15+ Desk Organization Ideas (Working Desk Organization Tips)

Marci Swank

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Desk Organization Ideas – How many hours a day do you spend sitting on your desk? Whether it is at the office, working from home, or studying, people spend at least 4 to 5 hours a day on their desks. The amount of work you’re doing on your desk is significantly influenced by the way it gets organized—do you believe it?

According to a survey, 77% of Americans believe that having too many clutter on your desk will negatively impact the effectiveness of working. Therefore, it is safe to say that having the desk organized the way your heart desires will increase your productivity and the quality of your work.

There are plenty of ways to either organize or declutter your desk. The way you keep things stored and placed depends on the purpose of the desk itself. However, there is one thing for sure: a clean and tidy desk can reduce stress to the point that you’ll feel that creativity comes much easier. Reorganizing your desk is also can be a fun project before the summer ends, or just before the winter break is going to be over.

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Working Desk Organization Tips

office organization tips and ideas

You don’t need to be clueless start organizing your desk when it’s way too cluttered. There is always a section to start. It will be much easier to begin to assemble once you know the purpose of you having the desk: are you going to do a lot of typing work with your computer, or more hand-writing ones? Maybe you’re going to spend a lot of time making crafts, or even painting? Whichever it is, here are a few tips to organize your desk:

1. Computer in Front

A computer is potentially becoming the largest thing you have on your desk. Because of this, you can begin by placing your it first, and the rest will follow. Keep your computer at your arm’s length and eye-level.

2. Keep only what you need

avoid any unnecessary juxtapositions on your desk, keep only the things you might need immediately. For example, keep only the office supplies you’ll use the most such as stationery and sticky notes. Therefore, at this point, you must start decluttering and eliminate the stuff that’s covering the top your desks such as a used coffee cup from last week or the scraps from your art project last month.

3. Groups Similar items

Keep similar items in a group with either folders or any storage you can use. Put related papers in one folder and label it, then put it inside the drawers. This way, the labels will make it easy for you to find them again when you need it.

4. Put things near your dominant hand

If you’re going to pick a lot of phone calls, then you should put the phone near your dominant hand. This placement can prevent you from picking the calls from across your body. The same method can be used with stationery too. Put your pens, markers, and pencils holder where it’s easy for you to reach quickly.

5. Put your phone notification away

A pop-up notification can be a great distraction, especially when you have to focus on a work with a tight deadline. Here’s a protip: designate a particular time of the day to check on your emails or messages inbox.

6. Mind your office supplies

You’re indeed going to use highlighter every once in a while, but how often can it be? Paper clips are needed sometimes, but isn’t it annoying to have them spread all over the desktop? Have the supplies that you’ll use the most, and keep the rest in one storage inside your drawer.

How to Keep your Desk Clean and Organized

How to Keep your Desk Clean and Organized

Did you know that a clean desk creates an image of professionalism? There is nothing wrong with keeping your desk tidy and clean at the office, as it will help to increase your productivity and save you a lot of time while working. Here we have compiled five ways to keep your desk clean and stay organized:

  • Prepare the trash can

It is essential to always have a trash can near your desk. Often, we leave a massive amount of used things like papers, dried out pens, or even snacks packaging on the desk without throwing them out because we don’t have the trash can anywhere near. If you have a garbage container within your reach, keeping the desk clean will never require a lot of effort anymore.

  • Minimize Paper Usage

Prioritize the use of softcopy instead of the hard one. This way, you can minimize the use of papers, because papers can turn into trash quicker than you would ever realize, especially memos and notes.

  • Creating Organizational Systems

Create an organizational system that works best for you is quite essential because if you get things you need the most accessible at any time, it can increase the efficiency of your work. Organize your stuff in a way that gives you spaces to work and put distractions as minimal as possible.

  • Schedule Cleaning Time

A desk that has never been cleaned for months will take hours to clean. You’ll need to start reorganizing all over again. However, if you create a schedule for cleaning time, you don’t need much to work on. You can make it weekly, or even every two weeks.

  • Clean It Before You Leave It

If you tend to have a lot going on your desk during the day or while you’re working—like unstoppable papers flow, craft scraps, used sticky notes—it is always better to clean the desk before you leave home or after you’re done with your work. This way, you can get a clean desk the next day and ready to start working again.

Desk Organization Ideas

ideas for office organization at work

For some people, desk organization is pretty essential to get the work done. That’s why there are a lot of ways to organize your desk to improve the efficiency of your work and decorate it the way you want to reduce the pressure you feel while working.

Organizing your desk does not require a lot of effort, and it depends on the type of the desk. There are desks with drawers, mounted on the wall, and also the ones that come with shelves. Whichever kind of desk you have, organizing is always fun to do. Here we give you our 15 favorite desk organization ideas to inspire you:

1.   Working Supplies Desk Organization

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You can keep all your working supplies in one organizer and clear the spaces that used to have them cluttered all over. You can use one like this rose gold desktop organizer that comes with pens and pencils holder, notes holder, and even a small drawer to keep your office supplies together. The color makes the organizer an eye-catching item to spice up your front desk.

2. Cubicle Organization Hacks

desk organization ideas pinterest
Photo by Shane D. Inman.

When instead of open space, you get a cubicle space at work, you don’t need to worry about how to organize it. Moreover, you can maximize space in a small cubicle to make you work productively. Get hanging rails to put important papers if you don’t want to use folders—you can even create one by yourself. Last but not least, put other items inside the drawers to make space for the table lamp.

3. Desk Drawer Organization

tips to organize your desk

At some point, we might be desperate to keep our desks clean that we started to shove everything into the drawers. Then comes a time when we need a marker, and we have to dive our hands and dig inside, looking for it. Well, worry not, that is why you’ll need a drawer organizer. A drawer organizer plays a part as separators, separating things inside your drawer to avoid them being entangled together. This is the way on how to organize a desk without drawers.

4. Small Desk Organization Ideas

small desk organization ideas

Not all desk comes with shelves when drawers are a more common feature of it. However, open storage is one option you can consider, especially when you want to put decorations and personal knick-knacks. Get yourself a shelf desk organizer that can be an additional feature to your desk. It can be used to display some books, mini terrariums your friend gave you, even supplies holders. This is a perfect small desk organization idea.

5. Desk Organizer with Sliding Drawer

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A desk organizer with sliding drawers is like a dream come true for someone that use plenty of office supplies daily. Putting them inside holders will not guarantee that they can end up cluttering the desktop. Meanwhile, keeping them inside the drawers will take a lot of time to use. However, this desk organizer can contain the supplies all together while keeping your desk tidy and clean.

6. Adjustable Wood Display Shelf

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If you’re the type that loves to reorganize and redecorate every once in a while, this flexible wood display shelf is a great organizer to have. It comes with wooden parts that can be arranged according to your liking easily. The sturdy construction allows you to place many kinds of stuff you needed on your desk, and the bright tone wooden parts will complement any desktop nicely.

7. Bamboo Wood Desktop Bookshelf

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Instead of stacking up the books, you can use a small adjustable bookshelf that can also be a great organizer. This bamboo bookshelf comes with two drawers that can be installed to suit your liking, giving you a place to store your office supplies and other desk accessories. However, it is essential to consider the size of the bookshelf so it will not occupy most of the space on the desktop.

8. Tree Desktop Organizer

organization tips for work

Getting a unique tree-shaped bookshelf that comes with a large drawer? Why not? Because of the tree shape, this bookshelf is not going to take up a lot of space on the desktop, but the drawer is large enough to store as much stuff as you wish. This type of bookshelf organizer is perfect for drawerless kind of desk.

9. Desktop Stand for Printer

organization tips for school

A printer can take up a lot of space because of its size. To have a printer and a computer all at once on one desk will leave you a small amount of free space to work. When a printer becomes something quite important to have within your reach, you can use a multifunctional desk organizer like this desktop stand. It comes with a double tier tray that can be used as a stand for a printer and office supplies organizer.

10. Wooden DIY Assemble Desktop Organizer

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If you love to do a DIY project to organize and decorate your desk, you can use this wooden DIY Desk Organization Ideas, to begin with. This type of organizer can be constructed in many ways according to your needs. It has many parts as storage for your stuff at one place, keeping your desk less messy and providing you with more space to work.

11. Computer Monitor Stand with Drawers

diy office organization

A computer monitor stand is great when you need your monitor elevated to match your viewing your height; it is even better when it comes with drawers. It is perfect when your desk doesn’t have drawers, and you don’t have much stuff cluttered your desktop. Having a monitor that matches with your eye-level is not only making it easier to work, but also great for your health as it eliminates your neck pain.

12. Document Letter Tray Organizer

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Say goodbye to piles of papers that are somehow blocking your sight to your surroundings with this document tray organizer. This organizer is perfect for you who works with hardcopy papers most of the time. It will save your time from organizing your documents into folders by storing them right away into the tray. You can also add labels to make it easier for you to get back to them anytime you need.

13. Portable Standing Desk

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This portable standing desk allows you to adjust the height of your desk to your needs. You can even use it while standing when you get back pain from sitting for too long. The two-tier layer gives you a place to store your stuff to keep your desk stay organized.

14. Gadget Organizer Shelf

10 tips to home organization

Do you need extra space to place your other gadgets while working on your computer? This gadget organizer shelf is perfect for it. You can also put a book on it when you need a reference for your work. This way, you don’t have to turn your head every one or two minutes when you work with multiple gadgets.

15. Wall Mounted Organizer

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If you want to keep your desktop hassle-free and completely clean, this wall-mounted organizer can be an excellent choice for you. It comes with different sizes shelves that can be assembled in any way you want. The board is magnetic, giving you an option to use magnets to organize some of your stuff.

Conclusions Desk Organization Ideas

Organizing your desk will give you tons of benefits such as increasing your productivity, creativity, even the effectiveness of your work. There are many Desk Organization Ideas to turn your desk into a workspace that can make you get a lot of work done in the most effective and fun way. Schedule a cleaning time to avoid reorganizing and more effort to clean the desk again. After all, organizing your working desk can be a fun project to do. 

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