The festive season is usually a busy one, and if you’re anything like me, this leads to a serious build-up of mess around by the end of December. Which isn’t great when you’re trying to get back to work in the new year. All those bits and pieces left lying around can clutter up your head space as well as your office space, affecting your productivity!
The good news is that it’s really easy to organize your desk and get the year off to a fresh start with a few quick and simple office hacks that won’t break the bank. Want to know more? Read on below!
Office Hack 1: Make some upcycled drawer dividers
If there’s one thing that drives me crazy, it’s drawers packed to the brim with random items in no particular order. It’s impossible to find anything! (in case you can’t tell, there are many such drawers in my house).
For an easy fix that works a charm and looks good to boot, collect some old cardboard boxes (cereal boxes work well) and cut the bottoms off so each box is just under drawer height.
Cover them in adhesive vinyl or contact paper to hide any ugly packaging and hey presto – you’ve got yourself some nifty drawer dividers!
Office Hack 2: Turn old tins into instant desk storage
If you’ve got a penchant for pretty stationery like me, you may have found yourself with pens and pencils aplenty and nothing to house them in. Sound familiar?
A simple and cost-effective way to increase your storage is to reuse old tins. They make great pen holders – simply clean them, remove the labels and give them a quick coat of spray paint to help them blend in with the rest of your office decor.
If you’re feeling extra crafty, try using some hot glue to stick a few tins together and make yourself a handy caddy that’ll hold scissors, pencils and anything else that might be cluttering up your desk!
Office Hack 3: Fix ribbon tangles with jars
There’s nothing worse than reaching into your ribbon drawer and pulling out a mess of tangles when you’re trying to wrap a gift in a hurry.
To stop your ribbons from getting in a knot, separate them and store each one in a jar. Drill a hole in the lid and feed the loose end through for easy access.
You can keep the jars in a drawer or put them out on display – after all, ribbon is so pretty and all that color will make your jars a bit of a feature!
Office Hack 4: Control cables with toilet rolls
Messy cords got you down? Find an old box that’s tall enough to hold upright toilet rolls. The toilet rolls will help to separate those cables and avoid nasty tangles.
You can hunt for a pretty gift box at your local newsagent, or use any old box and cover it with contact paper or vinyl so that it matches your office decor.
Once you’ve found a suitable, stick your toilet rolls together with some craft glue before inserting them inside.
Use a bit of glue to affix the toilet roll bundle to your box. You can fill the whole box with toilet rolls or leave a gap at the sides like I did to hold larger cords and plugs.
Lastly, insert your cables for tangle-free storage.
These are just a few of many hacks to de-clutter and organize your office space. They all involve reusing materials that are easy to find around the home, which is great for your hip pocket and also the environment!
Have you got a handy tip for getting your desk in order? Share it with us in the comments below!
Looking for more organization tips? We’ve done the grunt work for you and tested out 10 common Pinterest hacks!
Where did you purchase the cube-shaped jars??
For cable storage, I used the wee 3M hooks on the back of a long cabinet door, in my case the pantry door, since I work from home. You never notice they are there, are all sorted when you need one, and with the 3M things, you can remove them at any time if you have a rental or are afraid of commitments.
To be fair, there are two cables that I use often and those I leave hanging over my chair back. They get used multiple times a day, so I don’t feel bad….although I bet I could use another 3M thingie to attach them out of sight under my desk/table. Hmm…
While I love your idea of the toilet rolls and the pretty box, the idea for me is the fewer amounts of stuff on the desk is best and there are some that I just plain don’t need often or are extras/backups.
Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!
Hi what brand of contact paper did you use? Also, what is the roll name? I have been looking all over for a beautiful print like this, and I can’t find it!