Desk Day...Well Night In This Case

Sunday night I found myself doing a desk clean out. This was completely spontaneous. I didn't even really realize I was doing it until a little while in. I think I went down to scan in a check for deposit and ready one package for mailing for an Ebay customer....next thing I know my desk area looks like this:

Desk explosion!

Okay, I realize my house is tidier than some, but suddenly I had an explosion on my hands of odd items I had pulled out from under the desk. I found two 3 hole paper punches. Do I need two? No. One is in the garage sale pile. Two phone books we never used pulled out for recycling. I took some random notes out of the notebooks and three ring binder. The binder is going to the garage sale too!

I had my hands in that upper right drawer, pulling out random items that right now I could not even tell you what they were. I do remember deciding that a few items needed to go to their true home, such as the safety pins, which I only look for in my sewing box, not my desk drawer! It is important to know where you want to find things or plan to look for something when you are organizing.

Paper and Packages, Oh My!

I make piles as a way to keep things organized. Those packages on the table behind the chair are all items listed on Ebay. Keep the like things together, right? Of course, my paper piles can get the best of me at times. There is one in the back there that isn't too visible that needs to be dealt with. I keep seeing it there. No one touches it. It's kind of scary really!!

So as the night got later, I realized that there was more to do, but I needed to wrap things up rather than leave a my big mess for another day. I had piles to go to recycling so I took them there. I had items for the basement storage areas so I put them in there...in the real places they belong! I took my packages that were ready to be mailed upstairs and placed them by the door where I would see them. (It does help me to visually see things I need to remember to do.)

So after 15 minutes or so, my desk area was back to normal. Yes, I still have piles and things to be dealt with, but all the extra stuff I had pulled out was put elsewhere or back in the desk. My desk is tidier inside and out.

After Clean Up

I have heard of the term 'desk days' for years. I think the point of a desk day is to spend some time taking care of paper piles, trash, and just spend time getting your desk back in order. Those desks we have are just magnets for paper and clutter. If I remember reading right, some people have a desk day once a week! I'm nowhere near having a weekly desk day, but I sure would like to stay on top of some of the piles that seem to get away from me.

Do you have a desk day? Do you have a system for keeping your desk tidy? Or do you just spontanously get the job done when you can take it any more?