Tips for organizing a small room and desk area?

Question

I am really bad at organizing and cannot seem to keep my act together!

Any tips to help me keep my desk area neat, and my small bedroom neat without getting rid of all my crap?

Answer 1

You gota git rid of crap or else you never will be crapless.

Answer 2

There are tons of ways of doing this without having to spend a lot of money. You don't mention the size of the room or how much space your desk has to store things in; so I will take for granted that the room is very small and the desk has little to no storage space.
First of all, it is true what the other writer says about closet organizers and they are great it is just IF you want to spend the money.

Now, you can try some of these things that are little to no expense if you want to go that route:

1. purchase a two drawer filing cabinet from a goodwill store that you can file all of your papers in and use one drawer for storage. Put a table cloth over this and it can be used for a nightstand with a pretty lamp on it and no one will know!

2. Use the under the bed storage for things like extra paper, file folders, manilla folders etc.

3. Put a shelf up; above your desk area for books like dictionaries, computer books etc. and a candle.

4. go to the dollar store and purchase some small plastic containers for pens,pencils,tape,paper clips etc. (These can be kept in your extra file drawer or in the box under the bed)

Your desk top should only have things on it that you use all of the time---so they are handy.

5. Things such as: a pen, stamps, ruler, eraser, white-out, envelopes and notepaper should be in your top desk drawer so it is readily available.

6. Keep all of your bills in a file folder until they are paid and then move them to your files.

7. Keep a small pocket calendar on your desk top so that you can keep track when bills are due and the date that you paid them; appointments you have to keep, birthdays etc..

Hope it helped, if I knew more about the size etc. I could give you more pointers.

Answer 3

If you have a chance to watch the Home and Garden channel on TV, you might find all kinds of wonderful organizing hints and tips.

First rule of thumb is to get rid of clutter on your desk.
I like pens and pencil gathered in a tall mug or glass or something from an Office supply store. The same goes for scissors and tape and staplers. Everything should have its proper place.
For mail, paperwork, paperpads, I like to use baskets (Walmart has inexpensive ones) and stack or place them side by side.
If you have a desk with a lap drawer, use indiviual dividers inside the drawer so all you pens and pencils don't fly around to the back where you cannot see them.
If you are short on cash for dividers and baskets, cut down empty kleenex boxes to place your items in. They can be decorated with contact paper.
On your desk or telephone table you should have a pad of paper and pens handy for taking messages. The less you have to search for such items, the easier and nicer it is to keep everything organized.
Good luck and have fun.

Answer 4

Go to an office supply store and they have all kinds of organizational gadgets and containers. Also at home depot and menards, you can get closet organizing systems where everything connects to each other. It would give you extra shelves or space to hang things.
My suggestion is after you get the supplies you need, put things that you don't use often up away into labeled boxes that you can read easily just by looking at the front of them. (They make boxes with little label holders on them) That will avoid you having to take them out and go through them to find out what's in them. You can just grab the one you want. As for everything else, keep things that go together in labeled drawers and boxes or baskets so you don't have to go searching for things anymore. The cool thing about getting organized these days is that you can make it look really cute and put together with the things you can buy now.

Answer 5

you need a place for everything so if you can buy containers the proper size for different needs. Unfortunately the only way to keep it neat is to ALWAYS put it back where it belongs, you have to be strict with yourself and train yourself to do this but I swear it is possible. I did and I'm not a neat freak but before it gets bad I put it away and I don't waste time looking for stuff anymore. Good luck.

Answer 6

Check out this article called 'Decluttering Made Simple'. It explains how to declutter with a few boxes, trash bags, and some simple questions. I hope you read it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/170388/decluttering_made_simple.html


Also, for information on making more space available in your bedroom, I recommend reading this article
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/161890/how_to_create_more_space_in_your_bedroom.html

Answer 7

go to marthastewart.com. She has tons of cleaning & organizing tips there.

Answer 8

keep microwave canisters of reach for buttons, pins, staple wires, thumbtacks, pencils and ball point pens etc. they are stackable and see thru.