get it together

20 Things You Need for a Beautiful, Organized Desk

Get It Together is your weekly guide to organizing your entire life.

You spend countless hours at your desk, and yet it’s probably a wasteland of stacked paper, dusty staplers, and empty water bottles. It’s easy to forget about organizing your work space when you’re drowning in a flood of emails, but getting your life together will make you look more professional and help you get things done faster.

And there’s really no better time to organize your work space than now. Remember back when you were a kid and August was the time to get crisp new notebooks and fresh pens for school? This is the grown-up version. Use the list below as a guide to sprucing up your cubicle before September rolls around and that tsunami of email doubles.

The 2018 Planner You Can Use Now

Want to get something done? It’s more likely to happen if you write it down.

The Pen You Should Buy in Multiples

No ballpoint style will write as nicely as an ultrafine gel pen.

A Stylish Way to Organize Piles of Paper

Sure, you could get standard black binder clips for less money, but these look so much more polished.

A Hack for Hanging Photos

Is there anything sadder than a cubicle covered in fabric so thin it won’t hold up photos? These pearl corsage pins will keep your pictures in place and look good doing it.

A Handsome Magnetic Paper-Clip Holder

$9

With a marble magentic top and gold paper clips, this is far nicer than the corporate-branded ones you’d find at a job fair.

An Arty Post-it Set

Anything Mondrian-inspired will help make reminders more pleasant.

An Elegant Paper Sorter

If you’re going to clip those piles of paper, you might as well arrange them in a matching file sorter.

A Pretty Pen Cup

All those Muji pens need a home somewhere.

A Grown-Up Alternative to Your Water Bottle

Save the metal thermos for the gym.

A Minimalist Stapler

If you have a desk filled with flashy gold accents, a plain white stapler will balance things out.

A Cozy Desk Lamp

Because fluorescent lighting is slowly draining your soul.

Sleek White Headphones

With over 3,000 positive ratings, these inexpensive headphones will let you drown out extraneous sound.

Soothing Cubicle Art

Not quite as good as a beach vacation, but close.
Original Price: From $17

Cheerful Highlighters

These also serve as a handy way to make desk art on particularly stressful days.

Durable, Attractive Scissors

They’re hefty, sharp, and still nice-looking enough to hang out in your pen cup.

Résumé-Friendly Folders

Even in our digital world, the analog paper résumé is still standard, so make sure yours remains nice and crisp.

The Power Notebook

Our friends at the Strategist agree — nothing is more glamorous to whip out in a meeting than a Smythson notebook.

A Safe Place for Your Receipts

Now the only question is when you’ll get around to filing those expenses.

A Desk Blanket

Because the scourge of aggressive air-conditioning isn’t just limited to the summer months.
Original Price: $48

A Better Way to Hide Your Junk Piles

It’s not clutter if it’s artfully arranged on a big tray, right?

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20 Things You Need for a Beautiful, Organized Desk