September monthly room challenge... The office

[ZakareyasMama]

Do you have bills from 2003 in your file?

Dried up pens in your cup?

Reminders on your wall from May?

It's time to organize your office space!

I already got a bit of a head start. I signed up for online bill payments and tried to get our names removed from junk mail lists.

All of my stuff is on a small shelf and filing cubes in what's meant to be the breakfast nook. The garbage and recycle bins also hang out in there and we have a couple of messy dry erase boards with random reminders.

I need to go through old files, fix up those boards, baby-proof the supplies, and use Excel to track our water and energy consumption. I removed my crafty supplies because I usually use them upstairs in the spare bedroom. I need to get those fixed up too, but I thought I should get the bill stuff done first.

Anybody else?

[Ragana]

Oh, yeah! I'm in. I work at home and my office is a disaster right now. I did a huge file clean-out last summer, so the closet just needs a mild declutter of some craft stuff. My desk could be cleaned in 15 min. Otherwise I need to send off some professional books I promised to someone, go through supplies & consolidate them in one place, and get rid of "antiques" such as old computer cables and, ummm, floppy disks! Oh, and large tumbleweeds of cat hair...

[Ragana]

Come to think of it, I could also get rid of some other books, set up shelves or half-shelves for my volunteering materials (2x) and school books (I am in a certificate program and taking a class right now), and move a couple of musical instruments out of the office. I may have to set up a stool and stand for our keyboard in there, since there is no other space for it in the apt., but if I get everything cleaned out, that should be no problem. Thanks for starting this thread!

[Coconut Chronicles]

I'm in... DH's office is a complete disaster. I'll post "before" pictures tomorrow.

[Ragana]

You're brave for being willing to post photos!

I am contemplating drastically reducing the number of physical books in my office. I saw a colleague's office once, and she had 4-5 key books with everything else on the computer. Her office truly was almost paperless. Something to aspire to (for me).

[Coconut Chronicles]

Our home office:

View into office from entrance

View from beside main desk

Side view from entrance

The main problems are we don't have enough useable storage and we have furniture that really shouldn't be in the room (the two chairs against the wall etc.) The office doesn't have a closet so DH has been using the linen closet in the half bath that is adjacent to this office to store all the stationary and computer crap.

[ZakareyasMama]

Oh Coconut Chronicles... Storage is hard without a closet! Maybe you can get a wardrobe or some stackable crates? Maybe a peg board and hooks for cord stuff? I love those chairs though!

I took some pics but haven't had a chance to put them on my computer yet. I decided to include my craft supply closet even though it's in a different room. I got some clearance shoe organizer things and I'm using them for fabric storage.  

More tomorrow... or later tonight haha

[AmyEco]

I am up for this challenge.  I have an office/craft/storage room that needs major work.  I have boxes of things that were in storage for over 6 years while we lived overseas.  There is so much to go though but maybe with all of you it might be more fun to tackle!

[Ragana]

Originally Posted by AmyEco 

I am up for this challenge.  I have an office/craft/storage room that needs major work.  I have boxes of things that were in storage for over 6 years while we lived overseas.  There is so much to go though but maybe with all of you it might be more fun to tackle!

When I did my closet sweep last year, I found things we hadn't unpacked after moving back from overseas 10 years ago. Eek! You'll be amazed!

[ZakareyasMama]

Okay...

Here is the BEFORE for the office area in my breakfast nook:

And here is the craft supply closet:

I organized the fabric yesterday and today. Tomorrow I plan on arranging all the supply stuff like paints, glues, etc, etc in that plastic drawer. 

[sunnysandiegan]

It is already the 10th of a busy month. I wonder what I can accomplish in 20 days...

1) I usually do paperwork and finances every Tuesday. We were on vacation for two Tuesdays, but not two full weeks and I have yet to get back into that routine. I think I am four weeks behind. Therefore, I'll start with that. Catch up on paperwork and finances! The stack is outrageous... (It's neat enough, but towering and overwhelming...) [I was five weeks behind by the time I worked on it this week.]

2) Clean out the filing cabinet. Since a lot of our financial paperwork is no longer on physical paper, I forget to do my annual purging of the filing cabinet. I'm probably two full years behind. Eek.

3) Ask DH to clean up his desk and surrounding area. If I ask, he'll do it every week -- usually on Monday evenings for me to use it on Tuesdays.

4) I think my desk is clear, but I haven't actually sat down at it for over a month. I want to hang a long hinged box (a la shelf with hidden storage) above my desk. It has been sitting ON my desk for years. I also have a long open box to paint and hang on the wall above that one. And mirrored words "Live Love Laugh" to spread amidst those. Oh, and two picture frames to hang on the wall behind my chair...need to fill the frames first. And, there is a tall skinny cabinet to be hung near my desk.

5) DD's desk was clean the last I looked. If not, ask her to do so. I have 2-3 items to paint for her and hang on the wall above and next to her desk.

6) Touch up paint throughout the room, especially around the window. Wash the cotton sheers and shorten them. Finish sewing the lined curtains and hang them, which requires deciding which curtain rod to use and hanging IT first. (We have 2-3 to choose from that I have saved from other projects.) Paint my foot stool and recover it in leftover curtain fabric -- maybe in a scrappy quilt pattern using some coordinating fabric, if there isn't a big enough single piece.

7) Go through closet and weed out and re-organize craft supplies on my side and household supplies on the other side. DH and DD have their sections, too.

8) While we're hanging things, we have a cork board we aren't currently using that is propped against the wall on DH's desk. Decide who wants it nearest them and hang it.

9) Dust and vacuum.

This is a rather ambitious list, so I'll be very happy if ANYTHING gets done!!! :)

Edited by sunnysandiegan - 9/22/11 at 9:32pm

[Ragana]

Good idea to break the project down into individual steps. Here are mine:

1) Consolidate office supplies in one place. Possibly get rid of some craft supplies to make room for office supplies.

2) Look through professional books and publications to see what else I can donate or sell to clean off a couple of shelves.

3) Make a dedicated shelf for Volunteering Gig 1 and one for Volunteering Gig 2 plus one shelf (or a half-shelf) for Certificate Program books and materials.

4) Sort through papers on desk and file work papers appropriately. Find spot for personal papers if there is anything to keep.

5) Get rid of rolling hanging file cabinet.

6) New desk chair and better light for desk - IKEA - and possibly a scanner for work.

7) When middle of office is clear, put together keyboard stand and stool and set up in office.

[sunnysandiegan]

Although it is not on my original list, I'm giving us credit for dusting (me) and vacuuming (DH) the family office today.

[Coconut Chronicles]

Originally Posted by ZakareyasMama 

Oh Coconut Chronicles... Storage is hard without a closet! Maybe you can get a wardrobe or some stackable crates? Maybe a peg board and hooks for cord stuff? I love those chairs though!

Ha.. I know... horrible isn't it? This is literally the only room in my house that is messy so every time I go in there I get super stressed out. I like the idea of a peg board! This weekend we scored a bookcase (this one) for free so that will definitely help.

This is going to be a big project for me so I guess I will break down what I plan to do also:

1) go through all paper work

2) put both wooden chairs to the family room

3) move the furniture around in a way that makes more sense

4) clear desk surfaces

5) streamline filing system

6) go to Ikea and get some boxes to store computer stuff and office stationary

7) vacuum and mop floor

8) lock DH in the garage so the room stays spotless (j/k... kinda)

[sunnysandiegan]

LOL @ #8 there, Lisa!!!

Oh boy, here are my "before" pictures...taken this morning (clockwise around the room from door). Sure, it has been dusted and vacuumed and DH even cleaned his desk quite a bit (needs a little more work, but way better than before). This is always our messiest room. Sigh.

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The view from the doorway...

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DH's desk...the paperwork trays are mostly my responsibility; only the bottom slot is his responsibility and he actually did all the filing before we left on our trip last month...he cleared off his desk, for the most part, last night when I asked him to...

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The floor needs tending and the cabinets need a freshening up inside... and that frame on top needs pictures.

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My desk is in the window nook and I love it here! The window needs some attention, as do the walls and floor.

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My desk needs some TLC and I want to hang that box on the wall, so I can make better use of the horizontal space when I craft... there is an extension to this desk which doubles it's horizontal square-footage (swings up from right side) for when I really need space, but some things just require a little extra room... plus, it will prevent the leaning pile-up currently happening...

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DD needs to do a little clean-up in order to fit the new-to-her laptop (DH's old laptop) on the pull-out shelf under her desk and I need to finish painting some items from her wall and DH will hang them.

[sunnysandiegan]

I just spent nearly 6 hours (6 hours with half a dozen brief breaks) going through every single piece of paper in our filing cabinet. WHEW!!! All the recycling is out and the shredding is ready for the noisy machine.

[ZakareyasMama]

Awesome! I'm trying to motivate myself to do my files... I also need to organize my coupons for triples tomorrow so that takes priority lol. 

I did my craft closet. It's not 100% perfect as I would wish for, but everything is in it's place and it's all reasonably accessible. I am starting to use project baskets. For example: I plan to make a bunch of cloth wipes REALLY SOON (haha) so I've put all the fabrics I'll use in one basket that's sitting out and next to my machine. Once I start, I'm sure I'll be interrupted... so I can just throw everything back in that basket and the room seems neater. I'm only allowed to have 3 project baskets at a time 

Happy cleaning!

[Ragana]

Well, I have not made much progress - I filed paperwork for Volunteering Gig 2 and Certificate Program into folders and binders and sent off a box of professional books to a beginner in my profession. Hopefully, I will get motivated to do more in the office today!

[sunnysandiegan]

I am so proud of myself! :P  I finally caught us up on the finances. Whew! It took me several hours yesterday and many hours today, but everything is all caught up now. Nothing was late or anything, but just getting through allllll that STUFF. EEK!

The "needs action" pile has been reduced slowly and now I have a stack of stuff next to me on the sofa in the living room. Ugh. I may need to break this down into a few days, too.

[Coconut Chronicles]

Making slow and steady progress... as soon as DS clues me in on where he has hidden the camera I'll take pics.