Project Simplify Day 1: Organizing Papers

So even though the project doesn't technically start until today, I tried to get a head start yesterday just be cause I was home... Uugh.  I don't think we are off to a good start, but I do have an idea of how to start.

I did get some good ideas:

Organize our schedule.  I went out a bought a new yearly calendar that hangs from the fridge and fits in the front of the pockets when it needs to travel.  It needs to hang on the fridge so the whole family can reach it to add important information.  My oldest is responsible for giving us notice of the days he wants to eat school breakfast (or lunch) and Dad-Dad works random hours on random days.  I have plenty of late meetings and doctors appointments too.  When we keep a calendar, we do very well with scheduling time.

You can also see our new way of organizing our artists' work.  I've placed page protectors on clip magnets for the boys to put their art in.  When they want to switch out the art, they can do it without adding more to the fridge.  It forces them to make the decisions.  I also like that I can take a page protector off the fridge and put it right into their binders!  I have a binder for each of them.. the youngest only has artwork, but the older has school work and Honor Roll certificates, report cards, and his school pictures.  It forced us to pare down the amount of paper in the wicker basket on the fridge, which is now empty! :-)

Organize new papers coming in.  I bought a  13-pocket portfolio for $13 for the counter and shredder to leave in the garage for those junk mail items with sensitive information like account numbers, pre-approval notices, those checks that credit cards send, etc.  I am very good about dumping junk mail, but I don't want to throw some of these things right into our curbside bin. Now I can ditch the junk outside without compromising security.  For the portfolio, each month is labeled with the month and when a new paper comes in (field trip, class party, car registration, etc.) it gets put into the correct pocket and written on the calendar.  This was called a "tickler file" and I saw it at Simple Mom. Even my green bowl is neat and decluttered!  This is where I keep spare keys, my sun glasses, things to mail, etc.  The white divider to the right of the bowl came from Staples too and holds my meal planner, restaurant coupons, gift cards, and coupon organizer.

So now I have a bit of a system, NO MAIL ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER, and a calendar hanging on the fridge where it should be. :-)  So maybe I didn't organize the playroom yet, but I have gotten a start on controlling our lives.