@Rinel
I've made my "teacher" desk as small as I possibly can and still have a place to keep my shit.
On that desk I have a SINGLE PLASTIC WIRE BOX. One. On it is a sign that says "turn stuff in here" That is for my kiddos, but also for me. Every single piece of paper I get, any binders, books, WHATEVER gets put into that basket. Then on Friday after school I sit down with it and sort through it all. If it needs graded, it gets graded. If it needs put away, it gets put away. If it's important enough I still need it "out" but isn't immediatly going to be used it gets put at the bottom of the basket and starts the next week. My stack is usually about 7-8 inches tall by Friday.
This system:
a) Means that when I put stuff down it is (generally) in one place so I only have to look in one place for where I can get.
b) The kiddos know that they are ONLY to turn stuff into this pile. They aren't allowed to physically hand me anything or I //will// lose it.
It's worked for seven years now... but damn if that pile doesn't get HUGE sometimes.