use a mug as a pen pot. That’s how simple it is.

But if you want some slightly fancier ideas, but still as cheap check out these tricks.

Old food jars!

Jars come in all shapes and sizes, and nicely you don’t have to judge them because you can see right through them.

That makes them perfect for storing all your little bits and pieces such as paper clips, pins, staples and all the other odds and ends you would rather not stand on.

And if you still struggle to work out what’s inside them, use a label maker to post a description on the outside, we like the sassy ones below.

Old tin cans!

Yep, we love food okay. And we are firm believes in waste not want not.

So why not use these old cans of food?

• Step 1. Eat the delicious food.
• Step 2. Clean and soak the tins in hot water to remove the label.
• Step 3. Cut, wrap and tape on a beautiful new style from wrapping or decorative paper.
• Step 4. Add cute pens.

Get A Handle On Your Paperwork

Remember that paper mountain I was talking about earlier. Yeah well sooner or later there is gonna be an avalanche and a whole lot of stress.

Paperwork is the scourge of offices across the country, stealing valuable deskspace from busy office workers wherever possible.

Well, no more! It’s time to get a handle on your paperwork and reclaim your desk

The solution?

What I’ve been telling you this whole time. Organise it!
Bin what you don’t need. Figure out what you do need. And put it where it makes sense.

For paperwork that filters through your office daily why not use a document tray to sort your incoming and outgoing.

For the bulkier stuff that needs specific organising, a filing cabinet will slay that job.

Again, it’s a matter of figuring out what works best for you.

If like me you deal with an endless supply of bulky paperwork that needs to be kept safe storing it offsite might be the best option, take a look at storage units from Storage Vault.

That way you don’t have to worry about accidentally getting carried away with the shredder and destroying all the documents that keep the business running.

Organise Your Drawers

Are you actually using your drawers in the most efficient way, or are you simply chucking things in and spending a lifetime rummaging for it later?

There is a better way!

Drawer dividers! I know, compartments and organisation is so exciting. But honestly, you wouldn’t believe how big a difference this can make. And it is so easy to do.

You can use old cereal boxes or jewelry boxes or small tubs to divide up your drawer and find the perfect place for all those items that you literally have forgotten what they do but you know they are important.

Control your cables

If they aren’t tangling themselves into knots then they are scattered all around your desk and drawers. Is it just me or is it always the last cable you try that is one you are looking for?

Here’s a nifty DIY trick from everydaydishes.com on how to control those unruly cables.

All you need is some large binder clips and a label maker. Just stick them on the side of your desk and feed the cable through. Simple.

This will declutter your desk and put the cables out of the way and into a more practical place.

Make It Your Happy Place

The best tip to keep your desk tidy and organised is to make it a place where you love. Okay loving your work desk might be a bit much, but at least a place where you are happy to spend time.

If your desk makes you happy and you like how it looks you won’t want things out of place.

So why not add some personal touches like photographs, plants, motivational prints. Anything that makes you smile, one more labradoodle photo if you must.

Here is my home office desk. It has all the practical things like a planner, a magazine file and desk drawers, but it also has some pictures and bright motivational prints to keep me smiling through my work day.

Why not show us how your office space is set up and let us in on your DIY tips and tricks? Post your tips and tricks on our Facebook page.

We hope these solutions and tips helped and now you can sit down to your desk and be the most productive you can be.

However, if your office space is too small or limited. Or you have important documents you need to store away, we offer a wide range of flexible storage units, from 25sqft to 500sqft. Whatever your requirements are, we’re confident that we’ve got a perfect space for you. Just find us at Storage Vault.

Give us a call today on 0141 887 1000 or email us at [email protected] to hear more about how we can help you.