Desk and Filing Cabinet Reorganization

Once again, the month has ended and Organizing Junkie's Monthly Round-Up is happening again. The focus this time was the office area. Our computer desk is in out kitchen/dining room. The computer is located there so that we can always see what the girls are doing on the computer. The problem with it being there is that it is easy to stack things up and they tend to leave things there.

So here are some before and after pictures.

This is the desk beforehand. The filing cabinet is to the right, but it will be shown later. The desk is messier than we really like.

The first thing I did was move the desk and filing cabinet to the wall next to where it was. I tend to organize better when I start over from scratch. I then pulled everything but the computer and printer off the desk. The top shelf is holding DVDs, a basket with paper, writing utensils, and scissors, a basket holding odds and ends, extra sharpie markers, and extra paper. The second shelf has the external hard drive, air in a can, tissues turned sideways so the girls can reach, bins with ipod extras and tape, coupon binder, cd box, and binder with computer games. The desk top has the monitor, speakers, printer, and a stack of papers on the left that are receipts for my husband to go through.

This is the filing cabinet before.

I had my husband hang the letter holder. I have been looking for a different one, but I haven't been able to find one that I like. We finally decided to just continue using the one that we have had since the early 90's. The paper sorters have printer paper on the top shelf, the second one has resume paper and writing paper, the third shelf has photo paper and labels, the fourth shelf has file folders, and the last shelf has scrap paper. The scrap paper is extra papers from school that I use the back to print coupons and for the girls to draw on when they want paper. The blue file organizer next to the paper sorters is for anything tax related for the current year. I will be putting another one there to keep the current years receipts in. I am not showing the inside of the filing cabinet. I only have the current year files in the files. Every January I empty it out and get things ready for taxes. So I did not make any changes from usual in there. If anyone wants to know how the drawer is labeled, just ask and I will share.

This is the counter between the kitchen and dining room. We are really bad about piling things there until we decide to deal with them. This is a problem for both of us. But I have made it a goal this year to keep it clean. It has been cleaned off a couple of times so far this year.

This is the counter after. There are still a few things that need to be put away. The items include Melodye's nutcracker and a Christmas ornament that need to go in the Christmas stuff downstairs, a CD holder that my husband got from my parents, two bibs knitted for the neighbors, a camera, and a candle.

This may not look like it is organized, but there is a purpose to papers being on the chair. These are papers that need to be shredded. Our shredder can only do 6 sheets at a time and then needs to rest. I put the papers on the chair so that I will see it and shred it each time. The stack is much smaller than what it was at the beginning of January. These are all the bills and records that are from last year that we do not need for taxes. If I put the papers on the desk, table, or counter I would not remember to shred them or I would just pile something on top of them and forget about the pile.

I feel so much better about getting this assignment finished. I can't wait for the next month's of assignement of recipes. I have gathered my recipes in a file a couple of years ago, but have never done anything with them. Hopefully this month I can do a little bit at a time instead of doing it all in one day like usual. LOL