Placemat File Box

Ever since we lost our 3rd bedroom (which acted as our home office) to our son's nursery our mail and filing has been less than perfect...

Mail in tray on top of fridge

Carrying papers down to the filing cabinet downstairs is just not convenient on a daily basis.  I needed a solution for filing our daily mail in a central location but that was still pretty and low cost.  I started by purchasing a simple inexpensive letter size file box at staples. 

I acheived the "pretty" by hot gluing two placemats to the file box which fit perfectly, I only had to cut a small strip off the bottom.

There were so many placemats to choose from at the dollar store, but I loved the texture of these cream coloured ones.

I am going to create the following labelled tabs so that our active files have a home.

• To Pay
• To Act
• To Read 
• To File

Linking to Sew Many Ways Sew Darn Crafty Party & A Bowl Full of Lemons Week 9 Purge Challenge

Bathroom Cupboard Organization

My master bathroom cupboards were just not working for  me,  they were not terribly cluttered but they just did not look tidy as nothing was contained.  A lot of people think being organized costs a lot of money and I can prove it does not with the little organization project I gave myself this weekend.  

I started by re-using some FREE solid cardboard boxes and recovering them with sticky paper I bought at the dollar store.  Seriously take a look at your recycling, sometimes the best size boxes are overlooked because we don't think of ways to re-use them.  I even found a print to cover them that matched the vanity colour!

I added an additional shelf that wasn't being used in the vanity for additional storage and so that no space would be wasted.

I added black vinyl lettering using my silhouette. L.O.V.E my silhouette!!!

I re-used berry containers to create a "nail caddy" and to contain the things I use "everyday". The sticky paper covered the writing on them.  

On my husband's side of the vanity, I created two more storage boxes one for his belongings and another for extra products such a toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorants, body wash and Q-tips.

I also needed a better solution to containing my travel cases and travel sized products which were previously housed inside each travel case, this didn't work for me as different trips always call for different things.  I was excited that this dollar store canvas tote fit perfectly inside a shelf in my vanity.

I used another dollar store plastic container to hold the travel products within the canvas tote.  

Total cost of this bathroom cupboard makeover:

• Sticky paper: $1.00
• Canvas Tote: $1.00
• Plastic Storage Bin: $1.00
• The joy I get when opening my pretty and organized cupboards....priceless :)

Linking to
Sew Many Way's Sew Darn Crafty Linky Party
http://www.organizewithsandy.com/2011/03/14/organizing-mission-monday-link-party-week-13/
http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/?p=18650

Purse Organization

For an organized person I was quite embarrassed about the state of my papers in my purse.  On an organized day my checkbook, kids health books, calendar and notebook would be all held together with an elastic.  I kept my coupons in an envelope also with these items.  My purse would always slowly fill with store receipts and bank statements from the debit machine until I went through and purged my purse.

I decided it was time for a little lunch hour organization project when I saw the perfect little organizer at the dollar store.  I had seen these kind of organizers before for coupons but did not feel it was necessary to organize my coupons to that level. This was the perfect size!

I started by making a list of all the paper things I kept in my purse and purging all the unnecessary items such as expired coupons, receipts, business cards etc.

This is the list I came up with:

• Business cards
• Bank statements
• Calendar
• Checkbooks
• Canadian Tire $
• Coupons
• Health Card L
• Health Card J
• Important #'s
• Loto
• Notebook
• Receipts
• Stamps

I had to cut the labels made with my label maker with scissors to fit them onto the little tabs.

I am so thrilled with my little $1.00 purse organization project.  This will also make my life easier when I am transferring purses.

Magazine Holder Update

My magazine holders in my work office are a great way for me to organize my various brochures, newsletters, booklets on various different topics on my bookshelf--however they were sooo ugly.  The holes in them didn't hide the papers very well. I purged each holder and created new subjects for the information I did not have a category for.

I decided to trade up my black ones for some larger cardboard ones we had a ton of in the office. You could also use cereal boxes and cut them into the appropriate shape.

I covered them with wrapping paper and scrapbooking tags both found at the dollar store and labeled them.  I liked them so much I made 10 of them since that is how many one role of wrapping paper could cover. 

This little improvement makes me happy and only cost me $2.00 :)

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick's Organize it Party