Cluttered Desk? Some Simple Tools For Organizing Your Workspace

They say a clean desk is a sign of a sick mind. Oh, how wrong they are. A clean desk just means you know where to find that pen or pencil or the PDA or the presentation envelopes or whatever else you've been looking for all morning and finally just found. For some of us, we like to think that we know where everything is located on our desks and as long as no one touches anything, we could find it. While that may be partially true, if we'd take advantages of the tools for organizing our desks, it makes knowing exactly where everything is a lot easier.

And tools to improve desk organization aren't very expensive at all. Most of them are so inexpensive that the time they save in man-hours looking for things means it'll pay for itself in no time. Maybe even the first time you use it. Not only are they inexpensive, but with the array of options available, you can organize every part of your desk and find room to actually put a coffee cup without it winding up on paperwork.

Here's a quick list of stuff that will simplify your desk more than you'd believe.

1. The first thing needs to be getting as much off the top of your desk as possible. Instead of putting your gym clothes into your drawers, put all the files on your desk into it. You can use hanging file folders to sort and consolidate all your paperwork. You can either sort by date or alphabetically, but that one step alone can save you hours of digging for that letter or invoice you need.
2. There are magnetic paperclip holders that take care of keeping them in one place.
3. A pen and pencil holder, especially one that has compartments to hold each separately, will be very handy to have.
4. Rubber bands can go in your middle drawer (or top side drawer if your middle drawer is for a keyboard) in a tray. And to keep everything organized and from eventually ending up on the floor, the trays also have several slots for other things like the rubber bands, your change and other small items.
5. For those files and presentation folders that need immediate or constant attention, there are file folder racks with dividers that will set them upright and help you sort them as well.

Sorting your desk can be a hassle but with the right tools, keeping it sorted and being more productive in the process is a breeze. Get the tools for organizing your desk and you'll be surprised at how much less stress you'll have in your workday.


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Using presentation envelopes is a great way to begin any meeting or correspondence and gets you started off on the right foot. Vickie Lexom uses presentation folders to project the right image because she knows that giving the best representation of her business helps her stay on top of her game.