Let The Organization Begin...

Well now that the Holiday's are officially over it's time to get back on track with organizing my home.  For me a New Year equals new beginnings and also a great opportunity to start an organizational project...well projects I should say.  One of the reasons I decided to write my blog (hopefully on a regular basis) was to see if I could stick with my organizational tasks.  Writing about the progress would help my efforts of being able to stay on track and ultimately finish what I have started .  In the past I tended to start organizational projects then I would stop for some reason then the next thing I knew it was one, two or even three weeks later since I first began the project.  So, I am gearing this post towards organizational task I'd like to complete in the year 2013.

I have been following a couple of organizational blogs and several of them have linked up together and created a contest of sorts relating to what I love...organization!  The New Year's Organizing Revolution 2013 Challenge features several of the top organizing blogs such as the one I follow Organizing Made Fun as  promoters for this fabulous contest. The basis of the contest is to participate in a organizing challenge over the course of the upcoming weeks.  I thought it would be fun to follow the sponsoring bloggers and participate in their challenge(s).  

Challenge #1: Office Space / Desk Area

The first challenge is up and running already, those bloggers mean BUSINESS!  Participants have one week to organize their office space / desk area.  I too have an office space / desk area it's rather small but doable for what I need to get done.  So I accept the bloggers challenge and will get to organizing now!

Welcome to my office space...I actually refer to it as my crafting zone.  I don't have a lot of space to work with when it comes to having a combined work area but I make do with what I have. My space triples as a craft area (especially during the holidays), a work zone for classroom planning and a partial quiet area with a comfy chair for reading.  But from looking at the picture you can clearly see I'm not doing much reading in that comfy chair.

Ok, here is an up close shot of my desk, I found it at a rummage sale many moons ago, it's an actual teachers desk and I  LOVE it!  I have hopes for painting the desk someday (possible DIY project this summer stay tuned) but for now I'm just focused on proper organization at the moment.

Take a look at the desk and surface before I began clearing off the clutter.  Now, mind you the holidays took its toll on me.  I had holiday storage bins, holiday decor and my many lists and sticky notes just laying all over my work zone.  I knew when starting the week one organizational challenge that I needed to get busy and toss unused items and put items back in their proper living place /storage bins.

My desk supply drawer for the most part has always been pretty spiffy!  I am pretty proud to admit that...BUT the other areas of the desk yeah, need work.  The main top drawer is where I keep all my beautiful office supplies.  I LOVE OFFICE SUPPLIES GREATLY, whether it's colorful ink pens, packs of Sharpie markers, piles of sticky notes or those jumbo pink eraser blocks, you name it I probably have it.  What keeps my top drawer looking spiffy are the compartmental divider trays that I purchased at IKEA earlier this summer (which by the way was my first attempt at organizing my desk).  I found the trays in the kitchen department and they were rather cheap in price and fit perfectly inside my top desk drawer.  Don't ask me how I managed to keep the supply drawer super organized...I think my obsession with office supplies played a part at keeping that one and only drawer looking awesome.

Then if you look closely at the next picture you will see that I actually have organized storage under those IKEA trays!  I store extra printer paper, my shopping check lists, envelopes and an assortment of stamps underneath all those supplies...pretty clever right?  Of course I added labels to those areas as well...I'm a label junkie!

I organized every office supply essential right down to the paperclips and even went as far as labeling the sides of the IKEA tray compartments with small sticky labels!  I also placed a label on the lip of the drawer telling what contents are inside.  I love being able to open the drawer and find exactly what I need in a jiffy...and of course I put the items right back.

My other three desk drawers, located on the right side, are rather large and can hold plenty of items.  Which is why they look a jumbled mess now.  I have something of everything located in all three of the drawers.  For the most part it's semi-organized (yeah, right who am I kidding) those drawers could use some tidying up.

Top drawer

Middle drawer

Bottom drawer

The way I decided to organize each drawer was to remove all the contents which would allow me to start with a clean slate.  Seeing an empty space allows me to visualize more easily how I want items to be arranged.  The possibilities are endless when working with an empty space.  I imagined using a variety of organizational components like small boxes and trays to help organize my desk space...it really made me happy that I had so many possibilities for organizing my desk!

It's amazing that I had SO MUCH STUFF inside the desk drawers. The next thing I did was to separate the items into piles of importance.  What really needed to be in the drawers and what didn't are the questions I asked myself.  Once I figured out the answer, the organizational process became a breeze!

Drawer number one now houses a few magazines that like to read frequently, my 3-ring organizational binder, my small coupon binder, shopper card wallet and receipts are stored alongside in the basket.. This drawer is my go to drawer at the end of the day.  I place these ever so important items in this drawer.  I switch out the magazines every week or so and I make sure to only place these specific items inside otherwise the drawer will catch the name "junk drawer".

Drawer number two now houses my digital cameras, tripod and numerous supply of batteries.  I store my batteries in a crafting thread/ beading box, this convenient little compartment box can be purchased at many crafting type stores. I also have a small labeled container that houses all of my media storage disk and sticks...of course I labeled those too!

Drawer number three is pretty self explanatory.  My small electronics such as iPods are stored in this drawer as well as charging devices and extension cords.  I also have my Nintendo DS stored here (yes, I still play Nintendo).

Now, you may have noticed the little white stickers on the lips of all of the drawers.  Yes, those are labels, I love labeling and took it upon myself to label each individual drawer lip with a brief description as to what is inside.  Having a label be seen right off the bat, acts as a reminder for me to only place those specific items inside.  I am stopping clutter at the drawer!

Here's a couple more looks at my overall, completely clean and clutter free crafting zone!

A little Betsy Johnson container to
hold my sticky note pads
and little ink pen, so cute!

Basket for snail mail

I reused the same holiday basket from my before photo.   I turned the basket around and store my small sized planners here.

So there you have it my office desk storage and organization.  Overall, I feel the organizational challenge went well and I am loving the organizational elements I implemented.  Working (and sometimes crafting) at my desk makes me feel like I can accomplish so much more knowing the fact that the desk area is clutter free.  I like the ability of being able to locate supplies quickly and not feel disorganized one bit.  My goal is to keep up with the new look and feel of the space by placing items back in their proper locations.  Now, I am off to plan out my next organization project / challenge.

 Clutter Out, Ebby