Organizing computer room, need some ideas - Page 2

Keep at it. Give us some pictures along the way.

I recently got rid of my old boxes as well. It's hard to do, but I feel much better now that I have.

As far as all the old cases/hardware, I would throw those on CL and get rid of them. If you haven't used them yet, you probably won't. I had a ton of old computers and finally just got rid of them. If you really need an old computer in the future for a server or something, just pick one up then.

Can you do a quick overhead of the layout of the room on paint or something? I think just a reorganizing of the layout would make all the difference. It feels like you just stacked things in the room as you moved in and left it there (specifically the 2 dressers next to each other).

With very small rooms, I would recommend the bed against the wall if it is only you.

Gotcha.

This is how I would lay it out.

Having gone through this very process recently, let me make this suggestion (warning, it's a LOT of work, but it will be very satisfying).

Move everything out of the room (except the very large pieces, like furniture). If you have a garage, put everything there. First, toss everything that is obviously trash. Then remove items that made their way into your space but really belong elsewhere (i.e. dad's tools, movies from the den, etc.) Sort everything left you have into three groups:

1. Stuff I have used in the last month.
2. Stuff I have bought in the last year but haven't used in the last month.
3. Stuff I bought / acquired more than a year ago.

For boxes, the easiest thing to do is this: if the return policy on the item you bought is up, throw the box away. If you sell something or need to move, get boxes. They aren't expensive enough to justify holding on to them.

Now for the sorting.

Ignore group 1 for now. Start with group 3. You're going to sort this stack into two sub-stacks.
Move through it QUICKLY assessing each item as follows: Is this important to me / sentimental? If no, will I have a use for this in the next 30 days. If you answered yes to either, put them in one stack; no to both, put in the other. This is critical: when deciding if you will need something in the next 30 days, do not let yourself think "Hey, I can find a use for this". That is the hoarder's crutch. If you haven't found a use in the last year, you won't in the next year. Let someone else find a use for it.

Do the same thing for Group 2, but take a little more time.

Put everything in the yes stack with the stuff in Group 1. Everything in the 'no' stack is going. What can you do with it? Throw it out. Have a garage sale. Donate it to charity (Goodwill, United Way and The Red Cross all have programs that accept obsolete or non-working electronic products for use in job training. Your trash will help someone learn a skill, and you get a tax deduction).

Once you are finished, you should have a group of stuff you actually need that is much smaller.

Take that group and figure out a specific place for every item in that group, then move those things back into your room.

Now you have a space filled with things you actually need, in a place where they will be useful to you. Most importantly, you won't be overwhelmed with the unconscious burden of having to eventually find a use for all the junk you've accumulated.