I’ve blogged about all these before so today I’m just linking up

• Ila from South Dakota asked for suggestions on keeping a clean desk.
• Nicole from France wanted to know how she could deal better with her mail.

and last but not least

• Jessica from Missouri just moved into a smaller place and wants some help on how to make the most of small spaces.

My desk at work gets a quick tidy at the end of every day and a nice detailed throwing-out-of-papers once a week.

How often do you tidy your desk?

P.S. That’s not my desk. I go around with my camera taking pics of unsuspecting colleagues

You won’t believe all the excuses I get from people about their untidy desks!

“It’s because I’m creative”

“I know where everything is”

Sound familiar?

This may very well be true. However, for most people, an untidy desk makes you feel overwhelmed and out of control. And, in the workplace, it’s often perceived that you don’t know what you’re doing if your desk is a mess.

How can you be productive when you’re overwhelmed?

The good news is that it’s a lot easier than you think.

You can have a tidy desk in just 5 steps:

1. Set up your desk properly

If you answer the phone with your left hand, then keep the phone to the left of your computer. Now this might seem obvious but you’ll be surprised at the number of people I encounter who have to scramble and reach behind their computer to get to the phone. It’s like that game Twister!

2. Touch each piece of paper once only

This step forces you to make decisions – throw away, action, forward or file. Those are the only choices you have

Don’t start thinking about it and put that piece of paper back in another pile!

3. Have one notebook for all your notes

When you take messages or need to quickly jot down a note, write it in your ONE notebook. You shouldn’t have 10 post-it notes and lots of other pieces of paper on your desk. Better still, write the date on the top of every page so you can reference old information quickly. And start each day on a new page – literally!

4. Clear junk regularly

Every time you get up to go to the loo or for a coffee break, clear your desk of empty mugs, glasses, snacks, etc. The same goes for all those dry markers and pens that don’t work. Throw them out!

5. Have only the papers you’re actually working with on your desk

I have a rather strong fondness for plastic envelopes. I use these nifty tools to keep my many projects sorted. When I want to work on something, I just grab one of these and open up the contents on my desk. I even bought one on holiday in the UK.
See? Easy!

You can also have a neat and tidy desk in just 5 steps.

Now what I suggest you do is a quick, 30-second tidy every evening when you finish your work so you’re ready and raring to go the following day.

Notice the piles on the floor. Every evening he moves the piles onto the desk so the cleaning ladies don’t throw it all away.

Anyway, I try not to tease him too much about his messy desk but the other guys have no such qualms. In fact, his line manager regularly asks me to help him “sort it all out”. To which I reply, “sorry, I only work with people who want to change”

So in typical guy fashion, they bet him that he wouldn’t be able to sort it all out in a week. And in typical guy fashion, he rose to the occasion and did it.

It looks a MILLION times better and I’m so proud of him. It really made my heart proud and he did it within the deadline (I think my camera said 3.22 pm on a Friday afternoon). Just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it because he did it in about 2 hours.

Don’t you wish you had more time to finally organise your office?

Sorry to disappoint you but opportunities rarely come along gift-wrapped in HUGE chunks of 2 or 3 hours

So what’s the next best thing?

Using up the little bits of time you do find!

What are some of the things you can do in your home or work office in 10 minutes?

1. throw away all the dry markers and pens that don’t work
2. tidy your desk
3. declutter a pile of paper
4. file a pile of paper
5. conquer your email
6. make a list of office supplies you need to buy
7. pay some bills
8. weed through a file
9. organise your library books
10. declutter your bookshelf

What other tasks can you do in your office in 10 minutes?

Well, this has been such fun – I think I’ll have to do this again soon…

First, I want to thank all of you for participating. It has been such fun for me to see the transformations and the different ways each of us organise our workspaces.

I feel so much better knowing that there are lovely, tidy desks out there – I hope that you guys do too!

I chose the winner because

1. the desk looks and functions well
2. there’s a place for everything
3. her files are labelled (I LOVE labels)
4. she followed all the steps (I even checked back on the blog and I see she declutters regularly)
5. tweaked the solutions until it fitted her (organising is not a one-stop shop)
6. she will maintain this (when I helped Laura judge the Organising Challenge in May, I also looked out for entries that I felt would be maintained. Laura, what happened to that laundry lady? I always remember those flowers!)
7. BONUS – she found stuff she thought she’d lost

Karen at Pediascribe, you’re the WINNER! Please go over and say congratulations to Karen. And go visit the other participants’ desks too because everyone did a wonderful job! I loved all Lu‘s colourful things on her desk even though I can’t read a word of the Portuguese!

Karen, I’m emailing your prize to you right now.

For the rest of you, I’m giving you R20 off the Your organised home – basic pack so you only pay R50.

Go to the store, click on e-courses and pay for the Take Charge of your Success e-course which is R50. Then email me and tell me what you bought.

The reason I’m being lazy is because it’s date night (we’re going to see No Reservations) and I don’t have time to go create new discount coupons right now. I know you’ll forgive me