Show Us Your Life ~ How do you stay organized?

I'm linking up with http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ and joining in on this week's Show Us Your Life ~ How do you stay organized?

In my ideal world, everything in our home is put away, in it's respective closet, basket, or bin, menus are planned for the week, the hamper is empty (and all clothes have been put away), the dishwasher has been emptied, the to-do list on the fridge has been done, and the checkbook is balanced. If only that were real life! I know I have it in me to be more organized, but whether it be lack of time management, or just my procrastination, I often fall short in the area of staying organized.
There are a few areas that I seem to have gotten control of though. I have an organized system for keeping track of paperwork.....bills, receipts, and other important papers. I have a basket with files with different categories (monthly bills, to file, bank,etc.), along with envelopes, address labels, and stamps. When it's time to pay the bills, I just pull out the basket and everything is right there.



I keep it handy, along with a photo box that stores receipts and paperwork for a few months then moves to a storage file box for the year. I also keep a binder (or a control journal as FlyLady would call it), that holds passwords for all the websites I use, my Christmas card list, you name it, it's in there. I like that it's all in one place - no searching around. The other must for keeping me organized are calendars!! I have 3 of them. I have a day planner, a regular wall calendar -Mickey Mouse this year :O), and my most used calendar- my dry erase calendar on the fridge. LOVE IT!!!