If you’re anything like me, especially if you work from home, you take pride in both your gaming battle station and your workstation, and you have one battle that lasts forever. It looks neat and tidy. From maximizing space on your desk to hiding messy cables.
Home offices grew exponentially, and people had to set up what was once an office workstation and duplicate it at home. There are all sorts of combinations of laptops and desktops with varying numbers of monitors and of course more cables. Maintaining a clutter-free workspace often increases productivity. Organization and cleaning promote a positive mental attitude and have an energizing effect.
Everyone’s setup is different: the number of desks, the PC towers above or below the desk, and of course the number of gadgets and peripherals. But one thing all setups have in common is that they all need to be near a power source and have lots of cables and connections.
One of the first things you can do to get organized is cable management. Group all cables and route or hide them neatly. From cable ties to cable sleeves to even small cable management trays under your desk, there are plenty of products to help you with this task.
neat cable
Cloth cable ties are a great way to organize cables. They’re very easy to use and reusable, which makes them very useful when new peripherals require adjustments such as adding or removing cables.
Other great cable management options include material or plastic cable sheaths. These can be cut to length and keep cable bundles neat and tidy. A third option is a cable tray that can be attached to your desk via a small clamp. No need to puncture or damage your desk. Here are some great examples of these products.
Go wireless
what about the desk itself? Start by properly storing items that don’t need to be on your desktop. Some shelves, pegboards, or drawers offer great storage options and help reduce clutter.
Choosing wireless peripherals will reduce the number of cables you have to connect to your computer and keep your desk looking clutter-free. There are lots of great deals on wireless devices for setup. Check out our best wireless mice and best wireless keyboards for ideas and suggestions.
One hub to rule them all
If you can’t get away from having a lot of wired devices, consider using a USB hub. If you have a PC tower under your desk, connecting a hub to your PC not only reduces clutter, but also saves you from having to crawl under your desk, especially if your computer doesn’t have that many USB ports. See our best USB hubs page for inspiration on the types of hubs available to meet your needs.
- Sabrent 60W 10 Port USB 3.0 Hub: Now $41 at Amazon (opens in new tab) (was $49)
- Weenter 11 Port Powered USB 3.0 Hub Splitter: Now $28 at Amazon (opens in new tab) (was $49)
mount up
Is your monitor on your desk using a stand or riser? If so, you can free up a lot of space by mounting the monitor to an arm using a Vesa bracket. A large number of monitors are compatible with his VESA mounting system, and there are plenty of monitor arms to choose from.
These mounts can also be fixed to your desk. This is great for people who can’t mount to the wall of their rental property or who don’t want to cut holes in their desks. However, you should check the size and weight of your monitor and compare it to the specifications of your monitor arm to make sure it can support the dimensions of your chosen monitor.
Some arms come with a laptop holder that helps keep your work laptop off your desk when it’s connected to a monitor, so you have a lot of flexibility in your setup options.There is also a tutorial How to install a monitor desk mount.
All of these options can help keep your computer desk setup tidy and give you more room to work, but remember, it’s okay to have extra stuff on your desk. Glasses cases, microfiber cloths, pens, notebooks and headsets are all part of the workstation ecosystem.
