I can be messy (as in not-neat as opposed to not-clean), and I tend sometimes to keep things I don’t need (as opposed to Kristen’s getting rid of things she sometimes still needs). But every once in a while, I’ll decide I’ve had enough of the pile of papers, books, and junk that accumulates in areas of the house that are designated mine. Recently, my desk had become a catch-all of tools, paper, and even bags of screws from some sliding closet doors. So I’ve started on phase 2 of our house purge (we’re distinguishing phases based on the rooms–so phase 2 includes living rooms, one of which is where my desk is) by cleaning off, and out, my desk.

Here’s what I started with:

Not much work (of any kind) was happening on this desk. And even though not much work happens at my desk even when it is clean, people often have to walk by the desk to get out to our back deck. Our guests shouldn’t be subjected to what you see above–no one’s guests should.

I started by taking all the tools down to the basement and putting them back into the big fancy tool box I got for Christmas this year. Then out came the paper shredder.

I still get paper notices in the mail for things like bank statements and retirement account stuff, and since all that stuff is readily available online, there’s not much reason for me to keep it. Into the paper shredder it goes. What few things warranted keeping, I organized in this little file folder that Kristen donated to me after she cleaned out the office from her old job.

From there, all I had left was basically organizing the books that stay on the desk. This was easy. After I repeated this same process with the four drawers, I had a desk ready to be worked on.

Which really means it’ll start catching more stuff that I’ll have to clean off again in a few months. It’s hard work, I know.

Before:

After:

Have you purged anything lately? Getting rid of unnecessary items just makes my heart go pitter pat. What about yours?