Operation Organization: Paper, Paper, Everywhere

One of our organizational nightmares is the flyers, coupons and mail that comes into our house on a daily basis. Generally, they get dropped in the kitchen, and then taken to the recycling bin outside (if we're lucky!) It's not much of a filing system.

I'm on a mission to try and make it a little better....

Coupon first... those valuable things. Basically, I get coupons in the mail everyday, but I don't have time to input them all in my spreadsheet everyday. I usually do this once/week on Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime, coupons get everywhere, and then I have to "gather" them, and I usually miss a few. Instead of that weekly chore, I decided to make myself a storage location for my desk where my coupons can sit BEFORE I file them into the appropriate folder.

I had a box that I got some formula samples in that has been kicking around that I decided might be a good (free!) way to organize.

I pulled out (and blew the dust off) my folder full of scrapbooking paper and found two sheets of 12x12"  that I liked and that match. It's Scenic Route, an older holiday collection if you have to get the exact same ones. I measured out my box and used my Fiskars paper cutter to cut the pieces to the right size. I also cut off the top flap of the box and repurposed it into a divider, using a little double sided tape and Scotch Tape. My "keep" coupons are on the left hand side, and my "trade" coupons are on the right hand side.  It fits beautifully on my desk and looks great, it was a simple project that took me maybe 10 minutes. 

My next project was a recycling bin for our office area. I looked at the local Walmart and Canadian Tire stores to try and find some but there was no recycling bins to be had. I thought outside the box slightly and realized that a 6L Rubbermaid Container would be the perfect size to fit there. I also happened to have one. I had to trade a few storage things around in the garage but managed to make it work.

So, instead of throwing out all the paper we typically have downstairs, now we have a bin.... not fancy, not a expensive solution, but easy and it works!

Next project: my baking cupboard.