If you&#;re anything like me, keeping your desk organized is a challenge. It&#;s inevitable that miscellaneous items end up on your desk throughout the day. Documents pile up, new office supplies arrive, but the old ones end up in a drawer or corner of a desk, and the cycle begins.
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Where you work affects how you work. Whether you&#;re working from your home office, or in a cubicle at your 9 to 5, there are interruptions and distractions that cause you to forget to put things away.
In your office, the desk is your control center. How well it&#;s organized can set the tone and productivity of your day. Even with the best desk organizer around, we recommend various organizational strategies to defend against distractions.
Research shows that we spend nearly 40% of the year sitting at our desk. Determining how to organize your desk is crucial to living a productive and stress free life. Trust me, I understand how daunting the process seems, but once you&#;ve invested the time and resources the benefits are endless.
Your desk is an essential part of your work, which means figuring out how to keep your desk organized is essential to your professional success. If you still aren&#;t convinced, learn more about why it&#;s important to organize your workspace and the benefits of a tidy desk.
Before you invest any time or money into organizing your desk, ask yourself the following questions:
Consider how visible you want your supplies to be. Cube storage is open so you can see and easily access supplies, while drawer storage lets you hide items that may not be required on a daily basis.
Check out our in-depth guide that provides category-specific purchasing advice to ensure you only purchase reliable office supplies and equipment.
We all have different lifestyles and limitations that are typically dictated by the kind of work we do. Similarly, your desk should support the various day-to-day tasks we do and the supplies needed to complete each task.
There is not one individual desk organizer that rules them all. To find the best desk organizer that fits your unique needs, consider the following key elements before you buy anything.
Design
Size
Weight
Compartments
An organized desk allows you to find what you need, when you need it, without adding unnecessary stress into the mix. Spend too much time searching for misplaced things or missing information? Here are some of the best desk organizers in the market that will help transform your desk by getting rid of the desk, along with the stress.
Looking at your desk, do you think some items need to be out in the open or stocked away in a drawer? Unnecessary items on your desk can easily distract you and take up too much surface space.
Piles of sticky notes, personal items, documents you no longer need or read, all need to be regularly evaluated based on their relevance. Get rid of Put away anything that doesn&#;t have an immediate use. Office supplies are an essential part of most people&#;s workday. Find the best desk organizer that offers proper storage and has a designated space for each item.
Keep all your supplies within reach with these organizers that are designed specifically for a desktop. These organizers are made of lightweight, affordable material which offers the most for your money and versatility in how you can use them on your desktop.
Most on-desk organizers come with multiple compartments that offer various storage options that you can use to maximize the small, desk space it takes up. Do you need somewhere to put your paperwork, files and notebooks? What about the smaller stuff, like paper clips and bulletin board pins?
This type of organizer is a tried-and-true way to declutter your desk which means there are many to choose from. Be sure to evaluate the supplies you use everyday to determine which organizer best fits your needs.
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Keep all the supplies you need within reach with this classic, black steel mesh organizer that offers multiple storage options with a total of nine compartments. The top tray can be moved around which allows you to stack your items to save space or move it to a more convenient spot.
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You likely have office supplies that you don&#;t use on a daily basis. If you don&#;t use an item everyday then it doesn&#;t need to be stored on the sacred surface of your desktop. Desk drawer organizers are ideal for infrequently used items like staples, extra post it notes, binder clips, or writing tools used on special occasions like signing documents.
It&#;s crucial to keep an open area on your desk for getting things done that require an adequate chunk of your working real estate. So embrace the white space by utilizing your drawers to organize the supplies you don&#;t need day-to-day.
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If your creativity is calling or you're on a budget, try these DIY desk organizer ideas. Most of what you need can be found around the house with little to no financial investment. Keeping your desk organized doesn&#;t have to be expensive and can actually be fun.
The surface area of your desk is precious so if something needs to be there, then as the saying goes, kill two birds with one stone. Declutter the visual environment of your desk by getting rid of hanging cords by hiding them under your desk while reducing stress caused by tangled wires/trying to figure out what plugs into where.
Take advantage of vertical space with hanging organizers to make sure everything stays in place and can be easily accessed. Use a monitor stand to support your computer screens, printers and laptops while storing things in the space underneath, that would normally go to waste.
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An organized workspace doesn&#;t magically create more time in the day, but it helps you get more done because you know where everything is, aren&#;t overwhelmed by visual distractions, and can focus on the task at hand. Plus, when your desk is organized it gives you a positive mindset that can enhance your enthusiasm throughout the workday.
The Modern Magnetic Bamboo Desk Organizer ranks as the best overall desk organizer for me. It comes with different compartments that make sense for the items that need to be on your desk. I am constantly rearranging my desk layout based on what I need to get things done.
This versatile organizer comes with a universal holder, and yes that includes your pop socket and/or card holder that&#;s attached to your case. The magnetic compartments can be easily switched around to ensure close access to supplies of the highest priority. This organizer provides storage for most office items worth storing on your desk.
This minimalist design has a small footprint and blends well with most modern office styles. It may not be the cheapest desk organizer, but it&#;s a worthy investment made of high quality bamboo wood material with a lifetime warranty.
This organizer checks all of my boxes meaning it suits every office one of my personal office needs. Carefully consider what your needs are, what supplies are needed to complete each task, both in relation to the physical space available.
29 items in this article 12 items on sale!
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We hate to be the ones to say it, but you&#;re going to have to put your swimsuits and sandals away for the season &#; plus the sand toys, beach umbrellas, and all the other summer stuff that&#;s in a big heap by the door. The whole process of returning to the real world in September can be a crazy-making puzzle, especially when you don&#;t have loads of closet space or a basement to toss everything into. So this week, we&#;re sharing home-organizational essentials to make the transition a little easier. It&#;s Straighten Out Your Space Week on the Strategist.
Organizing your workspace can feel like another dreaded to-do &#; whether you&#;re typing away in a contained cubicle or reining in a sprawling work-from-home arrangement. But it does have to be done, or you might lose those meeting notes the boss will unavoidably ask for. Take it from Allison Dunn, the founder of Neat Rules: &#;You want to get rid of clutter so that you can really focus on the things you need to use on a day-to-day basis.&#; Dunn suggests keeping only what you need and making sure those essentials are accessible &#; you shouldn&#;t have to reach too far for your favorite pen. To make sure there&#;s a place for everything (and as the saying goes, to keep everything in its place), we asked professional organizers about what tools they use to keep their desks in order. And since we have a robust archive of home-organization stories, we mined those, too, for longtime Strategist favorites. The resulting recommendations below are organized into five categories, starting with desktop trays and ending with miscellaneous tools like cable clips.
CB2 Solid Brass Studio Letter Tray
$70
$70
&#;Being able to see what you have means you&#;re constantly reminded of the stuff that needs to get thrown out or dealt with,&#; says Queer Eye&#;s Bobby Berk. That&#;s one of the reasons he keeps chargers, lip balm, hair clips, and hand sanitizer contained within this tray instead of inside of a drawer. &#;I find that when you use drawers, the stuff that goes in it is never seen again.&#; So &#;the tray has more than an aesthetic purpose &#; although the brass is really beautiful,&#; he adds.
$70
at CB2DESIGNA Stackable Mesh Desk Organizer
$25
Link to EAGLE
now 19% off
$25
If you need something high-capacity, this tray not only holds files, but iPads and folders. There are slots for non-letter-size papers as well. Lokey likes that the multi-compartment mesh organizer has space for pens, pencils, and other small supplies to boot.
$25
at Amazon$25
at Amazon
Best
filing
systems
TRU RED 5-Pocket Mesh Letter Wall File
$26
$26
Those drowning in paperwork should get themselves a proper filing system. Brennan Reid, owner of Aristotle Organizing, prefers wall-mounted styles as they &#;clear a desk to allow more space, not only giving it a cleaner look, but giving you more space to work with.&#; He also believes that visible filing systems are better than filing cabinets as a visual reminder to keep works-in-progress catalogued. This version from Staples&#; in-house label can be hung on the wall or stand underneath a desk, while its smaller size &#;forces you to keep your current work files limited.&#;
$26
at StaplesIf you don&#;t have open wall space &#; or you would rather keep office supplies confined to your worktop &#; here&#;s another file holder that stands on a desk. It comes recommended by Beth Penn, founder of Bneato Bar. Combined with standard hanging folders, it functions as a portable filing cabinet to keep piles of papers tidy and accessible.
Bigso Linen Marten Magazine Holder
$16
$16
Dunn and Penn agree that magazine holders are great alternatives for organizing files because they can stay on your desk or be stored on a nearby bookshelf. (Penn keeps hers in a kitchen cabinet &#; her kitchen doubles as a home office &#; &#;so they&#;re not out and annoying to everybody else that lives there.&#;) This handsome magazine holder from Bigso is a good bet for design-y types. Dunn likes that the brand&#;s line of organization tools includes coordinating letter trays and drawers, and interior designer Alex Kalita has described her Bigso magazine holder as a &#;workhorse&#; that has &#;stood the test of time.&#;
$16
at The Container StorePoppin White Slim 3-Drawer Stow Filing Cabinet
$339
$339
Though a number of organizers we spoke to argued against having a filing cabinet, a few admitted that they can be useful for people without a ton of storage space or who need to archive documents they don&#;t refer to very often. Dunn pointed to this slim three-drawer model as an inoffensive and not-too-unwieldy solution. Its sleek design is short enough to fit under most desks, but it has a bottom drawer deep enough for hanging file folders. The cabinet won&#;t take up much floor space, either, at just over a foot wide.
$339
at The Container StoreElfa Mesh File Cart
$135
$135
A filing-cabinet alternative of sorts, this affordable wheeled cart &#; another favorite of Dunn&#;s &#; can store not-as-frequently used files or supplies. The wheels make it easy to roll around (and move out of sight, if need be), and the cart&#;s top section allows for hanging file folders, while its bottom mesh drawers can accommodate almost anything else you need to tuck away.
$135
at The Container StoreYamazaki Desk Bar Storage
$36
$36
Or go for this even more minimalist desk &#;bar.&#; Loya likes the clean lines of the open-concept organizer, which make it look like a work of art. He notes that the stand can hold eyeglasses and smartphones (especially if you have one just for work) alongside the standard rulers and fountain pens.
$36
at Amazon$36
at WalmartTo max out the space where your monitor stands, Lokey and Dunn suggest risers that double as office-supply organizers. &#;In terms of innovation, this is actually kind of new,&#; Lokey says. (A search of &#;monitor stands&#; turns up mostly plain-looking ones without extra storage space.) Lokey likes this mesh model that comes with two drawers, with the top drawer divided into three compartments, while Dunn favors a futuristic acrylic version with separate sections for highlighters and gadgets.
Three by Three Shallow Metal Drawer Organizers
From $5
Slightly shallower and more colorful are these organizers that Loya loves for being &#;functional and fun.&#; He mentions that &#;adding color to your drawers can have a cheerful effect on you each time you open them.&#; You can color-code supplies this way as well. The modular pieces are sold separately, and they&#;re stackable too. So, as Loya says, &#;There are endless ways you can arrange the compartments.&#;
From $5
at The Container StoreMadesmart Value 8-Piece Interlocking Bin Pack
now 33% off
$10
One downside to the above drawer organizers is that buying each piece adds up. This eight-piece set is a budget-friendly option recommended by Lokey. You can stash your pens with other irregularly shaped office supplies. The bins interlock, which keeps them from sliding around and makes it easy to configure them to fit most any drawer.
$10
at Amazon$10
at AmazonHay Recycled Colour Crate
now 25% off
From $6
The good-looking Colour Crates from Danish interior-design house Hay earned the title of &#;best stackable bins&#; in our storage-bins guide, and they can hold just about anything. Though you do have to spring for the lids and wheels separately, I thought these add-ons were worthwhile extras when I tested them myself, as the lids help keep dust out and the wheels meant I could roll a stack wherever I wanted. The crates can collapse whenever they&#;re not needed, too. The small version could sit on top of a desk, while the medium and large sizes could be stored underneath.
From $6
at Design Within ReachAdditional reporting by Maxine Builder and Lauren Ro
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