I Showed a Pro Organizer My Cluttered Desk Drawers, and She Fixed Them Instantly

I bought my desk about four years ago, and before today, the last time I organized its two drawers was … also four years ago. Since then, they’ve become a catchall for my entire studio apartment — stuffed with office supplies, electronic cords, hair accessories, papers, and plenty of random odds and ends.

Clearly, my drawers needed professional help. Enter Nichole Gehman, owner of Organize by Designe. I reached out because she specializes in eco-friendly solutions, and I wanted to reorganize my desk without buying more plastic bins or drawer dividers. With her guidance, I transformed my cluttered desk in just a couple of hours by reusing items I already had on hand. Here’s what I did.

“Before I organize any space, I like to have a variety of containers nearby,” Gehman says. Instead of shopping for new ones, I laid out empty jewelry gift boxes, product packaging, food containers, cosmetic pouches, and a shoebox lid. Gehman also suggests creative swaps: an old silverware tray as a divider, mint tins for earbuds or hair ties, and even toilet paper rolls to wrangle cords.

Next, I pulled everything out of my drawers and sorted it into piles: pens and pencils, cords, notepads, sticky notes, paper clips, binder clips, and so on. “It sounds boring, but this is where the magic happens because you finally see what you actually have,” Gehman says. I also gave the drawers a quick wipe-down while they were empty.

I created piles on the floor for trash, paper recycling, electronics recycling, donations, and items to relocate. “Anything that doesn’t belong in the ‘home’ of the office should be placed in the right ‘home,’” Gehman says. I tossed dried-out pens, set aside broken wires for electronics recycling, and relocated the many hair ties I found to my bathroom. Gehman also recommends calling local daycares or women’s shelters to donate spare office and art supplies.

Finally, it was time to give everything a home. “No container should be overflowing,” Gehman advises. After a little trial and error, I matched each category with the right container and arranged them back into the drawers. Her tip: Put the containers holding your most-used items front and center. For me, that meant notepads, sticky notes, pens, lip balm, and lens cloths in the left drawer, and headphones and chargers in the right. Less-used items were tucked toward the back.

In less than two hours, my desk drawers went from overwhelming to organized and functional — and I didn’t spend a dime. Gehman’s approach kept me focused and creative, and I love that I now have a sustainable system that feels easy to maintain. I’ll definitely be borrowing these tricks for other cluttered corners of my home.