Technology is great! It makes work easier and opens up to more possibilities, but with the ability to work more efficiently, there comes the clutter of the technology. Remove all your technology from your desk, how much clutter is still there? Is there not more room to work and spread out? Now, put everything back. All the sudden you probably lost half- if not more- of your work space. Between the screen, keyboard, and mouse, you lose a lot of space, but oh my goodness, with all the wires, you might as well give up working. Here are some helpful tips to clean up the mayhem from all your technology.
Clear out the wires
Wires begin to take over (and under) your desk. The screen needs wires. The keyboard has a wire. The mouse requires one. Then there is all the ones for any additional screens you may have. There is the USB adapters, the printer, the modem, chargers, etc. It will become tiring and overwhelming after a while, and if we are being honest, it just looks unkempt. Save yourself some space on your desk by tightening the cord with enough slack to touch the wall or back of the desk. You then can use Velcro or zip ties to wrap around the extra cord to keep out of your way. Finally, Velcro the cords to the back of the desk or use command strips to hang them up on. This will force all the extra cord under your desk but still keep it out of the way.’
Keep Track
There are certain cords you are always unplugging to make room for another device’s cord whether it is you phone charger or a camera cord or just a headphone cord. You end up spending more time looking for the end of the cord to plug in than actually using the object. There are some pretty fun ways to keep track of these though. You can do a simple fix with binder clips. You clip these to the side of your desks and slip the cord in between the prongs. From there, they should not move much except when you want them to. Easy, right? There is a second option which is a little bit less practical, but it has a bit more of a fun look to it- might clean your house out a bit too. You dig through your kids old Legos and pull out the little Lego men. You should also pull out flat, thin piece of lego out to stand the men on. You can use a command strip, Velcro, or ticky-tack to stick the thin piece of Lego onto the edge of your desk. Now, place the little Lego men onto the flat Lego. Now simply stick out their arms and push the cords you want into the Lego Man’s hands. You always know where they are now.
Label it
It can be really frustrating never knowing which wire goes to what. I never know if I’m unplugging my computer or my TV or my DVD player, and the only thing I want to unplug is my computer to protect it from the storm. In the mean time, I end up unplugging everything, re-organizing the wires, and plugging everything back in. I grew tired of it very quickly, but when I would use label stickers, they always wore out and fell off after a while. Now, I recommend using the bread clips. They keep a tight hold and do not wear away like paper. This means they will remain on your cord the majority of the time. Just collect as many as you need, take a sharpie, and write the cords identity on the clip. You will always know what cord goes to what advice.
There are many ways to begin to clean up the clutter technology provides, and they can really help you feel better about your work space. While technology is great and eases your work a bit, it can cause stress and annoyance by being in the way of your work. Do not let cords stopping you from working efficiently. Take the time to clean them up and create a space that is all you.