anyway, the paperwork jungle that goes along with new school registration and all that, we realized we needed some improvements. once i get going on one thing, i want to do it all!
here's what we've tackled so far:
-reorganized all of our files
i don't know about yall, but over the years i've accumulated about 10 different expanding file folders that keep all of my important documents. once michael and i got married, the folders grew a little more. i don't go through them and toss out what i don't need as often as i should, so they were starting to take up more room than i'd like in one of our downstairs cabinets.
i had one folder with a section for each of us (michael, kona, loki and me) containing birth certificates, social security cards, vaccination records for the puppies, etc. that's also where i kept certified copies of our marriage certificate.
yet another folder (or 2) held our house files (deed, loan information, etc.). a 3rd was humongous, and i've had it since college when it used to be my only file. it was divided by letter and kept everything from the title for our car to the user manual for the microwave.
i could tell you every detail about the rest, but you get the idea :)
we bought 2 sturdy plastic file boxes and added hanging folders. one box is for our personal stuff (school info, bank paperwork, id cards, taxes, dogs' records, etc.) and the other is for the things we own (house files, car info, manuals/warranties, etc.) it's working really well so far and looks so much better than a stack of different-sized plastic folders!
-tackled the utensil drawer
our kitchen utensils (spatulas, wooden spoons, serving spoons, etc) take up 3 spots in our kitchen: the crock beside the stove for the ones i use most often, and 2 drawers on the other side of the stove. all 3 were nearly overflowing.
we only had about 50 wooden spoons. ok, i exaggerate, but really we have a lot. some of them were starting to get kind of worn and splitting on the ends, so i threw these out.
i also tried to organize the drawers a little better. the first drawer, which is wider than the other, holds an assortment of everything (bottle opener, can drainer, spoons, rubber spatulas, measuring spoons, etc.) there were several smaller things floating around that i could never seem to find, so i just put a small tupperware container in the front of the drawer to corral those. shop your house, people!
-tidied up the drop-off spot
the counter underneath these shelves is always somewhat of a mess. it's where we put mail, where we charge the iPad and laptop, where we keep concert tickets, receipts, etc. it builds up quickly. :) we used to have a letter tray sitting at the back corner of the cabinet to keep it all, but that can turn into a pile before you know it.
i wandered around wal-mart until i found a storage solution that i thought would work.
tada! storage for letters and mail, as well as change and whatever other little things that don't have a place. best part is the iPad fits in perfectly if you turn it upside down. and it takes up about half the space of the original letter tray!
another good thing about moving the letter tray is that it found another home: our bathroom! i love our white table in there (from ikea) that holds our towels, but the top of it was sporadically decorated with a picture frame, vase of flowers, and 3 spice containers holding hair ties, bobby pins, and q-tips. putting all of that on the pretty tray and turning it sideways made it look so much more intentional!
who else is taking on home organization this january?
our kitchen utensils (spatulas, wooden spoons, serving spoons, etc) take up 3 spots in our kitchen: the crock beside the stove for the ones i use most often, and 2 drawers on the other side of the stove. all 3 were nearly overflowing.
we only had about 50 wooden spoons. ok, i exaggerate, but really we have a lot. some of them were starting to get kind of worn and splitting on the ends, so i threw these out.
i also tried to organize the drawers a little better. the first drawer, which is wider than the other, holds an assortment of everything (bottle opener, can drainer, spoons, rubber spatulas, measuring spoons, etc.) there were several smaller things floating around that i could never seem to find, so i just put a small tupperware container in the front of the drawer to corral those. shop your house, people!
 |
| looking a little better. (this is how it actually looks with no arranging...which might be obvious based on that backwards whisk!) i don't know if i'm ready to commit to drawer dividers for one that holds as much as this does, so i think we'll live with it as-is for now! |
-tidied up the drop-off spot
the counter underneath these shelves is always somewhat of a mess. it's where we put mail, where we charge the iPad and laptop, where we keep concert tickets, receipts, etc. it builds up quickly. :) we used to have a letter tray sitting at the back corner of the cabinet to keep it all, but that can turn into a pile before you know it.
i wandered around wal-mart until i found a storage solution that i thought would work.
tada! storage for letters and mail, as well as change and whatever other little things that don't have a place. best part is the iPad fits in perfectly if you turn it upside down. and it takes up about half the space of the original letter tray!
another good thing about moving the letter tray is that it found another home: our bathroom! i love our white table in there (from ikea) that holds our towels, but the top of it was sporadically decorated with a picture frame, vase of flowers, and 3 spice containers holding hair ties, bobby pins, and q-tips. putting all of that on the pretty tray and turning it sideways made it look so much more intentional!
who else is taking on home organization this january?
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