I’ve been researching the whole “capsule wardrobe” phenomena recently. Ladies will probably know what I’m talking about but if you haven’t heard about this, the idea is to pare down your wardrobe quarterly to 33 items. By doing this, the goal is to have only pieces you love to wear, that make you look and feel good and pare down on items you may be holding onto for sentimental or “but I paid so much for that” reasons.
That got me thinking about my desk. I have so many pens, inks, pencils, erasers, notebooks and various office supplies that its time to Project 333 my desk. So, in the spirit of Project 333, I thought I’d pull together what I think would be the perfect “capsule office”. Our desks, like our closets, deserve to be filled with things we love to use, that inspire and that are functional. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I squirrel away pens and pencils in every pocket, bag, cup and bucket so there’s a lot of clean-up that happened in my work office already to accomplish this.
Pictured here are the 33 things I want in my office. I pulled this together from items I actually own and use (colors and styles may be modified based on what is currently available in the market).
Pens
Other tools:
Paper:
Not Shown:
To be added in the next couple weeks:
I keep a lot of pens and pencils around for review comparison purposes but I think these items can be packed into a box I access just for reviews. For day-to-day purposes, I don’t need to have to wade through every gel pen ever made to find something to write with. I don’t need four multi-pens. I don’t need to have every fountain pen inked up all the time.
I did not count the brush pens, dip pens and other tools I use specifically to do my job nor the drawing pads stored there. Most of this inventory came from the contents of my daily carry bag. I did not count my bag or my technology tools in this list.
And finally, I could not bring myself to include inks in the pare down. I tried but I just couldn’t do it. If I limit myself to a few favorite pens, I’ll need lots of color options of ink to keep myself inspired. That’s not to say I won’t pare down my massive collection of sample bottles and clear out some colors that I don’t completely love. But limiting my ink colors was more than I could take!
Everything else, I’m going to pack or sell or give away. Things with sentimental value will be stored for three months and if, at the end of that time, I miss them, I will keep them. If not, they will be sold or donated.
Does this inspire you to pare down your office and stationery goods?