Something else that never fails to make me enjoy sitting at the desk and get work done is having the desk facing a window with a great view. This can be difficult to achieve but at least for me it makes the world of a difference. If you don’t have a good view, at least have the desk at a window. It really helps when you can stare into the distance while you’re pondering about something and apparently it’s also healthy for the eyes. Another factor is good lighting, preferably smart lighting where you can adjust the brightness and warmth to reflect the time of day and your preference.

Maybe put some pleasant-looking things that isn't an active distraction, like some things you already described, or an analog 'productivity' item like a big hourglass. Something nice can be good imo for when not doing anything (like when needing a moment to refocus), I just put some old Mage Knight figurines (Warhammer-like) and miniature christmas tree, planning to put some LED lights for better aesthetics.

Photo?

You can put the power strip into a cable box/cable organiser. It’s an aesthetic box with slits for the cables to come out of but it masks the mess while keeping the easy access. You could also look for a way to attach the power strip it to the bottom of your desk plate to hide it altogether while keeping the access from under the desk.

You could switch the transparent storage system to an opaque one and switch any wired tech (keyboard, mouse) to cordless and have everything in the same colour to further reduce visual clutter.

Keeping things tidy on my screen helps me think clearer and work faster—less really is more.

I’ve always felt like I couldn’t get my mental and digital clutter under control until I got my physical clutter under control. Your post has me wondering if I have it backwards!!

Excellent! Helps to visualize what a decluttered space/area may look like

That's a really good idea! I can see how that decluttering energy can flow out and help the physical clutter...

I've made similar changes over the years and it's really made a big difference!

• My inbox and notifications are always "zeroed out" or cleared. If a newsletter or notification is constantly bugging me, I unsubscribe or change my settings.

• I realized that if I just jumped straight into work tasks upon arrival, I would feel unsettled and anxious. So I started writing daily to-do's at the start of each workday before starting any tasks.

How did you simply morning routine?

It sounds less like you need to declutter and more like you need to put a daily or even hourly cleanup into your home school schedule. That could be something the older children do at the end of their session is put away books, and set up the room for the next class.

I recommend looking up ClutterBug's four organiser types. When you figure out what your (and the kids') type is, it will be much easier for you to organise accordingly.

First of all, as a fellow h-school mom, this is so relatable! 

Some ideas… do you have zones per age group or per child? For example, I’ve tried “all library books live on this one shelf ONLY” as well as “big kid craft supplies go up high, little kid craft supplies go down low.” (No glue or scissors within toddler reach :P)

Have you tried making a list of what you would ideally want for each child or grade? For example, do you like to review all papers weekly for an older child but all special artwork/papers get stuffed in a portfolio yearly for all kids? 

Or the opposite: does it bother you daily that the older kids can’t work independently because their resources are too hard to access? Then that’s a specific problem you can tackle. Do you have to keep walking across the room to find readaloud books when the baby needs fed? Then that’s another specific issue. Do you not care if all binders are color coded and decorated with washi tape? Then don’t bother doing that. 

Once you know some of the pain points and some (easy) goals, you can do a more focused search for solutions. When I type in “homeschool learning space”, the top Pinterest results are incredibly curated (and often expensive) areas that wouldn’t fit in the space I have available. It’s frustrating. But when I searched “organized electronics solutions” Pinterest showed a series of options that I could tweak to help solve one of my pain points - headphones and electronics always being out of battery or getting lost. Now everyone in my family knows exactly where to plug in their headphones after using them. (Do they always remember? No, but that’s ok).

Specifically on your papers-in-motion question, I’ve tried many options, right now what’s working is basic weekly ring binders for the kids with each subject under it’s own tab. The subject binders (language, history, science) are massive and live on a high shelf so I can (ideally) prepare a month or so in advance, and only pull out what’s needed each week. Finished papers are honestly just left in the weekly binders or shoved in a plastic drawer system until I have time to file or trash them. There are some great ideas on YouTube under “homeschool year planning”, or “organizing homeschool”. 

It sounds like you’re doing a lot all at once, so kudos for that! Hope you can find some systems that work for you now, and that are flexible enough to change over time. You’ve got this, mama :)

Hmm... first thing that came to mind is using monitor mounts. It'll definitely free up a bunch of space on your desk and from there, you can organize it better. There's tons of options out there on Amazon depending if you want to stack them or put them side by side.

Going with a stacked monitor with a monitor mount would free up a lot of space and clean things up quite a bit IMO.

I guess my first question is the obvious: is there no way that you can get a slightly longer dust? You can buy desk legs from somewhere like IKEA and then get a piece of butcher block and have it cut to the exact length that you want.

If not, monitor arms would be a great solution to this issue.

1. shelf to put your figures on.

2. You can buy wall mountable pegboard mounts for your peripherals. Again, IKEA is a good place for this and there's some options on Amazon.

3. cable management would give you quite a bit of real estate. You can even go with something as simple as a cable sleeve. Again, IKEA sells a cable management kit for about $7 on their website. I used it to route my cables and it's great.

Personally I would remove the figures in the front as they are competing for attention with the Playstation light so neither is being shown off to its best.

Then I would try and route the various cables behind things. Some of them might be able to be routed down behind the right monitor stand, others you could hide behind the left stand. You can get velcro cable organisers to do this as that makes it easy to remove and add stuff later if you need to, and it keeps them together in one long snake rather than seeing multiple loose cables so it gives and overall tidier look.

Get those monitors onto the walls and then re-assess with your new found space. Wouldn’t go crazy to begin with, you’d be amazed with the space you create by not having the monitors on the desk. Also would likely be more ergonomic and better for your posture having them a little higher!

I would get a monitor stand and place one above the other, also get a monitor stand, close it and hide behind monitors and you’ll get a lot of space

Take of everything you don’t need to work, like your lunch and stuff, you can get a desk riser, and also a laptop riser and make both monitors at even hight (if possible)

Move monitor to the right or make one monitor vertical. Get a laptop arm that connects to the monitor arm which will give you more desk space

The screens being in such random positions would drive me nuts. Other than that it’s just cluttered

The short answer is that you've got way too much stuff on such a small desk.

The open laptop is adding little in the way of extra desktop real estate but a whole lot more clutter. Use it in closed mode and get a vertical stand for it to keep it tucked away behind the other monitors.

Even out the two remaining monitors and get a desk shelf to go underneath them to hide cables etc. Pull the desk away from the wall and push the monitors back if you need extra desk space. Then remove everything off the desk unless it's absolutely critical. Paper, cups, stationary, other random junk.. get it all off leaving only your mouse and keyboard.

Use that as your blank canvas to work from for a week and add things back in only if you urgently need them.

I write a home office solutions and decor blog, and I just posted a cable management post a few days ago. It covers everything you need to know as well as recommendations.

I suggest you check it out! 7 Step System to Eliminate Cable Management Stress Forever

I'd love to answer any other specific questions you have.

Kinda need a photo with more context than this, my immediate reaction is that this feels very cramped into a corner, perhaps in a room with not a lot of extra space, but it might just be how the room is laid out could also change to make the workspace better.

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Take the computer off the desktop, especially if, judging by the lack of actual cords going to it, you're not using it.

Position the wireless router away from the desk. It's wireless and doesn't need to be right next to where your computer is.

You don't need a gooseneck phone holder to position your phone right next to your display, because most of the time you won't be looking at your phone when you're on the computer. If you need to look at your phone, you can put it on the table next to whatever you're doing.

Anyone?

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Svetovni dan produktivnosti je idealen trenutek, da se spomnimo - ne gre za to, da bi v svoje urnike stlačili še več opravil, ampak za to, da delamo pametneje.

V naši najnovejši objavi preberite, kako:
-️ Pospravite svoj prostor v oblaku
-️ Poenostavite svoje naloge
-️ Uporabite prava orodja

Delajte pametneje, ne težje.

https://koofr.si/blog/objave/praznujte-svetovni-dan-produktivnosti-z-oblacno-shrambo-koofr

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Start with buying a large cable box

Anyone?

Burn all and start with some pinterest desktup ideas