My husband HATES that I keep so many icons on the desktop, but it is the easiest way for me to remember to complete the millions of ideas and tasks I have running through my head on a daily basis. Things were starting to get hard to find and VERY unorganized, so I created a cute background image to place all of the icons in "sections".
If you're interested in doing the same, it's really easy. Just open up PowerPoint and create a new document. You may need to change the slide size, which can be done under the "design" tab at the top. My PowerPoint page size was already set to "widescreen", which worked perfectly for my screen, but you could always measure your screen (yes, like with a ruler or tape measure) and create a custom page size.
I first inserted a cute chevron digital paper image as my background. Then I began placing various borders with colored boxes inside. When you get everything the way you want, press Ctrl+a (which will select everything you've created on the page). Then, right click and select "save as picture". I saved the picture on my desktop so that it was easily accessible (and because this is OBVIOUSLY where I save almost everything!) hee, hee! And don't forget to save the PowerPoint, just in case you need to make some changes.
Right click on the image (wherever you saved it) and choose "save as desktop background." Now you are ready to start moving your icons into the appropriate locations!
Now, I just need to start completing these tasks and to-dos so that I can remove them from the desktop (and add some more!)