I Hate Clutter – Home Office Edition

Last year, two important things happened:

1) I started working from home.
2) I read The Happiness Project.

The book seriously changed my perspective on so many things. But, I started to realize the stifling effect of stuff. Clutter. Piles of things.

I wanted to work in an open, inviting environment. It’s taken a long time, but I’ve finally gotten my primary workspace exactly how I want it. I always take inspiration from others (and the 50 organization books that I’ve read), so I thought I would give you a tour to see how I have streamlined things and gotten my office to hold just the things that I need. I absolutely adore working in this space. I don’t feel crowded, but it isn’t too sparse.

This is my office. We’ll walk through the various pieces after the photo.

First, I will state that I invested in decent furniture since I knew how much time I would be spending here. I don’t think that is necessary and you can do something similar with a regular desk and shelves. It also depends on what you do and what you need.

Here’s the tour.

A – Desktop screen. I love this furniture because the tower and keyboard are hidden in the drawer and cabinet directly underneath.

B – Stackable paper/file trays. I bought these years ago at West Elm, but every office supply store has tons of options. I like the stackable kind
the best since I can customize it to my workspace. The top shelf has two notebooks that contain my office to-do list and notes from recent conference calls. The second shelf is papers to be filed and a sparkly rainbow colored turtle that I have had since law school. The bottom shelf has mail supplies and a selection of post it notes in cheery colors.

C – It’s a binder with every open campaign we have for work. That binder is my most used item in the room, besides the water bottle and the laptop.

D – Little paper tray with drawers. Another super old purchase from West Elm. I keep manuals in there. Every piece of electronics in the office has the manual in there.

E – All of the CDs that come with things live in here. It is from a matching set from West Elm with D.

F – I forgot F. I am not going back to edit the pic now, so bask in my error.

G – I bet you think that all of the crap just gets shoved in this cabinet, right? Nope. I’ll prove it in a minute.

H – Spinning pencil thing. Most importantly, home to three of my favorite Sharpie pens at all times.

I – This is the greatest printer in all the land. It has a great scanner too. And a fax machine if you use those. The printer/scanner that I had before this was awful. I love love love this one.

J – A very simple letter tray that I got from Container Store. It’s sole job is to hold my printer paper so that the cat doesn’t sit on it. Also, it looks a lot prettier than the ripped open package of paper.

K – Clear Document Case from the Container Store. It’s got a couple of notepads in it. It also houses the cord to the camera, which lives on top of it. Also, it’s sturdy and easily holds the weight of a cat.

L – A cute little polka dot bin from the Itso line at Target. This is where my journals/notebooks live. I have a journal for everything. There are currently 9. In the office. But they are everywhere in the house.

M – My MyAgenda. This has my personal schedule, meal planning, blog planning. Everything. I love it so much that it sits all by itself and doesn’t hang out with the journals.

N – Phone and Nook. That’s where they sit to charge. (I know it is random that I use Amazon for everything, except my e-reader. I tried Kindle and didn’t like it.)

O – Old family photo albums that I got when my grandfather transitioned into assisted living. These are amazing and I love having them close by.

P – You can barely see it, but that’s my tablet.

Q – That’s my marker collection for my whiteboard. Expo is my favorite. My whiteboard is color-coded, so I need a lot of markers. My whiteboard is hiding around the corner from the markers, but it is usually facing the front. It has sensitive business info on it, so it is hidden for the pic.

Now, in order to prove that I am not hiding everything in the cabinet, here’s a tour of what we have in there.

A – camera related cords, remotes, etc. This should live in my camera bag.

B – misc stuff. Trash can liners and some other stuff that I’m going to use in an upcoming blog giveaway.

C – Business cards. The plastic thing holds all of the business cards that I’ve gotten at conferences over the past couple of years. I need another one already!

D – Old electronics. My old camera that sort of works. An old point and shoot. A little handheld video camera.

E – 3 dozen of my beloved Sharpie pens.

F – Flipcam & tripod for the vlogging that I never do.

G – Label maker and three hole punch (necessary for the binder).

That’s it. That my office. It’s located in a sitting room off of our bedroom. There’s also a little recliner, a scratching post, filing cabinets and a ton of books that need to go to the library for a donation.

Is your office messy or clean? Can you work around a lot of clutter?

 

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