Get it Together

 This past week my husband’s desk needed a little TLC. He is so busy and I have come to ignore his messy desk, allowing the problem to get worse and worse. It is not difficult to keep a space clean if there is a place where each item belongs, it is when there is no place for things that they begin to encroach on your living space. Organizing is something I love to do for myself and others, but is so easy to do yourself too. Here are the six easy steps to get anything organized in record time. This is how I approach anything that needs to be tidied and seems overwhelming. Follow these and you will be off to a life of neatness and home that functions smoothly!

1. Go through and put away anything and everything that has a place already.

2. Look at what is left-over and start pulling out things that go together and group them…papers in one pile, pens/pencils/etc in another, and so on. There will inevitably be things that seem like misfits, just put them in a pile together until the end.

3. So now we have multiple piles of clutter that are grouped…separate those piles into two categories: 1.) things that can be visible, and 2.) things that are best stored out of site.

4. Now find storage for the things that you do not want visible. For my project that meant taking the pens/pencils/medical supplies out of the one desk draw so that I could store all the chargers/cables/wires/etc in the drawer and out of sight. I then found something to set decorative jars on and filled them with other items that are more visually acceptable in a main living space.

5. Find decorative storage. This can be difficult, especially when working with limited space. Our tiny condo does not accommodate a medical student well…it is tricky, but get creative. I made file folders to match my home décor so that all of the papers on the desk had somewhere, easily accessible, to go and yet my living space does not have to look as much like office!

6. Now comes that hard part…time to tackle that misfit pile. Ask yourself some questions: (1. Is there anything I can get rid of, either throw away or donate? (take those items out), 2. Is there anything that could be grouped with a category that I have already put away? (put them there), 3. How accessible do these remaining items need to be? (If they do not need to be accessible, then pack them away somewhere out of the way). In my scenario what was left were the things Devin uses every day: his watch, wallet, sunglasses, ID, pager, etc. The shelf organizer I made had three trays so I left one open and now he has somewhere to drop off his stuff everyday and it is ready and waiting for him in the morning when he leaves…AND his desk is still clear!

I hope these steps can help you! Just think, one step at a time, one disaster spot at a time and pretty soon you will be clutter free!!!  Tune back soon for a DIY on how to make the shelf organizer I created above the desk! Happy Day to you!