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Update on the great desk clearing
Dec. 31st, 2007 12:48 amI know that none of you in lj-land can see my desk. Trust me, for the most part this is a really good thing. However, as a reaction to needing a place for my new laptop, Esme, and preparing for doing some serious WORK at this desk, I have undertaken a great clearing project. It helps a lot that this is the time of year when I usually have money. I'll get a bit here and there from relatives, but primarily, I overbudget the Christmas fund with the plan of blowing it all on myself with the after-Christmas sales. I know, it sounds a bit selfish, but it is a rather economical way of keeping myself clothed and in comfy socks. This year, I'm actually doing fairly well in the sock line, but my desk needed the therapy.
Step 1 was a classic clearing operation, aka EVERYTHING MUST GO. You can see how this fits into the after-Christmas theme. Stuff went in the trash/recycling, in a laundry basket (for things that didn't belong on my desk, on the other side of my desk, or in a box of papers. I did this twice so that both sides of my desk got cleared. I got a dust-headache, as predicted, but the bulk of the job was done.
Step 2 was purchasing suitable pigeonholes for all of my accoutrements. My initial dream of having a 6 inch tall clear zone at the back of my desk was nixed due to a lack of availability of the proper sized shelving. However, by using a bit of unconventional thinking and a 50% off Michael's coupon, I have managed to meet most of my core objectives. I have a two shelf Closetmaid unit that was originally intended to be used for sweaters and a really nice 4 shelf unit that I snagged from the scrapbook section of Michael's. The scrapbook organizer will be to classify my 'active' stacks of paper, while the sweater organizer is for office stuff and 'stuff' stuff. Seriously, where else can I store my Slinky(tm)?
Step 3 will be swapping the organizers from one side of the desk to the other. I learned long ago that I am strongly righthanded and simply cannot function if everything is on the wrong side of the desk. My 3 yr French poetry calendar will not fit on the left side right now, and neither will my beverage. That's a no-go so everything gets to move again (yay!).
Step 4 & 5 will be the worst. Step 4 is finding a home for all of the miscellaneous paper in the box behind me and Step 5 will be filing everything in my file box. I have found that for periods up to a year, digging through the 'to be filed' box works as well as anything, but I'm coming up on that limit and my box is almost full.
Next post: sorting my lint by color and texture (joke!)
Step 1 was a classic clearing operation, aka EVERYTHING MUST GO. You can see how this fits into the after-Christmas theme. Stuff went in the trash/recycling, in a laundry basket (for things that didn't belong on my desk, on the other side of my desk, or in a box of papers. I did this twice so that both sides of my desk got cleared. I got a dust-headache, as predicted, but the bulk of the job was done.
Step 2 was purchasing suitable pigeonholes for all of my accoutrements. My initial dream of having a 6 inch tall clear zone at the back of my desk was nixed due to a lack of availability of the proper sized shelving. However, by using a bit of unconventional thinking and a 50% off Michael's coupon, I have managed to meet most of my core objectives. I have a two shelf Closetmaid unit that was originally intended to be used for sweaters and a really nice 4 shelf unit that I snagged from the scrapbook section of Michael's. The scrapbook organizer will be to classify my 'active' stacks of paper, while the sweater organizer is for office stuff and 'stuff' stuff. Seriously, where else can I store my Slinky(tm)?
Step 3 will be swapping the organizers from one side of the desk to the other. I learned long ago that I am strongly righthanded and simply cannot function if everything is on the wrong side of the desk. My 3 yr French poetry calendar will not fit on the left side right now, and neither will my beverage. That's a no-go so everything gets to move again (yay!).
Step 4 & 5 will be the worst. Step 4 is finding a home for all of the miscellaneous paper in the box behind me and Step 5 will be filing everything in my file box. I have found that for periods up to a year, digging through the 'to be filed' box works as well as anything, but I'm coming up on that limit and my box is almost full.
Next post: sorting my lint by color and texture (joke!)