My kids deserve to live in a clutter-free, organized, tidy environment. My husband deserves it. I deserve it.
I have been reading a lot on the I Heart Organizing blog lately. Jen has great ideas to make it happen. She is so organized and creative with paper and other STUFF. I want to be like her!!!!
I also looked through every single one of the ideas to incorporate photos into personal space on Kristen Duke's photography blog.
So I started with the kitchen today. That is our landing spot, where everything ends up. My purse, etc. Ethan's school papers. Zane and Nash's daily daycare reports. And the mail. The mother of all paper beasts -- the mail. We have discovered in this digital age that we don't actually get much mail. Some bills (many are paperless online statements now), health insurance EOB's, retirement savings statements, occasionally a card for birthdays or anniversaries, or holidays. The crazy out-of-control things are magazines (I am NOT renewing any subscriptions this year!) and catalogs. Oh my gosh. The insanity of it all. Ethan shredded like it was going out of style. And I ended up with four keeper piles. (I possibly can pare it down even more, but this was a good start.)
So my goal is to get the paper off my kitchen countertops. Our kitchen is VERY small, so taking away any space at all hurts.
The adjoining dining room is also VERY small. But there is a space with a cool old china cabinet that used to be my mom's in the corner. It's a little nook about 4 and a half feet wide. That's where my mail station is going to be. I hate to move out the china cabinet, but I feel like I am desperate. I need to make a change, but what we have ain't workin'!
My plan is to install two 10" deep shelves from Pottery Barn in that space, with the first one being about 30" from the ceiling and the second one being about 18" below that. This is where I would like to display some of my pottery I have collected over the years (cookie jars, platters, etc) and personalize with photos or prints.
Below that is going to be these nice 12" square cork boards I got on clearance at Target at least a year ago (I had good intentions even then!). That's where I would like to put the day-to-day things we need for school or daycare like lunch menus, field trip info, etc. that you forget about if they are out of sight. Ina pile of paper.
Below this will be the console table we currently use as a desk upstairs for our laptop. It's not ideal, but it's free. On top of the table will be boxes (cute photo boxes perhaps?) for current bills, coupons, things to be filed. Below that will be the two black leather cubes we sometimes have to use as extra seating at the small dining room table when we have guests. In the nearby hallway coat closet will be the paper shredder and a box for newspaper and magazine recycling.
That's my plan. Granted, you have to actually USE the system for it to be successful. But I am so inspired because I actually finally have a plan!
I also have plans to begin school paper storage files for each of the boys (one of Jen's ideas). I am finding nice hanging file folder boxes with folders for each school year. There will be important things like tests or report cards or special projects in each school years' folder. I am also going to try to get a handle on all the super artwork produced in our house. I will display it for a while in a location TBD (currently the fridge). Then we will scan electronically all the art, eventually displaying it in some kind of collage or storing it in a photo book form someplace like Shutterfly. You know I will keep the super special awesome pieces though!
So that's my plan.
I am heading to Target tomorrow to look for the filing supplies, and I am going to order the wall shelves from PB. So awesome!!!
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