Desk tidy: tips if you’re working from home

Lockdown 3.0 is here. Home schooling is here. Working from home is here. By now, you may have dusted down an unused desk or bought a new item of furniture specifically for WFH. As you may discover, desks breed junk – stationery, paper, cables and coffee-stained mugs, for instance – and now we’re more likely to be eating ‘al desko’ and not ‘al fresco’, our laptops are just as likely to be joined by lunch remnants as they are purchase ledgers.

Many super-organised, super-efficient people, however, believe in the mantra ‘an untidy desk is an untidy mind’ and find workplace Zen by subscribing to the Marie Kondo tidy movement (the Queen of clean even runs digital tidying courses).

If you’re finding desk clutter prevents creative thinking, clouds your mind or impinges productivity, it’s time to get desk tidy. This Guardian article suggests the worst offenders should call in the professionals but you can nip milder cases of clutter in the bud by following a few simple steps. Here’s where you can start:-

Find clutter a home

If you can’t actually see your desk, you’ve got a problem. Sometimes the solution is as simple as better or more storage (and a bin by your desk). Don’t underestimate the power of an ‘in’ and ‘out’ tray and a pen pot (an empty, clean jam jar is perfect). For some of the smartest storage ideas, however, head to the neatness nirvana that is Muji online, where you’ll find an entire ‘desk storage and filing’ section, alongside other brilliant and reasonably-priced everyday storage items – we also recommend its acrylic storage range for desks.

Tackle wires & cables

Trailing wires and crisscrossing cables will make any desk look untidy and also presents a trip hazard, but there is help if you need to up your cable management game. If you’re in the market for a new desk, opting for one with a cable port that you feed wires down through will give you a head start. If you’re working with what you’ve already got, Google ‘cable tidy systems’ and you’ll be amazed by the off-the-shelf cable tidy tubes, caddies and wire racks available to order online.

Love a podcast? Listen to this

If your desk features built-in drawers or you have a filing cabinet, you may have developed a junk drawer – the place Post-It notes, paperclips, spare batteries, business cards, staplers and even old mobile phones tend to gravitate to create a jumbled, tangled mess. Treasury tags anyone?

Declutter experts Ingrid Jansen and Lesley Spellman chat all things untidy during their podcast entitled ‘taming your junk drawer’. It features a number of hints and tips for those who can’t shut an overflowing junk drawer and for people who misplace vital stationery stock. Spoiler alert: you’ll learn that the magic method is containerisation.    

5 daily decluttering rituals

Is your desk overwhelming your day? Try these 5 quick and free fixes that will create a better work from home environment:-  

1. Clear away any breakfast or lunch items as soon as you’ve eaten
2. Remove non-work items, such as toys and food wrappers
3. Recycle used paper or shred sensitive documents
4. Create one neat pile of paperwork at the end of every day
5. Close the lid of your laptop (simple but satisfying)

If your home moving plans have been spurred on by the search for a dedicated home office or the desire for more space, get in touch. We can help unite you with a new home in 2021.