Saturday, January 1, 2011

Office Drawer:... Day One Organizing Challenge

Day One of the 21 Day Organization Challenge is JUNK DRAWERS, well I had already organized mine a while back. Toni, acknowledged though that some of the challenge members have already done their junk drawers and we should find another drawer. Link

well, I found 3. ...and I touched up the junk drawer.

GO ME!

for organization purposes, each drawer will have its own seperate post today.

Drawer #1 (not counting the junk drawer) My Catch-All Drawer in the Craft Room/ Office

This Drawer has always just been a catch all for whatever was in the way on the desk. I needed/wanted someplace for my office supplies.


THE CHALLENGE:
Here is your challenge (I started out simple)...

1. Find a drawer, any drawer (preferribly your junk drawer), and take a picture as it looks right now. No cheating here. We want to see chaos!


2. Now empty the contents into a large box. ALL OF THEM! (Trust me, the box will be much easier than the counter... you can transport it).


I opted not to put it all in a box, too easy to leave it there and ignore it if I get distracted, instead, I spread everything out on the desk

3. Get a soapy washcloth and wipe the drawer clean.
It didnt need the soapy washrag, just a quick swipe of a tissue to dust it out.



4. Now, go collect some of those organizing containers that I had you stash away and place them in the drawer. The more containers you have, the more organized you are going to stay!
This was easy, the pile of boxes/bins was on the desk already.

5. Set up your bins & trash can near you: one bin for "keep", the trash can bin for "toss", and the "donation box" you set aside earlier in the week.


I grabbed some temporary labels and made a few different boxes, based on what was in the drawer, A box for stuff that belongs in the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom, and a container for Command hooks since there were a bunch in there. I did have a little shopping bag near too for trash and made a pile for the OUT box.

6. Get your box of drawer contents, take a seat at the table, and start purging. Keep ONLY what you have used in the last 3 months. Toss everything else... either in the donation box or the trash.

I just worked at the desk, since it is a "table". Sorted everything out, almost NOTHING was staying in this drawer, It needed repurposing.

7. After you have gone through the whole box, you can start organizing! This is the fun part. Try to keep like items together. Isn't organizing fun?

This is where I grabbed my big bin of office stuff that I wanted to organized into the drawer.
its actually kinda organized in this bin, but I didnt want to dig through the bin anymore to find what im looking for.


I had to change things up a bit after I had filled the drawer, I thought an extra silverware drawer organizer would work, but it took up too much space and only pens really fit in it. Also a box i had used for note pads was too small for my largest note pad. I also decided to move some left often used items toward the back, more logically,


Attempt #1
After changing things around:
also, not pictured, I updated my day planner, it was time to start the new year in it.

All that is left in the office stuff bin is long terms storage stuff, a box of papers, an extra day planner (we got 2 for our wedding, we share 1, and wont need that until october) and a box of floppy disks with old school stuff on them. This box is bound for the attic!
It feels great to have this drawer organized. Since getting married, we havent combined much of our finances and starting with the new year, I will be taking care of all of both of our bills and papers and officey stuff, and I know this will help with that process.

2 comments:

  1. Wow!! You did so much! I will be cheering you on!!

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  2. love how you labeled the cans where the things go.

    ReplyDelete