In December, I mentioned on our Facebook Group that I had received a
gorgeous new desk from my wonderful husband and daughter this Christmas.
While my “Before” desk was not bad, it was
not at all spacious all and it had no drawers. The photo below was taken during our Fall 12 hour Facebook Organizing Event.
So, with the arrival of the new desk, it gave me the opportunity to reorganize my business files and "stuff", as well as document the
progress on the blog. I just love it when I can kill more than one bird with each stone.
Where is this office you might ask, well, currently my office space is part of my kitchen. I will do a kitchen tour another day so you can see the whole room but for this blog, I'll just show the "office" portion.
Below begins the process from the unpack to completion. Three huge boxes, one husband, one boyfriend of our 20 year old (thank you Jake) and a finished project - don't you just love it when a gift comes with manpower!
According to my husband Roy, the pieces combined weigh approximately 300 pounds - yikes. Good thing he has been lifting weights for the past 40 years!
On the top of the Desk is my printer/scanner/copier on the left. The center holds my keyboard and monitor and on the right if a clear napkin holder that contains the files that I am working on that day. For a mouse pad, I use an inspirational book that a friend gave me years ago - mouse and motivation all rolled into one!
I thought I would show you my new “office” and how it is set it
up for what looks to be a very busy 2013 at Adventures In Organizing. So first, here is a look at the office as a "whole" - sorry for the lighting, it was a cloudy, snowy day when I took the photos. Over the red chair are my favourite "Chicken Paintings". They were always in my Grandmother's Dining Room and I totally love them.
Inside the desk drawers I keep all my day-to-day files and tools. Long term storage for the household and business are stored in the basement filing cabinet.
Okay, you have seen the room , you have seen the desk, let's take a tour of the drawers.
My Sony eReader is definitely one of my favourite items. It has saved me a ton of money on books because I can download books directly from my local library, and as an organizing tool, hundreds of books can be stored in one tiny tool! The headset is used all the time for when I take online courses, have cyber meetings, record Webinars, use Google Phone, and listen to audiobooks.
The center left drawer (can't decide whether Canadian or American spelling on Centre/Center so I thought I would confuse everyone just for fun)
All my receipts get stored in the green box and then once a month, they are scanned with my Neat Receipts scanner and then filed away.
In the center drawer I keep all my notebooks. I keep one for each project so I can grab it and go - I take one with me to Doctor appointments, car appointment, Dentist etc... so I can brain storm while sitting around.
There is a notebook for each of the following:
- Blog ideas, drafts and notes
- Take 5 (I try and post one-a-day on all week days)
- Newsletter ideas and articles
- I keep another for Social Media to keep any marketing ideas and strategies
In the Top Right I keep my pens, highlighters (love, love, love, highlighters), Post-It Notes, Address Books, Church Directory, a cheque book and a pad for Daily To-Do's. The pad is from the dollar store and has plenty of lines with a check box on each to keep your list organized.
The middle drawer (gave up on the Centre/Center thing) does not get a ton of use yet and will likely change over time. Right now it just holds business cards, thank you notes, brochures, and index cards that I keep my "Take 5" ideas on once they have been posted...they may one day become something more (an eBook perhaps - oh yay!)
And finally..... the bottom right. This is the drawer that gets the biggest work-out. All my daily files are contained in this drawer.
- Client files, (they were removed to protect names just a binder of previous clients is shown - I move them from file folder to binder once a project is completed)
- Program files for our Minute-By-Minute Program and others that are in the works,
- Adventures In Organizing Gift Certificates
- To Pay, To Do, To File, To Read files
- On-Going Course Materials from ICD and POC (I love learning and am a forever student!)
- Business Bank Account
- Basically anything that I need to access on a daily/weekly basis goes in this drawer
My wonderful new desk - I totally love all the surface space on top. It is enormous and it works - happy me.
Need help getting your desk in order? Contact us for an in-home assessment or better yet, subscribe to Minute-By-Minute Organizing and hire your own Virtual Organizer!
