a year to be organized

There are a lot of times I find myself hopping from one blog to another being inspired by one thing or another. The craftiness and ingenuity of people really amaze me. I read their posts and inspect the pictures of their projects and think to myself "why didn't I think of that?!" When I am finally able to tear myself away from blog-hopping I find myself wishing that I was as organized and crafty as these ladies. I can do it, I know I can. So, over the next few weeks I am aiming to get a handle on our "home management binder" and our paper clutter. I find that the mail comes in, but doesn't always get dealt with the right way. I also desperately need to invest in a new paper shredder. I just have to work on finding the right method that works for me. I would include everyone else in on that...but who am I kidding? I'm probably the only one that will use it.



I have so many ideas and I've found a ton of great advice online. One of my favorites is A Bowl Full of Lemons. Last week she posted a weekly challenge for the Home Management Binder. I've read about this concept before, but never really gave it much thought. When I read her post and had a chance to think it over with our current situation, I thought it would be worth a try. I feel so disorganized and "lost" sometimes, plus I'm way stressed about having to keep track of 3 kids worth of soccer practices, games & snacks. I didn't have an extra binder to use, so I got my tabs, and labeled them accordingly (and ran out of labels in the process! lol) and added them to the front of my recipe binder (since I haven't gotten around to finishing that either). I'm hoping to get out to Staples soon and pick up more labels and a cute binder.

A few weeks ago I also took her advice on some file organization and got to work cleaning out my file bin. I had a decent, plastic, rubbermaid one that suited it's purpose, but the folders were a mess. So, first things first, I sorted through and purged papers. Then I decided what really needed to be filed away and kept long term. Once I got all that taken care of I took my stacks of papers and re-organized them and made a list of the categories in a notebook. The folders I had all needed to be replaced, so on my next trip to Target I picked some up. I also picked up these two cute file boxes while I was there. Normally I wouldn't have purchased something like this for $9, but Tom suggested I go ahead, and they look really nice on my big Expedit bookcase. Right now only one has file folders in it, the other is holding the boys' collection of Xbox Live magazines so that they are stored away neatly. Since I had plenty of folders I went ahead and made master folders for each of the kids to hold their school paperwork in, again inspired by A Bowl Full's school paper system. I only went to 5th grade for the moment, I try not to keep too much of their stuff, it's just overwhelming sometimes. I also figured that after 5th grade they won't be bringing much home that is keep worthy, so at some point I may add a 6th & 7th grade folder, report card folder or something, but for right now this works pretty well.