One task on my holiday break to-do list was to get my home office organized. I would show you a “before” photo, but that would be way too embarrassing. Let’s just say “dang, girl, it was a hot mess!” As a Thirty-One consultant, I have been slowing gathering products with this in mind, a Caddy here, a Fold N File there. In fact, I’m still waiting on my outlet order that has a wall hanging unit and another bin that I will also use in my office. But for now, I’m pretty darn pleased with the results. It took me about half a day and half a box of kleenex (oh the dust!), and voila, it looks amazing. And I feel like I am so much more productive.

Here are a few close up photos to show what I did.

The Fold N File on the left I’m using for my school paperwork. This is handy because, if necessary, I can tote the entire thing to my school office, or I can just pull out a few items I need and bring those with me. Plus, yeah, I can finally use the shelves behind it for actual books. I have my school books in the middle and craft books on either side. Some of the craft books I plan to review on my blog, so it’s nice to have them right there ready for when I’m ready to write about them instead of hidden under piles of stuff.

To the right is a Littles Carry-All Caddy with my tissue, pens, calculator, lip gloss, etc. I love these caddies! In fact, I ended up getting three more for my desk. See the photos below:

They hold all those little items that tend to be all over my desk, and I can keep them contained now. Plus, I can move the caddies around if I need to spread out. I pushed the handles down when I don’t need them.

Along with craft books, I have an assortment of jewelry items that need reviewing and/or used in future projects. These were originally crammed in a tacky plastic basket and had dust all over them (yup, I have dust issues in my house!) Now I have them all in this Your Way Junior Cube and Lid. I have the clear side facing me, so again, I won’t forget about them, and the lid helps keep the cats out and the dust down. I think the taupe gingham print looks good with the purple theme I have going on. These cubes are pretty cool and are one of the new products in the Thirty-One spring 2014 catalog.

Then there is the overflow to deal with. Here is a Medium Utility Tote, which was a special during November. It is not available right now, but I’m hoping we will see these again either as a special or in the summer catalog. I have magazines and small project bags in here plus yarn on top. To go along with the purple theme again, this print is called Awesome Blossom.

And…more overflow includes 3 large bags. The center one is in a retired print, but it is the Super Organizing Tote. I am working on finishing up a jewelry book update as well as writing a book about Florida literature, so I have all the paperwork, books, etc. in this bag. The other two bags are full of yarn and works in progress.

Oh, and did you notice my office assistants on top of the desk and the empty boxes to the side of my computer? Of course, I have to save room for my cats.

Now I have the organizing bug and hope to be able to make something happen like this in my craft room. Since doing the jewelry book update, it has been a wreck! While I would much rather spend my time crafting than organizing, I have to admit that getting organized feels so good and is totally worth the time.

What about you? Do you have organizing plans for 2014?