As you may know, I play many different roles: I’m a photographer, a student, I hold various part-time jobs, and am involved in several ministries within my church! I was actually listening to a podcast, SHE by Jordan Lee Dooley, and one episode described a person who has many roles as a unicorn! So as a unicorn, I spend time outside the house, but I spend a lot of time at home because I’m such a homebody, especially at my desk. There are some items that serve multiple purposes in my busy life and I always have them next to me. Besides my laptop, phone, and Bible, here are my five essential items I keep on my desk!

1. Sticky notes

I LOVE sticky notes! I use yellow for urgent to-do lists, writing grocery lists, and for quotes or Bible verses. All other lists and non-important items go on blue sticky notes. If you can’t tell, I’m an organized person. I can be messy, but it’s an organized mess ☺

2. Calculator

I surprisingly use my calculator a lot. I’ll usually have a web browser or Excel sheet on my laptop and my calendar pulled up on my phone so I need an external calculator to do all other calculations. I budget too, so having a calculator on my desk is nice when I need to do some quick calculations!

3. A variety of pens and pencils

I need something to write with on my sticky notes! I also write numbers down so I don’t forget them when I’m doing calculations. I’ll have ballpoint pens for random notes and writing checks, there are ink pens for writing letters and cards, and I'll keep some colored ones for color-coding! Additionally, there’s at least one pencil and a separate eraser for times when I know I’ll make mistakes and need to keep it neat.

4. Water bottle

I try and drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated and healthy! I’ll fill a water bottle or cup on my desk as a reminder to drink water. A water bottle is easier to keep track of how much water I drank and makes for less trips to the kitchen because it’s bigger! But if I have no plans to leave the house, I’ll usually just use the same cup the whole day so it gets me moving.

5. Hand lotion

Since I drink a lot of water, it means I go to the bathroom pretty often! The hand-washing really dries out my hands, especially in the winter. Even after I put lotion on, I’ll notice later in the day that my hands are still feeling dry. Having hand lotion within reach is nice to keep my hands moisturized and prevent painful cracking!