Mint

It’s Howdy Do it time again, Margot here, your weekly host. So hold onto your hats guys, cause I’m about to do something embarrassing:

This is my office. I think it’s got the potential to be a very cute, productive space, but right now it needs some love. This is the first time I’ve ever had my own work space and I have zero idea how to organize it, much less decorate it.

My current organizational system pretty much begins and ends with piles. Piles of mail, piles of scrap-paper, bills, stacks and stacks of crapola. Which, let’s be honest, is really not so much a system as it is a big ol’ mess. And finding something? Ugh. Big time chore. But aside from a general knowledge of how filing works with the folders and the alphabetizing, I seem to lack the ability to make the paper get into any kind of order. Or how about at the beginning of this year, I bought one of those accordion folders with 12 sections to help me keep track of my receipts by month…And guess what? Aside from January, it’s empty. Oh, I still saved those receipts alright, but you guessed it: they’re in a pile.

[Cables tee by Plural]

So, conclusion one: I’m a lazyhead. Because I don’t have a reason or made the time to get my piles on track.

Conclusion two: I have to schedule (and keep) an organizing time and give myself an incentive to actually make it happen. (Baking cookies seems like a pretty good option right about now). Once a week for 30 minutes or so to sort & put away receipts, file things, generally organize. And then again once a month for bill paying and more thorough comb-through to make sure I haven’t overlooked anything.

[Flickr, unknown. Boo, sorry guys!]

And as far as the day-to-day, I did some research (Apartment Therapy’s got a great write up on organizing here). and here’s my plan: I need some trays like these to house the detritus so it’s not infringing on my precious desk space/table/floors. Obvious tenants for these trays can be bills, scrap paper, and current project paperwork, respectively. And this article I found via AT also suggests a general inbox for stuff I don’t know what to do with, an “incubate” box for items that are on hold or that I’m not ready to deal with yet. So at least there’s a place to shove the crap away until my weekly appointment.

So it looks like I’m due for some office supplies, eh? Yay! I’ll post afters when I have improvements to share.

Cheers friends! Until we meet again.

Howdy Do It came from “how do you do It,” the question Ellie & Margot found themselves asking about their freelance lifestyles, and so Howdy Do It was born, a weekly column about the things we do to keep ourselves organized, inspired and on track.

To see Ellie’s Howdy Do It post on home office inspiration, visit Pitch.