Dan is a professional humorist and speaker, and one of the funniest people I know — aside from the salesperson at Nordstrom who asked if I wanted to try on swimsuits. So when he told me about some organizing products he knew would never be made, I was intrigued.

1. “Always clean & empty” storage shed

This wonderful device is installed in your backyard and filled with all the stuff you want to keep, but don’t really need. At random intervals, a large dump truck comes along and empties your shed. The next time you go outside with Aunt Mabel’s Crock Pot, you’ll be amazed at how much space you have. Additionally the items are sold at local charity thrift stores. It’s recycling at its best!

2. “I’m not your mom” clothes organizer

This wonderful device looks complicated with its hooks and pockets, but each has a purpose. You hang a pair of pants on the lower hooks, the shirt goes on the upper hooks, socks clip at the bottom of the pants, underwear fits inside the pants on a special hook, and shoes slip in pockets under the socks. When you’re finished you have an entire suit that hangs in your closet, ready to wear!

3. Always-in-style closet

This great labor-saver uses a system of hanger conveyors like the ones in your local dry cleaners, except they have ten year’s worth of space on them and go up into your attic. By the time the first things you hung up make it back into your closet, they’re back in style. You’ll be the envy of your chic friends.

4. Neat home hologram

Just once, get everything neatly and perfectly arranged. Then install the Neat Home Projector in the ceilings of your rooms and take an archive picture of everything in perfect order. From then on, no matter what condition each room is in, people will only see the perfect hologram. This is especially helpful for teenage boys’ rooms. Just think, every time you pass by, their room is immaculate. Optional “Fresh Scent” hologram projectors really complete the picture and are well worth the extra cost.

5. Trash to treasure box

We’ve all heard the term “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Well, this great device puts this into action. Place one of these boxes under the sink to catch kitchen garbage, trash from the bedrooms and bathrooms and any place you collect trash. Once the box is full, close the lid and voila, it’s a pre-priced “mystery item” for your next garage sale. Now your trash really can lead to treasure! Encourage the purchasers to prolong the suspense by waiting until they get home to open their “treasure” box.

Which of these organizing products is your favorite?

Get a grip

My exterminator would cringe if he knew I was promoting spiders, but he’ll have to get a grip…actually a grip similar to the one the SpiderpodiumTablet® has on iPads and other Tablet PC’s. Sure, it’s creepy with its 8 legs that bend at all angles, but I always say that function (it can hold your tablet in place or let you view it at any angle) trumps beauty. The Spiderpodium Tablet, made from Advanced Tech “SoftTouch Rubber,” is available in black and graphite.

Put on the hog

Working from home can be lonely. Take a break from the silence with the iHog. This hog-shaped iPod/iPhone docking station has 4 speakers that deliver 360 degrees of sound…they’re loud!

Whether you choose the iHog in pink, white or black, consider sharing the iHog with your family. You don’t want them to think you’re a pig.

A functional skyline

Your home office may not overlook a city skyline, but you can get the next best thing with the Skyline Desk Organizer. This laser-cut wood holder has two spaces for mail or letters, and a space for pens and pencils.

This is one of the more interesting and creative supply organizers I’ve ever seen. Its neutral color will match any home office and its narrow design will leave you with plenty of desktop space to work.

File and fold

You may work in your home office day after day, but some days it’s better to mix it up and work somewhere else. When you need to take files with you, the Bungalow file tote can handle the job. It’s sturdy enough to hold plenty of letter-size hanging folders, yet folds up for easy storage. It also works well for storing files in your home office, but something this stylish deserves to be taken out once in a while.

Stick with it

One of the (many) things I don’t miss about my corporate days in a stuffy office is my old, grey desk accessories. I’ve done my best to make sure that my home office doesn’t resemble anything close to my old corporate office. Instead of bland accessories, I have colorful and functional ones. The Poppin tape dispenser definitely fits into that category with its selection of eight colors.

Stick ‘em up

There’s no doubt that a valuable photo or piece of art is worth framing. But when you have inexpensive art that you may change out soon anyway, why bother with frames? The Re-stickable Decal Photo Frame makes framing simple, and hanging even easier. The best part is that you can move the frames from room to room without putting any holes in your walls. Each pack comes with eight frames that stick to your walls or windows and won’t damage walls or paint.

When you think of cute animals, you may not think of a whale, but when it’s the size of a pencil holder and is a pencil holder, it’s hard not to say, “ahhhh.” This handcrafted holder, made from white pine, beech or redwood, holds pencils and paper in the top and back and can grip something in its mouth, too.

Each Wood Whale is signed, numbered and “packed for migration.”

Fixing the filing blues

There’s nothing exciting about filing, but that doesn’t mean that your file cabinet has to be blah. This powder coated cabinet in a beautiful blue and cool green can brighten any home office. It has one letter-legal file drawer and two storage drawers (dog not included).

If I had to leave my house (with my pants on, of course), there are a few things I couldn’t leave behind. Although a few would be physically impossible to take without a little help, I’d have to take my:

iPhone. I’m addicted to this second brain of mine that makes my life so much easier. Between the calendar — the alarm feature keeps me from missing appointments all of the time — GPS, camera, wireless access and all of the other apps I use, my iPhone keeps me organized.

Brother all-in-one. I can’t believe I used to use three separate machines in my home office, including a copier, printer and fax — I was too cheap to buy a scanner — when I could do everything with one machine. Now I have four functions in one, including a scanner.

MacBook. With the exception of my first computer, an IBM with a hard drive the size of a two-drawer file cabinet, I’ve always owned a Mac. My MacBook works fine but I have my eye on a MacBook Air and an iPad. I don’t need any of those things, but I want them.

External hard drive. During one of my last seminars, a guy in the audience told us about his son running over his laptop (after it had fallen off the top of the guy’s car).  The car was fine but his computer was totaled. A month before, his son had convinced him to backup his hard drive weekly. While he had to replace his laptop, he wasn’t stressed about having to replace the data.

Desk. I love my desk. It’s big enough to hold my files, supplies and equipment but not so big that it takes up all of the space in my home office.  It has plenty of storage space and even though I don’t need the pullout keyboard drawer, I use it to hold extra printer paper. Another one of my favorite desks is from aspenhome.

I’d leave my desk chair behind because although it’s functional, it’s ugly and I want a new, cooler one.

If you could take only a few things out of your home office, what would they be?

Interior Designer Melinda Miles and her husband inherited a pharmacy supply cabinet that had been in their family for years. The quarter-sawn oak cabinet started out in an old, turn-of-the-century drugstore and held pharmacy supplies.  Miles realized that these drawers, with the labels for the pharmaceutical products still attached, were the perfect size for DVD and supply storage within her home office.

Her interior design skills came in handy when she created plans for a hutch unit that could rest on top to house the TV, books and some accessories. Her cabinet guy built the hutch exactly to the specifications to line up with the base, and her furniture refinisher matched the old finish perfectly. Matching a finish is not an easy task.

Now they have a fully functional entertainment center/supply cabinet that preserves a piece of her husband’s history. Her husband didn’t want to remove the old pharmacy labels, but the one that read “Feminine Products” disappeared mysteriously during the redesign process.

Some parts of history don’t need to be preserved.

The Desktop Station keeps your supplies organized and in sight.

Do you remember the movie The Jerk and Steve Martin’s character yelling, “The new phonebook is here…I’m somebody now!” while dancing around?  I feel the same way about the new Container Store “Work Smart Office Sale” catalog…dancing around included. Now we can all get organized or at least have an office that looks amazing.  My three favorite products are:

Desktop Station. You Lookouts (who like to keep everything in sight) will love this product alone or paired with the Landscape Letter Tray and the Landscape Paper Drawer. Aside from holding pens, pencils, folders and other supplies, you can see clearly what’s inside.  No more hidden supplies.

Ultimate Portable File Box. As the weather gets nicer, you may want to work outside or catch up on paperwork during a long track meet or just work in another room because you’re sick of working in the same place.  This file box lets you store hanging folders with interior folders inside and the organizer compartment on top holds the supplies you’ll need while you’re away from your office.

Letter-Size Interior File Folders. These hip, colorful file folders will make you jump for joy (in case you don’t dance when you see the catalog).  Their patterns and colors could turn any home office from dull to dazzling.

What’s your favorite office organizing product (from any store or online)? Post your comments below.

Disclaimer: I was not compensated by The Container Store to mention their fabulous products or to dance.

• Executive desk groups (major office hogs) are being replaced by smaller groupings at lower price points.

• Home office furniture isn’t only for home offices. Families are buying the furniture for game rooms, family rooms and bedrooms.

• Desks are smaller but still functional and they’re on wheels to make them easy to move around.

• Cabinets have fold-down work surfaces to save space.

• Desks for laptop computers are still popular. Why buy a desk with space for a CPU if you’ve ditched your desktop?

• Furniture features flexible configurations. That comes in handy if you move to a smaller space or if you want to be able to change around your office once in awhile.

• High-end furniture manufacturers are continuing to reduce the size of their desks, along with their prices.

For the first time in Las Vegas, less is more.