Minimalist workspace
I would love to have nothing on my desk but my monitors, keyboard, mouse, and tea mug. However, I am sorry to admit - I have a messy desk!
I collect sticky notes with note on them, pens and highlighters and pencils. I have unfiled papers, and papers for which there exists no file. On my bookshelf I have old Master Tax Guides that were there when I moved into the office, and which I have never used because there is a digital version. (There were those couple of days when our internet was out...)
I always have excuses about why I cannot do something with all this junk. We had a tax deadline. I don't have the space to file them.
De-clutter one space at a time - that is the advice of Leo Baubuta, the author of the Zen Habits blog. The space I choose first is - my office. I spend most of my time there, and need the least equipment to do all the things I need to do.
At home I have all of my books, art supplies, knitting stuff, dog stuff, clothing, shoes, and whatever else is stuffed in my closet. The office should be the easiest place to begin living a clutter-free life. Goodness, I cannot even really commit to carrying this over to my personal life after success at the office, because I just don't know what I could throw out at home!
De-cluttering my office will help me to . . .
- Appear more professional. (And not make people worry that their papers will get lost when they drop them off at my desk - they don't get lost! but it'll be less scary for them when it's clean.)
- Be less distracted. (Maybe. My main distraction is the internet, but if my workspace is clean, theoretically, it should help me focus.)
- Be more comfortable, less stressed. While I might create the mess, and live with it, I prefer to be in a tidy environment. In a stressful job, anything that makes my workspace more "zen" is a good thing.
Disclaimer: Keep in mind, I work with a bunch of accountants. My "messy" desk does not BEGIN to rival the messy desks of the grad students' and professors' offices I see when I visit my boyfriend's research lab.
How messy/neat is your office? Do you let the mess pile up, and then clean it, or do you just never get messy? (Or maybe you never tidy it??)
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September 21st, 2011 - 12:25
I have to keep organized and have a reasonably organized space. If not, it would be chaotic and I would not be able to work very efficiently. I usually have to clean or declutter my space every couple of weeks.
krantcents recently posted..Am I Training for a Race?
September 26th, 2011 - 21:07
I need to keep up with a little bit of frequent tidying during our busy times, because I never get the time to do a thorough clean for weeks when we get busy.
Kellen recently posted..Sunday Breakfast Links
September 21st, 2011 - 14:45
The best thing about my job is my office: it’s bigger than my living room, probably 12 x 20, all for me. So it is pretty cluttered, but I have so much space that it doesn’t look that bad. I usually just make piles, and then go through them if I need to find something. It is not the most efficient method, but I haven’t lost anything here so far. I do file the student’s final exams (I am required to keep them for three years) as soon as I grade them. And there is one person in my floor whose office look like a hoarder. As a result, I think nobody in my floor is very worried about how his/her office look like, because we are all neat-freaks in comparison to that professor.
Spanish Prof recently posted..Reading and Research overload
September 23rd, 2011 - 12:32
While I do care what people think, I am more concerned that I will eventually lose something in the clutter (Mostly why it bothers the other accountants that my desk is messy is that they’re very concerned that their important papers will be lost when they leave them with me.)
September 22nd, 2011 - 13:49
I had a messy desk until I noticed a missing pack of skittles one day. I guess the cleaning crew had a sweet tooth one night
Now I pack everything away before I leave so that forces me to keep a clean desk.
Financial Success for Young Adults recently posted..Who Are the Most Frugal Celebrities?
September 26th, 2011 - 21:08
If food went missing from my desk I would suspect my coworkers more than the cleaning staff
Kellen recently posted..How does a billionaire pay less tax than his secretary?
September 23rd, 2011 - 12:04
I actually wrote a blog post on this last month or maybe in July, I think. I had a very cluttered desk, and I attacked it over the course of nine days, going through every surface, drawer, and item until I had touched everything and made it clean and organized. Now, I leave for home every day and cleaning up is pretty quick, plus I do a once or twice a week wipedown to keep the surfaces clean. Trying to clean it all in one fell swoop is tough, but if you break it down, you should have better success.
Money Beagle recently posted..Can You Predict A Drop In Your House Price?
September 26th, 2011 - 21:32
Yeah, our cleaning ladies don’t touch our desks, and the amount of tiny bits of paper dust etc that piles up in just one day is gross. I keep the area right in front of me clean, but with all the clutter gone it’ll be really easy to wipe it all down.
Kellen recently posted..How does a billionaire pay less tax than his secretary?