Dear Lifehacker,
I'm pretty well organized, but my desk is running out of space to keep stuff on, and I just don't know what the heck to do. What can I do as I run out of room on my desk for all this stuff?
Sincerely,
Piles with Purpose
Dear PP,
We've all run into this problem at one point or another. No matter how well you plan when you're buying a desk, it seems inevitable that you'll run of space eventually. While a good purge is always helpful, and organizing your cables can free up space as well, sometimes you just need more space. Thankfully, there are a ton of different ways to add a little extra space to your desk without breaking the bank.
Raise Up What You Have
If your desk is piled with stuff, it might be time to make better use of that space by raising up what you have. This can be done in any number of ways, and if done well you can also get a little added shelf space along the way.
For example, if you're running a dual-monitor setup, mounting your monitor above your desk instead of side-by-side is a simple way to make more space without taking up desk space. If that's not your bag, you can also just mount your monitors behind your desk instead of on top. This frees up space without interfering with your current setup. Likewise, you can also raise up your monitor on a stand that gives you added space, like this $12 hacked together IKEA stand or the Twelve South HiRise. Since your monitor is supposed to be at eye level, this likely makes your space more ergonomic as well. The same can be said for your speakers. If they're taking up too much space, you can build stands yourself, or buy a set that offers up some extra space for you.
Hide Away Clutter Behind Your Monitor
Behind your monitor is an oft-forgotten and fantastic place to hide away all kinds of your clutter. We often forget about it back there and let it become a hideaway filled with spider webs and dusty cables.
Thankfully, it's pretty easy to maximize that unused space and turn it into something useful. For example, you can build your own system that hides away all your clutter, including speakers, lights, pens and more.
Alternately, you can build yourself a tiny little shelf that hides away your junk, or just buy a shelf like this one for an iMac that does the same thing. The truth is, the back of your monitor makes a pretty good hiding space for all kinds of clutter. If you're not using it yet, it's a good way to get more use out of your desk space.
Make Better Use of the Space Under Your Desk
While we're always piling things on top of our desks, it's easy to forget that the space underneath our desks is just as useful. In fact, it's an underutilized resource that can actually free up a ton of extra space if you're creative.
You can use the space underneath your desk in a number of ways. For example, an external hard drive can be mounted with a bit of velcro so it's easy to move around, a coat hook makes a great hanger for headphones, some baskets underneath your desk provide tons of storage, or you can just mount a ton of your gadgets with pegboard.
Regardless of how you decide to mount your gadgets and gear under your desk, the point is that it's space we often don't think to make use of. Most of us have an area under our desks just wasting space, put it to good use.
Sure, you can go out a buy a bigger desk and solve this problem right away, but if you just need to get a bit more space from the desk you already own it's totally doable. The benefit is that you'll end up getting a few great new storage areas in the process.
Good luck,
Lifehacker
Photos by Bekathwia, Yuchiro MASUI.