52 Weeks of Organizing: Binder Love

52 Weeks to Becoming More Organized

WEEK #1 ORGANIZATION: BINDERS

I'm always struggling with keeping our home organized. It seems the more I try to declutter, the more suff we keep adding to our already much-too-full home. I especially feel this way every year after the holidays. New clothes, new gadgets, more stuff to find a place for. But, then the New Year comes in, and it's like I have a fresh start, the perfect time to get organized and get the house in order {or at least try to!}. I know I have it in me somewhere to be more organized, and for the most part I am pretty on top of things, but clutter has a way of creeping in, piece by piece, and before you know it, it's out of control...again! My #1 organizing help: pen & paper, a notepad, a notebook, a calendar, a planner, a binder....if it isn't written down, then I become the most unorganized person on the planet.

one of my many calendars

I keep a notepad on my kitchen counter: there is always a to-do list

I've always used a notebook of some sort to keep track of things, from to-do lists for the day to our monthly budget. I would never pay a bill on time if I didn't write it all down! I do alot of bill paying online now and all of my banking online, but I still keep a "paper" copy of everything. It's all there in my planner and I can pull the info out whenever I need to. My newest love: binders. I plan to make one for everything in our household. I started with the two I use most: home and budget. They are not only pretty, but functional. The home binder is my home management binder. It holds everything from Christmas gift lists to paint samples for an upcoming project. It is so handy! I finally know where everything is. No more hunting through drawers and boxes of receipts to find something.
I bought cheap white binders from Target, clear sleeves and dividers. I decorated the fronts with some scrapbook paper.

The other binder is for the finances. It holds current insurance papers, current bank statements, as well as a list of bills due for the month. I plan to keep the binder current, for 3-4 months at the most, after that it gets moved to a file box......otherwise it will get stuffed {and unorganized!}