The Best Items to Help Organize Your Disaster of a Desk

We all want to pretend like the kitchen is the heart of the home, but for a lot of us, it's our desk. It's also supposed to be a haven of productivity, and it probably is, but it could always be better. Try a few of these updates to improve the organization of your desk—whether at home or the office—while also making it an all-around more pleasant place to work.

Raise your computer

Look at the way you're interacting with your laptop. Are you kind of hunched up over it while it takes up a bunch of space? No good. Getting a laptop stand has a bunch of benefits, like making you sit a little straighter, helping you relax your arms, preventing your computer from overheated, and protecting it from accidental spills. Plus, it frees up space on the desk that you can use for other things, like the organizational tools below.

You really only need something simple, so try something like this:

Your desk also needs (a lot of) storage

Next, it's time to overhaul your storage situation. There's been a lot of research into how clutter impacts your wellbeing and productivity (and vice versa), but it doesn't take a scientist to know that when your space is disorganized, you're just not going to be as productive as you could be. It's distracting and draining to see a mess all day and it makes it harder to access the tools you need to get your work done.

Organizing that desk can help you be more productive, so use a decluttering method to get rid of anything you don't need. Then, follow the rules of the Organizational Triangle, specifically the ones that dictate that everything you own must have a designated storage space and must be stored with similar objects.

A major component of doing all that is having the right kind of storage boxes and solutions at hand. For a desk, you need small containers that will hold various office supplies. Try something like these:

• A wire mesh organizer with slots for pens and pencils, a small shelf for standing objects, smaller holders for tape and other littler items, and a sliding drawer for tools like binder clips. ($11.99)

• A larger wire mesh organizer with slots for paper goods and books, a larger shelf for flat items, a sectioned drawer for small objects, and a side holder for taller utensils. ($23.26)

• An under-desk drawer system, also made of wire mesh, with two layers and divided drawers to store and separate tools of all sizes while still saving desktop space. ($33.99)

• 16 stackable acrylic drawers to organize smaller items while still keeping them in view. ($34.94)

Improve your lighting situation

There's also been significant research conducted on how lighting affects productivity, but once again, you don't need to read about it in a peer-reviewed journal to know you do better work when you can see what you're doing. I know I feel lazy when I work in darker environments, which is why I am such a big proponent of having little lamps all over.

Since our goal here is to organize your space and make it more productive, try this lamp, which has storage compartments in its base that are perfect for holding sticky notes, pens, and other small objects. It also has an outlet and a USB port so you can charge your devices.

Your desk's tech needs organization, too

Your desk is covered in tech. There's your computer, maybe a separate keyboard and mouse, your tablet, your phone, and then everything else you have plugged in, like clocks, lamps, or smart home devices. It all needs some help to prevent the formation of a rat's nest of cords.

I swear by the Smartish magnetic cord holder. It looks kind of like a rock, but it's actually a big magnet. You can just toss your charging cords over it and they'll stay in place. Plus, it comes in muted, varied colors, so it is pleasing to the eye.

For the bigger cords that dangle off the desk, I recommend individual, adhesive-backed holders. The individual ones are better than the long, multi-slot ones because you can arrange them in a way that makes sense based on your personal desk setup. They can stick to the top or side of the desk, snap open easily so a cord can get threaded through, and prevent it from sliding all over or getting jumbled up with other cords.

Other desk organization tips

To truly embrace the system of making sure everything has a designated place and storing similar items together, you'll need to use all of those little compartments and drawers. But you also need to know what's in them. It doesn't hurt to pick up a little label maker ($15.99) to keep everything identified.

Finally, it might seem obvious, but my messy desk changed for the better when I finally got a little garbage can for underneath it instead of relying on myself to carry all my trash to my main garbage every few hours. Sometimes, you're just working for too long and you don't feel like doing that. A mini can will get the trash off your desk right away, keeping it clean so you can focus on work. I like this set of two metal mesh ones for $16.49.