Adventures in Pinland {School Paper Organization}

 

Organization is one area that I struggle with. It seems like everywhere I look there are messes and piles and more messes. Don’t get me wrong, I love things to be neat and tidy and organized, I just struggle getting to that point. That’s why this pin was perfect for me! I actually saw it way back in May when I was doing a little organizing of our command central. I made room for the school boxes and even bought all the supplies, and then they sat and sat unfinished for months.

Not only am I glad to now have a spot for all of the kids important school papers that collect over the years, but I am glad to have a lingering project checked off the list. Love it when that happens!

 

 

Each folder is labeled (pre – 12 grade) so I can easily file papers and pictures accordingly. The cute labels on the front of each file are available to download over at Dandee. She printed hers onto sticky labels but I just printed them onto printer paper, cut them out and then glued them on. I’m thinking I may gussy them up with a little washi tape … wouldn’t that be cute?

 

 

All in all this pin was a win! I love that I now have a place to corral all the kids important papers and pictures through the years, and that it also controls the volume of what I can keep. But I think my favorite thing about it is that I can easily flip through the files and see how my kids have changed and grown from year to year. Then, once the kids are grown and finished with school, they too will be able to look back and remember their school days, how they looked, who their teachers were, and see all the great things that they accomplished along the way!

 

How do you organize your kids school papers? I need a good system for the everyday flow of stuff that comes home from school and clutters up my counters. Any ideas?

 

Kristin

 

Adventures in Pinland {Fridge Coasters}

 

Have you guys seen this floating around on Pinterest? It’s been showing up as I browse for quite some time now and I love how a simple thing like a “fridge coaster” can amp up the look and clean-ability of your fridge in a matter of minutes! The folks over at It’s An Organized Chaos used a plastic place mat from Target to line their fridge shelves. (brilliant right!?!)

Source

 

My fridge was in desperate need of a little tlc. You know, a good thorough cleaning (as in take EVERYTHING out, throw half of it away because, yes, it had been that long and was THAT bad!), and then a good scrub down. I figured what better time than now to throw in a simple fridge coaster and I’m so glad I did!

 

I went to Target looking for some plastic placemats, and they had a few but nothing that I loved so … it was on to plan B. Shelf Liners. I bought two rolls (4.99 each) and for 10 bucks and a few minutes of my time I had a newly beautified fridge!

 

 

 

I have to say that after the liners were in and everything was put away I was pleasantly surprised every time I opened up the fridge! It’s funny how excited I get about things like this but I would literally open up the fridge just to take a peek and closed it every time with a smile on my face!

 

Here’s a side by side for comparisons sake. It’s so much better, right? And, honestly I can’t wait to clean it out again just to see if the coasters make it any easier. I’m thinking it will, but time will tell!

 

All in all this pin was an absolute win! It was an easy, cheap addition to the fridge that I only wish I had done sooner! It makes me want to attack the pantry … hopefully sooner than later!

Have a fun Halloween week! We are off to a Halloween party for D’s preschool and then I’m starting on another set of kitchen cabinets this week! It’s going to be super busy but I can’t wait!

 

Kristin

Wild Weather and the Fruits of our Labor

 

Happy Labor Day to everyone, I hope you are enjoying a nice relaxing day! We have been soaking up the long weekend and enjoying our last few hours of summer as school starts tomorrow!

This weekend we have had some wild weather. It went from sunny and beautiful to dark and stormy within minutes. After the heavens opened and it literally POURED and poured some more, I went outside to find some of the most interesting looking clouds. They were all so different in every direction, I just had to take a few shots and share!

These clouds to the east caught my eye first. They were so dark and fluffy at the same time.

 

This was to the south …

 

and to the north …

 

and to the west. With the sun setting it made for a gorgeous night!

 

Now, I didn’t spend the whole weekend gazing at the clouds … I promise, I did take advantage of the hubby being home (and boy has it been nice!) and got a thing or two done.

A while back I started to organize the garage, but most of the stuff was Kasey’s and I didn’t have a clue what to do with it. So we worked on it together this weekend, and although there is still a lot to be done, I thought I would share with you a few of our organizing/storage solutions.

The first order of business and my favorite solution so far is the scooter storage. Normally the scooters would get thrown down wherever and I felt like someone was always tripping over them. They get used daily so I knew they needed to be easily accessible for the kids. I wanted them to be able to get them down and put them away easily and on their own. These heavy duty metal brackets were the perfect solution. We hung them low enough so they were at the kids level and just one bracket holds all five of our scooters with no problem.

 

 

 

The next order of business was corralling all of the kids outdoor stuff. Things like footballs, soccer balls, sidewalk chalk, life jackets and squirt guns were in desperate need of a home. So when I saw this idea here, I knew it would be the perfect solution for us too! We designated this little corner that is the pass through from one garage to the other (and until this point was a complete waste of space) for all of the kids outdoor stuff. I still want to label things and add a few more small bins, but am loving that everything now has a home and isn’t scattered throughout the yard anymore!

 

We also added a few small things that make a big impact. This paper towel holder over the sink is one of them and now there will be no more dripping from the sink to the house to find a towel!

 

And these hooks for extension cords and tie downs. Before they were shoved into a drawer in the work bench and always in a big tangled mess. See … little changes, big impact!

 

 

We also used a couple of the same brackets that we used for the scooters to hang all of our rakes and shovels. I was a little concerned about having to get a bunch of things down in order to get to one shovel, but we stuck the the stuff that we used least in the back and the stuff we used more often in the front. I think it will work out great! Oh, and I almost forgot the kids snow shovels! They love to help shovel in the winter so hanging their shovels at kid height made sense, now they can grab them and go all on their own.

 

And don’t worry, we have a plan for the space under the window. Once we get a couple more hooks it will be our ladders new home.

 

I’m sure most of you out there have thought of and done most of this, but for us this was a great accomplishment and is helping us feel a little more relaxed every time we step foot in the garage.

Linking up to:
Savvy Southern Style

My Little Secret Explosion!

Do you have a spot in your home that looks neat and put together on the outside, but something just short of  an explosion on the inside? Come on, you know you do! Sometimes I feel like this describes most of my home! It’s not an easy task to keep things neat and organized, but I feel so much better when it is!

Meet my secret little explosion, aka command central. For the most part it looks ok from the outside. It could use a little sprucing up, but I would say it’s not bad.

 

You’ve heard the saying, never judge a book by it’s cover. Well, this totally applies here! I will say that there were some attempts at organization, but over the weeks, months, and probably years since my last attempt, this is what we have. One giant mess. And frankly, I was getting a little tired of prescription bottles and sunscreen falling on my head while I was trying to find the stamps!

 

 

 

 

So after purging a lot of crap and finding new homes for a few things, I made a plan and very roughly drew it up. I am a visual kinda girl so making a rough drawing of how I want things to end up really helps to keep me on track.

 

Then it was off to Target for some much needed storage baskets. I wanted something functional that would help to corral like items, but also visually pleasing and of coarse durable.

 

This is the part when I wanted to give up … it always gets so much worse before it gets better!

 

And just in case you didn’t get the gravity of all the crap … here is a closer look!

 

So here is how it ended up. Pretty close to what I had in mind, with a few tweaks. There are still a few things that I would like to do, like some sort of cork or fabric boards for the inside of the doors, a nice sized frame to replace the old cork and dry erase board behind the computer, something to organize the kids school papers that is also pretty so that I can keep it out on the counter, and possibly a fun fabric or paint behind the open shelves.

 

Overall, I love having a place for everything and everything in it’s place (now if only the rest of my house was this organized … one day!). I love having the green bins to easily be able to find related items and also to keep things a little more pleasing to the eye. The mail center is great because it keeps the mail off the counters. The top shelf is for things that need to be done and bills that need to be paid, the middle shelf is for anything that needs to be filed, and the bottom shelf is for things that I need to get to often like addresses, schedules, and anything else like that!

 

The drawers also got a pretty good overhaul. Now if I can just keep it all this way everything will be fabulous!

 

 

The cord drawer is better, but still not great. I’m thinking of maybe putting each one in it’s own labeled plastic baggie, but I’m still not convinced that’s the way to go. I’m open to suggestions. Anyone??

 

As you can see I was a little leery of putting much in this one. It’s just to tempting for little two year old hands. I may put a child lock on it so I can feel like I can fully use it or I may just wait until the little miss is a little older. We shall see!

 

 

So, although there is still much to do I am happy with the progress. And organizing this little area has had a bit of a domino effect, forcing me to forge on with the organization of other areas in the house. YAY!!

Now off to the garage to get my spray paint on … check back later this week to see what I’m working on for my little guys room!

Linking up here!
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