Office Organization

Care to share any tips on you keep your home office organized? I’ve been fighting the clutter for eons. It’s a never-ending battle around these parts. Each time I implement a small office organization tactic, it works for a while … but over time, papers and other junk still pile up everywhere there’s open horizontal space.

When I splurged on a big new desk last year, the expansive surface looked to be impervious to the magnetic aspects of paper. Alas, this was not to be the case. A year later, I have a monster-sized pile of papers blanketing the top of the desk (along with the top of the printer/scanner).

But it’s not just paperwork around these parts, it’s MiniDV tapes. On a typical week producing video car reviews, I’ll use two tapes. If I’m covering a show or conference, I might use half a dozen. I started out storing the tapes in shoeboxes. Then I got fancy and bought a pair of stacking plastic pull-out drawer thingies from Staples, which I promptly filled to capacity. Now the excess tapes are stacked up on my bookshelves.

I guess it’s time to go back to Staples.

I’ve found that accordion-like paper organizers work well for storing individual bills, if space is at a premium and there’s no room for a file-cabinet. Then again, I have a couple of file cabinets that are full of stuff from a previous life … come to think of it.

The paper shredder might be getting a workout this weekend …