Are you sick of looking at a messy desk or searching around for simple items such as lost pens, sticky notes, or that important work file? Then it’s time to organize and get your desk space clean and clear, even if it doesn’t have any drawers.
Drawers are definitely helpful when trying to keep your office desk looking “put together”. But drawers aren’t to only storage method to be efficient while you work.
In this article, we are going to help you file, sort, store, and label your supplies to help make the most of your drawer-less desk and utilize your time to be more productive with the more important tasks in your life. Hopefully, you’ll realize organizing a desk without drawers isn’t as hard as you might have thought.
How Can You Organize A Desk Without Drawers?
Looking for an efficient and creative way to organize a desk with no drawers? You are in luck, we have 11 of the most effective ways to keep your space clear and make your office desk look neat with little effort on your part.
Consider using one or more of the options listed below to keep your home office workspace calm, cool, and collected, while tackling every project you sit down to complete.
Tidying your desk is obviously a great start in organizing your desk. However, it’s incredibly hard (borderline impossible) to keep a desk clean if you have no storage. That’s why are our 11 methods to tidy a desk with no drawers are all based around creating the storage space you are lacking.
Invest in a Filing Cabinet
While this may be one of the most obvious ways to organize desk with no drawers, it is one of the best. Filing cabinets come in all shapes and sizes and can easily fit into any space. For example, the cabinet in the images above can actually fit under your desk – practical and discreet for storing your office supplies.
While many people strickly use these items to store hanging folders, that isn’t the only thing they are good for. A few great ways to utilize filing cabinets when you have no drawers include:
- Placing a utensil organizer inside a drawer to hold writing utensils
- Using cardboard slats or wood pieces, create spaced compartments to separate your supplies
- Use binders instead of folders so you can easily read the labels on the spines
Deep drawer cabinets can be a pain to organize, we take you through how to organize them here.
Use Hanging Files
You can buy side desk pockets that hang folders and other small items off the edges of your desk. This is an easy way to store files and folders to efficiently organize your desk with no drawers.
You can also use hangers to keep organized, newspaper articles, and other reading material easily accessible without cluttering up your desk space.
If your desk is on the smaller side and you keep bumping the hanging objects with your legs, install a small rod above your desk (like a towel rod) and hang the items there. The only problem here is that your setup might not look all that professional. Ok if you are at home, but a potential problem if your boss doesn’t take to things hanging in the office.
Invest in Some Milk Crates
That old rustic look is in style and doesn’t seem to be going out anytime soon. And while you don’t have to use them to the extreme as much as the images above, milk crates sure can be handy.
They also provide plenty of room to keep your items organized and out of the way and can be easily stacked on the ground under your desk, up against the walls, or even sitting directly on top of the desk, providing you quick and easy access to your items.
You can decorate these crates and create labels to stick on the sides to assign each one a specific job.
Buy a Desk Organizer
Buying a desk organizer is probably the most obvious suggestion on the list. While it may be obvious it is perfect for the job it was made for. You can get desk organizers from just about anywhere and in just about any size.
Choose the organizer that will be the most help to you, whether it is one with multiple file baskets, large pencil holders, or a small bin with multiple spaces for your tiny accessories like pins and staples.
There are options out there that offer you the ability to add on to your organizers or take bins away as needed, making them very efficient during each project you sit down to complete.
You can also make a desk organizer. I’m not too great at DIY but here is a DIY desk organizer making process that even I could follow.
Utilize Those Un-Used Amazon Boxes
Everyone is ordering off the internet these days and many of you probably have Amazon or Fed-Ex boxes lying around or filling up the recycling bin.
Instead of tossing these packages, consider decorating them with ribbons, lace, construction paper, or paint, to create beautiful storage containers that can hold your printer paper, separate files, and so much more.
There are different box sizes for every task, that can give you ways to make desk look clean and make your items easier to access. If you want to get creative with it, it’s not too hard to create desk organizers as you can see below.
Take Advantage of Empty Walls
A lot of us have useful empty space, great for organizing our office items, and we don’t even know it.
Use the empty walls around you to make your desk look neat and clear. You can do this by hanging a shoe organizer next to your workspace. Then, consider purchasing a label gun or some sticker paper to create labels for each pocket.
Another option is buying or making a wall mounted desk hutch in order to provide extra storage. You can find out more about desk hutches here. Regardless of how you do it, using the vertical space your walls offer for storage is a super way to make room for your things.
These are excellent ways to keep smaller items like pens and pencils, note pads, business cards, craft supplies, and more in an easy-to-access location. And all without the need for any drawers.
Purchase Storage Bins or Totes
You can pick up plastic totes or storage bins for relatively cheap. The smaller boxes, similar to the size of shoe boxes, will only cost you around two bucks.
Clear bins are a great way to organize desk with no drawers because you don’t really even need labels. You can quickly peek through the sides to find what you are looking for and they are small enough that you can keep them right on the top of your desk.
Another good idea is to purchase colorful bins and color code them according to tasks.
- Pink-craft supplies
- Blue- Pens and pencils
- Green- Erasers, white-out, paper clips, etc.
- White- Index cards, post-it notes, small notebooks
Upcycle an Old Dresser
Feeling a little crafty? Head out to a local thrift store or yard sale and pick up an inexpensive old dresser. You can easily make desk look clean by keeping it totally clear.
Use the old drawers in the dresser to keep all of your supplies. Add drawer organizers to each one, then separate them into categories. The top drawer is for all your paper (lined, printing, photo, construction, etc.), the middle one is for organizing your files and folder, the bottom one will hold bins full of writing utensils ( paint, markers, and crayons, etc.)
Giving the dresser a great makeover can be a lot of fun and can help pull a workspace together nicely. Paint it to match your current decor, or sand it down and stain it to give it a rustic and old fashion look, making it the focal piece in the room.
Get Creative With Old Coffee Cans or Mason Jars
Old coffee cans and mason jars are fantastic storage options. These are easy to obtain, can be decorated in any way, and come in tons of shapes, sizes, and colors. You can even have your kids decorate them for you giving you meaningful works of art you can look at every day.
Using your labels, give each jar a specific duty, whether it is holding onto loose paperclips or thumb tacks, or an efficient pencil holder.
You could keep the mason jars on top of your desk and hang the coffee containers off the side, making your desk easy to use and attractive to look at. Mason jars are more commonly used in kitchens, but we find they work great in office settings too.
Another option is buying or making a holder like the one below. You could easily use up spare wall space with something handy like this.
Use a Monitor Stand
Monitor stands are typically looked at as an effective way to lift your screen up to eye level. However, it can also be useful when trying to keep your desk organized without drawers.
By lifting your monitor stand up and off the surface of the desk, you are freeing up extra space underneath. This is a great area to keep your lose paper, notebooks, or even a calendar.
Want even more space? Consider investing in a standing desk “monitor stand”. Standing while working is a great way to keep your circulation flowing, and your body moving, and will give you a ton of usable desk space.
Upcycle an Old Wooden Ladder
Yes, we love to upcycle old furniture, and for good reasons. Taking something old and turning it into something you can use daily is great for the planet and your bank account.
To use an old wooden ladder to organize your desk space, open it up, set slats of wood across the rungs, and use the ladder just like you would a shelf.
Not only can the ladder hold your work and art supplies, but it is a great way to showcase trinkets, photos, and collector’s items without displaying them on your desktop.
