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Maryland Heights resident wins contest to put clutter in its place
Essay Debbee Adams wrote for the “Messiest Desk Contest” added
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| Submitted photo/This is a before picture of Debbee Adams’ desk in her Maryland Heights home. Adams works as a medical transcriptionist at home. She entered the “Messiest Desk Contest” and won a desk makeover from two professional organizers. | ||
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When Debbee Adams’ father saw her desk, he didn’t recognize it. Of course, he hadn’t seen the top of it in years.
“That’s a nice desk (the professional organizers) got you,” Bob Coleman told his daughter.
Coleman had stopped by to see how the organizing project was coming along and was shocked to learn it was the original desk Adams had bought years earlier at Kmart.
“That’s my same desk, you can just see it now,” she said.
Adams’ desk went from chaos to clean with the assistance of Sue Anderson and Erica Wise, who are both professional organizers. Anderson is the owner of Simplified Living Solutions Inc., which is based in South County, and Wise owns Simply Organized Services, which is based in St. Charles.
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Adams was the winner of their “Messiest Desk Contest” and received a free desk makeover. She also learned the skills, techniques and methods to stay organized in the future.
The contest was designed to draw attention to the benefits of organization, which include saving time and money, increased productivity and improved quality of life. Entries were accepted from Dec. 1, 2008 through Jan. 20 and participants were asked to provide an explanation of how they would envision their perfect desk looking and functioning; it’s present condition; why it’s such a mess; how it’s affecting their current life; and why it makes life a challenge. Photos of the desk in its messy condition were needed as well.
Anderson and Wise received around 65 entries ranging from busy executives to moms. Adams, a 46-year-old Maryland Heights resident who works as a medical transcriptionist from the desk in her kitchen, was selected Jan. 23 as the winner.
“We felt we could change her desk real well,” Anderson said. “She was ready for change. She just needed help.”
Before the makeover papers, books and folders littered the desk. There was a bulletin board full of post-it notes with medical terms pinned near the computer monitor. Binders, books and stacks of paper cluttered the shelves on the hutch attached to the top of the desk.
“For me it was feeling unprofessional for me to have my workspace like that,” Adams said.
Anderson, Wise and Adams went to work on the makeover in early February. After 30 man-hours it was done. The wooden desk top was visible. The post-it notes had a home in a binder. Medical books and binders had their place on shelves. Stacks of paper had been sorted and it was either filed or thrown out. The fax machine, the computer printer, paper and other supplies now sit neatly stacked on a cart next to the desk. The four-drawer file cabinet now has an organized system for storing bills, paper work and other paper items.
“She’s a million times more efficient and the space works better,” Anderson said. “We had to set up a system for every paper or task that comes across her desk everyday so she knew exactly what to do with that item.”
Relief comes to mind when Adams thinks about the finished product.
“The only way I can put it is I feel this huge ‘ahh.’ I can breathe,” she said. “I don’t feel all tense.”
Adams always had the desire to be organized. She just never knew where to start. The problem began in December 2007, shortly after she earned her certificate in medical transcription. She was told it would take a while to find a job and in the meantime she planned to send out letters seeking employment and organize her desk.
She became involved in the normal hustle and bustle of family life, started a job a few months later and the desk was forgotten about. For the past year, she functioned with every nook and cranny filled in a disorderly fashion.
However, she never lost sight of what the desk could be like. She envisioned binders here, books there and paper work in its rightful place. Once the mess began, it kept piling up and she became overwhelmed and never started, she said.
“I had this idea,” she said. “I was just so buried I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop and do it.”
Then her daughter, Ellaina, 13, saw a flyer promoting the contest at their chiropractor’s office and Adams entered.
“I needed somebody who could come in and look at it objectively and have ideas. I needed ‘fresh eyes’,” Adams said.
Adams has since taken over the task of keeping her desk clean, including training her family where to properly put items that need her attention.
Adams’ husband, Louie, 49, and her two children, Ellaina, and Xan, 10, have learned quickly where to put the mail, bills and school papers that need signing — in the inbox.
“You don’t put things on my desk, you put things in the tray,” she said to her family. “This is my desk and my place.”
Winning Words
Here is the essay Debbee Adams wrote for the “Messiest Desk Contest.”
“My 13-year-old daughter spotted your flier at our chiropractor’s office and we both knew I had to enter.
“I work from home as a medical transcriptionist. I graduated in December 2007, received my certificate in January 2008 and was told to plan on mailing out 25 letters a week and hearing ‘no’ at
least 100 times before I got a nibble. So I mentally prepared myself and made a plan to get my desk transitioned from crazy study chaos to organized, ready-to-work status. In March 2008, to my surprise, I was blessed with my first client only days after mailing just nine letters.
“I have been working since then and have not had the chance to tackle my desk and work area. In addition to working from home, I am also treasurer of my daughter’s swim team, which means I have paperwork and files for the team. I handle our household bills and anything else paperwork related. My husband just hands everything to me or lays it on my desk.
“I used to be a very organized person and, at heart, I still am. Once I got married and had two children, I started losing the battle of organized living. It’s me against three. I feel buried almost daily. The whole house is closing in on me because I’m here all day.
“I would love to get my work area organized so I can have my own little place of peace, especially where I work all day.
“My area currently consists of my desk with a hutch, a two-shelf bookcase and four-drawer file cabinet. The bookcase is older than me. It isn’t working out as I had hoped because the shelves are too short to hold my books and binders. The cubbies in my hutch are also too short for my binders and some of my books. My fax machine sits on top of my four-drawer file, which means I have to stand on my chair to make sure I’ve dialed the correct number. I have limited space since my ‘office’ is actually a corner of my eat-in kitchen.
“I would love to have a better functioning bookcase and a place for some in-and-out trays, so I can easily sort the things that I need to do like swim team documents, my daughter and son’s school papers, mail, messiest desk contest fliers, etc. That way I don’t have a pile in the middle of my desk that I have to wade through before I can do my transcription work.
“My space may be a bigger challenge than you are looking for, but I figured it was worth a shot to swallow my pride and take those photos if it helped me get the organized work space I have longed for.”
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