San
Diego Professional Organizer Advice
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Office Design, Desk Configuration
10.21.05
(Part 2)
Doris,
This week I would like to discuss your teenage sons desk design. It
is really important that your son has a larger desk area than the
one you grew up with. The long and short of it is, the old hand me
down desk from 15 years ago is probably not large enough.
Think about it – did you have a computer, printer, iPod etc
when you were in school? The modern school study work space should
be at least 5-6 feet long. Most older desks do not include a file
drawer and have too many small shallow drawers. These small drawers
usualy serve as nothing more than a junk holding area.
Whatever you choose, make sure to have at least 4 feet of open surface
for your son to open up books and write upon.
A file drawer included with a desk is very helpful for sorting papers
by subject. This is the time for your son to develop good paper habits.
Work with your son to create a file system that makes sense to him.
Make sure he has tabs and empty folders to make new folders when neccessary.
Possible headings for folders could be: by the subject, by the project,
or simply homework completed, etc. During the summer, go through this
drawer and purge the old papers to make way for new files the next
school year. This is an invaluable skill for you r son and worth the
time and resistance that you might encounter in the beginning.
Teach your son now to save warranties and manuals for all of the electronic
gadgets he will surely own. Again – a valuable skill that he
can use for the rest of his adult life.
Ok – back to the desk. Keep the hard drive off of the desk surface
as well as the keyboard and mouse if possible. Place the hardrive
below the desk of off to the side. Use a keyboard tray. If the desk
does not come with a keyboard tray, look into purchasing a single
unit and installing under your existing desktop.
I often install a 12 inch wide shelf directly above and centered over
the desk. Install the first shelf 8-10 inches above the desktop and
add a few other shelves staggered above and to the sides of the centered
shelf.
These shelves will hold binders, text books and memorabilia without
cluttering up the desk surface. U-shaped shelves that have side brackets
built in help keep the larger books upright without the need for wobbly
book ends.
Please
submit your questions to:
advice@addspacetoyourlife.com
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