How to Maximize Office Desk Space
Throw away trash and unneeded items., Decide what needs to stay on your desktop and what doesn’t., Downsize to more streamlined furnishings., Cut down on personal effects., Leave plenty of room to work.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Throw away trash and unneeded items.
Embark on a total purge of all bothersome, extraneous or irrelevant items that are crowding your desk.
This includes out-of-date documents, junk mail, empty boxes and old or unused office supplies, as well as more obvious clutter like food packages.
While cleaning out your desk, get rid of as many things as you can do without.
The more you throw away, the more room you’ll have left over to get some real work done.
Put a wastebasket next to your desk so that trash doesn’t continue to accumulate. -
Step 2: Decide what needs to stay on your desktop and what doesn’t.
Sort remaining items into groups based on their importance to your work and how often you use them.
Supplies that you use every day can be arranged in sensible desktop organizers or thrown into drawers within reach, while inessential items should be relocated to an out-of-the-way place or discarded entirely.If you’re stumped on how best to proceed, start by ranking your work materials from 1 to 4 in terms of their immediacy.
Items that receive a ranking of 1 can remain on the desktop; items with a ranking of 2 can go in drawers; those with 3s should be placed in separate organizers and those with 4s can be put into storage.In order to increase your overall space, you need to create a more focused, minimalistic approach to the types of things you keep around you. , You might have items on your desk that you consider essential that are nonetheless taking up more than their fair share of the workspace.
Reevaluate bulky, unwieldy or oddly-shaped objects and see if it would be worthwhile to replace them with smaller, more space-effective versions.
For instance, you might be able to track down a more compact light source to take the place of an outdated, oversized desk lamp.This will give you a handy excuse to do a little shopping for yourself—the types of office products sold today tend to be smaller and sleeker compared to their older counterparts.
Look for items that have multiple uses, such as a printer cart that doubles as a filing cabinet or a nameplate that also holds pens., While it can be good for your morale to keep a few pictures of your kids or various pop culture knick-knacks around your workspace, too many of these objects start to consume valuable desk space.
They can also easily become a distraction, as you’ll be tempted to stop and admire them throughout the day.Limit your personal belongings to a handful of small items, such as a framed portrait of the family dog or a Garfield bobblehead.Brush up on your employer’s decorating guidelines to get an idea of how much is alright to keep. , The center portion of your desk should be reserved for your computer or important documents.
Section off a small area to one side of the desk and use this to complete paperwork.
Give yourself plenty of elbow room so that you don’t feel smothered while you take care of daily tasks.Avoid letting other items drift into the space you’ve set aside for your primary job functions. -
Step 3: Downsize to more streamlined furnishings.
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Step 4: Cut down on personal effects.
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Step 5: Leave plenty of room to work.
Detailed Guide
Embark on a total purge of all bothersome, extraneous or irrelevant items that are crowding your desk.
This includes out-of-date documents, junk mail, empty boxes and old or unused office supplies, as well as more obvious clutter like food packages.
While cleaning out your desk, get rid of as many things as you can do without.
The more you throw away, the more room you’ll have left over to get some real work done.
Put a wastebasket next to your desk so that trash doesn’t continue to accumulate.
Sort remaining items into groups based on their importance to your work and how often you use them.
Supplies that you use every day can be arranged in sensible desktop organizers or thrown into drawers within reach, while inessential items should be relocated to an out-of-the-way place or discarded entirely.If you’re stumped on how best to proceed, start by ranking your work materials from 1 to 4 in terms of their immediacy.
Items that receive a ranking of 1 can remain on the desktop; items with a ranking of 2 can go in drawers; those with 3s should be placed in separate organizers and those with 4s can be put into storage.In order to increase your overall space, you need to create a more focused, minimalistic approach to the types of things you keep around you. , You might have items on your desk that you consider essential that are nonetheless taking up more than their fair share of the workspace.
Reevaluate bulky, unwieldy or oddly-shaped objects and see if it would be worthwhile to replace them with smaller, more space-effective versions.
For instance, you might be able to track down a more compact light source to take the place of an outdated, oversized desk lamp.This will give you a handy excuse to do a little shopping for yourself—the types of office products sold today tend to be smaller and sleeker compared to their older counterparts.
Look for items that have multiple uses, such as a printer cart that doubles as a filing cabinet or a nameplate that also holds pens., While it can be good for your morale to keep a few pictures of your kids or various pop culture knick-knacks around your workspace, too many of these objects start to consume valuable desk space.
They can also easily become a distraction, as you’ll be tempted to stop and admire them throughout the day.Limit your personal belongings to a handful of small items, such as a framed portrait of the family dog or a Garfield bobblehead.Brush up on your employer’s decorating guidelines to get an idea of how much is alright to keep. , The center portion of your desk should be reserved for your computer or important documents.
Section off a small area to one side of the desk and use this to complete paperwork.
Give yourself plenty of elbow room so that you don’t feel smothered while you take care of daily tasks.Avoid letting other items drift into the space you’ve set aside for your primary job functions.
About the Author
William Young
Writer and educator with a focus on practical organization knowledge.
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