Today my desk was driving me nuts, but I didn’t feel like tidying it. I thought, “Maybe I’ll take a Before picture, just to tempt myself with the prospect of showing off any results.” It worked.
Here’s the desk Before:
Items found while cleaning:
- ribbons and paint from a kids’ Christmas project
- Rob’s Halloween mask
- two containers of pennies from when I was last on a diet (September 2006) (no, I didn’t eat the pennies) (I was using them to keep track of WW points)
- two Lynda Barry calendars I treasure and therefore allow to gather dust
- two enormous empty Altoids tins, saved because they seem like they’d be useful for something
- an empty pot of lip balm, saved in case I ever need a small container like that
- cat, dripping his fur into the back of my nice warm monitor
- the Where’s George? supplies (stamp and stamp pad) I lost several years ago
- the sensor/transmitter and long trailing wire for an indoor/outdoor thermometer we no longer have
- two lamps I thought were pretty, and bought, and have never used because it turns out I don’t need more light at my desk
And here’s the After:
Lamps gone. Cat shooed. Pretty nesting lacquer boxes (they’re red, pink, and orange–the colors don’t look exactly right in the photo) unnested and on display, instead of hiding behind the photo frames. Thick layer of dust vacuumed up.
Next up: the bottom shelves of the desk.
Looks Great! Good job! :)
Wow, I’d even take the before picture. My desk (luckily my husband and I have individual desks) is the brain of the household operation (bills, finances, insurance, other household crap) so a little bit of everything lands on my desk. I have two piles arranged just so I know what is in each layer by layer. Occasionally my husband will sit at my desk and rearrange my piles. He’s lucky he still lives!
Looks great after too-I love the little laquer boxes!
I so enjoy your digging out projects. I did many of my own today, including numerous spots being cleaned from our horrible beige carpet. I’m so impressed at your continued motivation!
looks great! We must have been on the same path today, I started the day by cleaning off our computer desk (wish I’d taken a before pic. disgusting…)
I ended up cleaning EVERY room in the house, except the playroom. Nesting maybe…
Are you trying to make me look bad after my post yesterday?!?
I think you’re nesting…I wish I was nesting.
Nice job!
my desk is much longer than yours, do I get an extra week to clean it?? I’m peering through a hole in a stack of crap just so I can see my monitor. I actually have to move some windows around sometimes so I can see them better.
I should just throw it all out, but I can’t. Yet, I don’t need or want any of it.
Oh, that looks nice. Makes me think I should get to cleaning my office – like I’ve been meaing to for a while now. Well, the desk was clean for a short while, and it’s not too bad. The problem is the WHOLE darn office. It seems to be a collecting space for things I have no idea what to do with.
I should say for full disclosure purposes that this was not a 10-minute task, it was more of a “work on it feverishly until it’s done” task.
Devan– That happens to me sometimes, too: I mean just to wipe the counters and before I know it I’m in a full-fledged cleaning fit. Sometimes I try to provoke a fit on purpose, by telling myself I’m only going to clean for 10 minutes and then letting nature take its course.
We’re currently doing this to our whole house. And yard. So we can sell it. It’s a long process. So far I’ve packed up my studio, packed away the books, taken down a lot of stuff off the walls, put away knick knacks, etc. The worst is when you are halfway through the process, and everything just seems dusty and worse than it was before.
So, um. I’m not sure where I was going with this, maybe I just wanted to complain.
Good job!
Wow!! Please send a little motivation my way, express!
That looks awesome! Props on keeping up the motivation for digging yourself out. My effort this week was to sort all of Addy’s outgrown clothes, which had previously been shoved in any old drawer or space they would fit. I ended up with six bags for Goodwill and six Rubbermaid containers neatly filled with sorted clothes. Took the whole frickin’ day, but very satisfying.
woohoo! i get such a high off of cleaning and organizing. i know that’s so weird and i’m a freak! be my friend anyway?