My desk, clean and tidy.
When we moved into our new home, December 2020, there was a formal dining room. The prior owners asked us to buy their gorgeous dining room furniture which was Chinese lacquered in shiny black. I really liked it, but formal dining is not our style. We ended up buying the sellers’ furniture in the casita which was the best decision we made — because our furniture didn’t arrive until the next day or two. (That’s another story. The moving truck wasn’t big enough. The two guys moving us had to find a U-Haul, which were scarce. The closest one was two hours away….) Because we bought the casita furniture, we had a bed to sleep on plus table, chairs and a sofa.
Anywho, I turned the formal dining room into my office. We bought the desk and chair at a consignment store a few weeks after moving. Then I promptly stuffed the drawers from boxes that said “desk” on them. I’ve barely been able to use the desk because the drawers were so full they were hard to open.
Then last week, a mere three years later, I was looking for some paperwork. I found the paperwork plus two envelopes from Costco that I never opened. Thankfully, before throwing them in the trash, I discovered rewards checks totaling more than $900! Woohoo! (Did you know that rewards from Costco never expire?)
That prompted me to clean out my desk.
That’s why I’m feeling smug and love my desk. It’s so organized and one drawer has hanging files with everything current neatly filed. No, I didn’t find any more money. But the $900 will do just fine. Some of the funny things I found were a pile of cords for old Macs I no longer own and connections that are out of date. Also, a device I bought during the pandemic that was an ultraviolet light cleaner for my iphone. (I convinced myself that because it was from China, that once I placed my phone in it and pressed the on button, it was sending all my data to China, rather than sterilizing my phone against COVID.)
Here are a few items in my office that I love:
A present from my dear friend Phyllis. Isn’t that cool?
A large painting of our backyard in Palm Springs where we lived for 28 years.
Paintings by my grandmother of Robe, Wash. where our property is on the Stillaguamish River. The top painting is of me around age five (sorry for the glare). The bottom one is of the cabin my mom and dad built themselves.
What area in your home needs a thorough cleaning and organizing?
I had a friend who called these places “hot spots.”
Well congrats on the $900 windfall! That’s pretty amazing. My favorite things in that office are the 3 paintings. I knew right away that the 2 were of your property here in WA. They are all lovely and probably evoke lots of memories for you.
I declutter and organize regularly. Stuff piling up makes me uncomfortable and I don’t like not knowing what I have so it’s a routine event to purge and organize!
I was so excited to find those Costco reward checks, but I was also upset because I was afraid they’d expired. The paintings do bring back memories for me. Good for you to declutter. I avoided my desk drawers — out of sight out of mind. It feels so good to have it organized.
Yes, a definite sense of satisfaction
It is! The desk is truly usable.
Once again, Costco for the win! Those painting are all so beautiful. We have such a small footprint while staying with my in-laws that we don’t have enough stuff to require organizing, which I guess is a good thing.
I know! I was thrilled to find out Costco doesn’t have expiration dates on their rewards. I think it is a good thing that you don’t have stuff to organize.
Love your big desk and the paintings that are lovely and have sentimental value. Good for you in cleaning and finding $900 in reward money. What a prize! 🙂
I have been working on cleaning out our basement. Sooo easy for stuff to accumulate there, out of sight, out of mind.
That’s it exactly. Out of sight, out of mind. I didn’t open up my desk drawers and didn’t have to look at my mess. Good luck with your basement!
Thanks! 😊
👍🏼
I’m with Deb and Erin…woohoo for the big windfall. And the paintings are lovely…but that antique Underwood? Love it! I’m like Deb. I need to declutter because stuff piling up literally paralyzes me from getting anything done. I wish I could disregard visual clutter better…please don’t ask Paul about my quirks. I’m constantly following after him picking up ‘stuff’, pushing in chairs, rearranging his piles (and messing up his ‘system’ – LOL). Love your desk set-up…and isn’t it good that we don’t have to share? 😜
I am a Costco fan! I think the Underwood is so much fun, but I love my paintings. I kept the top of my desk clean, so I wasn’t looking at what was inside. Good for you to not put up with clutter. I’d admire that. 😊
Buried treasure in your desk! 😜🥰😜
Yes! We invested in solar through Costco is why I got the big reward. One check was only $50, which is our normal annual amount. So it was really a surprise.
Love it! 🥰
Time for a Costco shopping spree 😅
woohoo! 🥰
😁
Cleaning and decluttering are a reward by themselves but finding $ 900 is so much better.
The typewriter is awesome. I loved typing on my grandfather’s typewriter but one key at a time.
The money was an inspiration to keep going until the job was done. I remember my dad having a huge typewriter in his office that I loved to use. But you’re correct, one letter at a time.
I used to pretend that I knew typing and would press many keys at a time resulting in a jam. 😂😅
Me too!
😅😂🥹
You were definitely rewarded for clearing out your desk! It always amazes me when people find checks they haven’t cashed. Maybe because I need every penny I can get right away, I usually go to the bank the minute I get the check. I used to have one of those Underwood’s. Who knew they’d be so cool now?
I thought the envelopes from Costco were junk mail. I’m so relieved I didn’t throw them out! The Underwood is definitely cool.
Kudos on finding those price-y checks…and that Underwood typewriter is priceless as far as I am concerned. We have a “hot spot” we’re going to work on later this month…an area that needs a good de-cluttering.🙂
The reward checks were a great find. I have one junk drawer in my kitchen. My husband has the annoying habit of dumping it all into the trash if it’s not uncluttered for awhile. There’s one tip for your hotspot.
😃
Oh I love your desk. It send “organizational excitement shivers” — if there is a thing — down my spine. Love things that help us get organized. Love the underwood too. Oh, to be back in a typewriter world. Ha, ha. Thanks for the nostalgia EA
I feel so on top of my game to turn a drawer full of junk into hanging file folders all nice and neat. 😊
Oh I need to do this. With both work stuff and non work stuff!!!!
👍🏼
Oh and I miss the typewriter days. At least the IBM Selectric!
What a beautiful desk! So spacious and tidy – even better.😊 Though I think I’m organized, it seem that some thing just pile up – like little scraps of paper with titles and authors of books I might want to read. One time, I compiled notes like these into Word documents, most I almost never look at!
Thank you. I fell in love with the desk and chair at first sight. A good friend told us to check out the consignment stores when we moved here and not to buy anything new. I have some fun pieces. I think written notes on scraps of paper are best. I make myself a little to do list most days. Much better than having it on word doc.
I didn’t know checks from Costco never expire. Wuhoo – $900 is so fun! And I love your beautiful typewriter and paintings. Precious!
Thank you, Wynne. The reward checks were such a find, but worrisome until I found out they don’t expire!
Finding money is always good and it has to be a good sign too! Love the desk and that old typewriter! Wow. I have a few “hot spots” that need attention. My closet, the medicine cabinet, and the hall closet. Now I’m sweating. I know it will feel good to get these spaces under control and I appreciate your inspiration. Hugs, C
Twenty years ago, a friend signed me up for an email service that would send messages throughout the day with action items like tackling hot spots. It was supposed to be motivational. That was before texts. I actually followed it. That’s where I learned the term “hot spots.”
That Typewriter is really cool and finding free money is always a plus.
I’m glad you like the typewriter. Yay for free money.
Omg I’m amidst my big January organizing extravaganza. My all purpose closet needed an overhaul so that was last weekends project. I did under my bed, my closet, and a table in our living room with storage under it which became a dumping ground. The next big one is our basement storage unit but it’s so cold down there I need to wait till spring
That sounds huge to tackle all those places.
It’s funny but I wrote a little about it for tomorrow. The one that took longest was the all purpose closet, and that was an hour. I take everything out. Look at what I have. And then sort by type if possible. It took an hour. I tweak my closet seasonally, so I think that took me a half hour.
That’s really fast. My desk took more than four hours. I’m glad I stuck with it and got it done in one day. But mainly it was setting up files and going through paperwork that took so long.
I do touch ups through the year when necessary, so I can avoid the extended clean. I hit everything in January. Then throughout the year I find one place a week that isn’t as efficient as it should be and I tweak.
Good for you! Most of my house is pretty organized. I need to work on my closet from time to time. Plus there are boxes in our guest room that I haven’t unpacked. I think they were boxes from our guest room in Palm Springs. My desk was the big disaster.
I used to have massive desk issues. I solved it my getting a three tier rolling cart. It stores stuff I may or may not need, which allows my desk to functional yet have some of my talisman pieces.
I used a rolling cart in Palm Springs. I had a table to work on, not a desk with drawers, so it worked really well for me.
My desk has no drawers, just shelves, so I had to improvise
👍🏼
My hotspot without a doubt is our walk-in closet. It’s large enough to allow space for three chests of drawers, which you’d think would lead to a tidiness, but no. Not with us. One of these days I’ll face up to the challenge, but not today.
That’s an issue in our house, too. We also have three chests of drawers in it, but I tend to stack stuff on top of them.
EXACTLY! Me too, and then I put more stuff on top of the first stuff. And then it’s a mess I don’t want to deal with.
Well at least you’re not alone!
Your desk is beautiful (and much too uncluttered!) and I love the paintings. What treasures.
Thank you! I should have taken before and after pics of the desk 😀
I have a glass desk, very modern and light which my husband encouraged me to replace the old fashioned wooden hard heavy desk which was beautiful(University of Tampa’s Chiselers Sale) but it served its purpose and the new happy owner was glad to take it off our hands and move it along. As we get older, we start looking for lighter weights to move and less upkeep. Finding checks is good almost like finding hidden jewelry in the closet. I remember after my mom passed away.
A glass desk sounds beautiful. Those reward checks were great — once I found out they never expire!