Maintaining Order: My Obsession with Tidiness and These 7 Strategies for a Well-Organized Desk Drawer

In the quest for a clutter-free and efficient workspace, organizing your desk drawers can make a significant difference. Two experts, Cindy Cavoto and Di Ter Avest, share their insights on how to transform your drawers into a well-ordered haven for your tech gear and stationery items.

Cindy Cavoto, a certified productivity coach at Headway, suggests employing a few simple strategies. For starters, consider making room for tech gear by using small pouches, chic cord clips, or even snack-size zipper bags to keep cords, chargers, and earbuds neat and tangle-free.

To avoid unnecessary clutter, Cavoto recommends limiting any duplicates in your desk drawers. Investing in drawer organizers can prevent clutter from taking up one-fifth of your drawer space. Ikea's crate craze crates, the HAY open storage box, and the AM.PM Arreglo Metal Mail Tray are examples of colorful, functional drawer organizers for stationery items.

Di Ter Avest, a professional home and lifestyle organizer, echoes these sentiments. She advises taking everything out of your desk drawers to start with a clean slate, grouping like items together, and giving your drawers a fresh start. A dedicated 'tech station' in your desk drawer can be particularly beneficial.

Apart from organizers, Ter Avest suggests using open storage boxes, metal mail trays, or crates to keep stationery items organized and within reach. She also recommends introducing drawer organizers and dividers to create 'homes' for each item, with clear organizers being great for seeing everything at a glance and adjustable dividers being useful for customizing storage space.

Ter Avest's expertise has been featured in Forbes, Today, ApartmentTherapy, Real Homes, Homes & Gardens, Kitchn, and she has given workshops at IKEA, West Elm, and Williams-Sonoma.

Productivity is not just about what you do, but also about how you do it. Cavoto emphasizes storing everyday use items such as pens and notebooks in the first drawer at the top, and less frequently used items such as spare cables and tape in the lower drawers to avoid unnecessary daily movements.

Moreover, Cavoto claims that drawer organizers help maximize existing space and serve as efficient time-savers, potentially saving up to six hours per year by reducing the time spent searching for items.

Taking one minute each week for a 'maintenance moment' to toss trash, sharpen pencils, or put things back in their spots can prevent clutter from creeping back in and save time in the long run.

In conclusion, by implementing these expert tips, you can transform your desk drawers into a well-organized and efficient workspace, enhancing your productivity and reducing stress.

Maintaining Order: My Obsession with Tidiness and These 7 Strategies for a Well-Organized Desk Drawer