Despite our best efforts of decluttering our work stations, the average office worker spends 13 minutes and 13 seconds every day searching for missing things on their desk – like paperwork, desktop files (yes, those explode into chaos, too), and stationery. How do our work stations explode into chaos when a fourth of the office budget is spent on filing systems and organizers?

A place for everything and everything in its place
It would be nice if we had a place for everything and if we could find everything at that place we left it. Sadly, that is not the case. And that is the reason why we spend too much time looking for missing things – be it computer files, staplers, or paper documents. We tend to think of our desks as a catch all for all things work related – and sometimes, even non work related things like our bags, makeup, and lunchboxes. So we leave them there to pile up and left to be sorted out for later.

Labels aren’t only for relationships
It is time to embrace labels. You don’t have to stick a bright neon sticker label to everything on your desk. You just have to make sure that you have good naming conventions. Yes naming conventions – like how you name your PC files very specifically (Feb 24 Meeting Minutes.docx) and save it in a very specific folder (saved to Organised Meeting Notes folder) Or, wait…do you botch that up too? (hello filename: Feb24mtgmin_draft1 saved to desktop to be organised later?)

Organizers
You don’t have to get fancy shmancy about organizers. They don’t have to be gold plated works of art in order to work well for you. You can buy organizers at a dollar store and use those.

For desks with drawers:
● Buy ice cube trays for smaller office supplies that tend to get lost underneath the carpet – ice cube trays can fit push pins, paper clips, and rubber bands and can fit in any desk drawer.
● Buy a plastic or rubber cutlery tray – you know, the ones that keep forks, spoons, and knives separated? You can use those for pens, whiteboard markers, and scissors. They usually come in 3 or 4 partitions.

For desks with shelves:
● Buy bookends – you can lump all those folders together as long as they are labeled and separated by bookends. I keep my notebooks (yes, I have those because I tend to write notes on paper for online courses – because studies show that you retain information better when you write it down) for online courses separate from my client folders with generic bookends that I got from the dollar store. I have sturdy, metal ones that are heavy and rust proof -a set of two for only a dollar. Buy as many as you need to separate your files etc.

For plain desks:
● This is a tough one because plain, big old desks have space but no real organizers to separate work tools and supplies. So, shuffle your PC or laptop off to one side and then make room for organizers. Buy a reasonably sized basket and put in a cup or two to organize your writing implements. Then use the leftover space to put your folders or notebooks in.
● Buy adhesive hooks – get those strong ones from 3M or something similar and stick them to the side of your desk- this is where you will hang your bag so that it doesn’t take up valuable real estate on your desk.

How about you? How do you keep your desk organized? Share your trade secrets with us in the comments. Stay humble, hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. The Help