Martha Stewart Wall Organizer

I have always been an office supplies girl.

I was the one begging my mom to let me pick out my new backpack and notebooks as soon as school ended in June. I would make labels for all my notebooks and have everything set up in my backpack months before school started. Yes, I was a little nerd...and no things haven't changed much since then.

When I saw the Martha Stewart Wall Organizer in Staples I knew it was love at first sight. I had so many ideas of what I could use it for and waited until moving into my new bedroom to set up this masterpiece.

This little organizer has brought so much organizational joy into my desk area! I have two sections in this baby.  "TO DO" and "TO FILE"

I took about two weeks to figure out what my labels would be- I wanted them to be simple but I wasn't sure what they should be. I waited to see what I needed to clear off my desk and put into them and came up with simple categories.

I made the labels with my Brother labelmaker and put a piece of washi tape on the bins before sticking the label on top to give it a bit more color and allow the labels to stand out.

TO DO is anything that needs to be completed. This is where I put bills to be paid, surveys to complete, and information that I need to physically do something with. I wanted to keep all current tasks nearby for completion.

TO FILE is self-explanatory, it is any papers that need to be filed. I throw receipts in here as I bring them home throughout the week, bills that have been paid but need to be placed in my filing system, and anything else of the sort.

It's a simple, easy system that I can manage on a day to day basis. It keeps paperwork handy but off my precious desk space.

The Martha Stewart organizer is great because there are so many different ways you can use it. I have a small pinboard that I also usually have pinned behind my desk. I like to keep things like recent photos, save the dates, and other important papers I want to see in front of me on it. For the purpose of this blog I put it on the floor so you can see how it works.

The wall organizer itself is just a simple piece of plastic that gets placed on your wall. It has places for the front part to clip into place. This way you can hang the organizers in multiple places in your house and just switch out the fronts as needed.

The wall organizer itself has a level built in and it also comes with hardware to hook it onto the wall, but I've found that the command strips that have velcro on them work just as well and keep the organizers on the wall without a problem!

Here is what the back of the pinboard looks like- you can see how it hooks right into the back.

So there you have it...my Marth Stewart Wall Organizers! This post was not sponsored by Martha Stewart and all of these products were purchased with my own money, it is simply just a product that I love!

Organizing My File Cabinet Part 2

Today, I am sharing part 2 of my file cabinet organization!

I spent most of the morning yesterday out and about running errands. I had a pretty extensive shopping list when I left my house, however I managed to get everything on my list! 

A few of these items were used for projects- one that I will be sharing on Friday =)

I purchased 25 letter size hanging file folders and five small rolls of washi tape. I wanted to find white hanging files, but I wasn't able to find any white ones anywhere. I ended up with these, which are a brownish/tan color. It was either this or murky green, so I chose the brown. Although, I wasn't thrilled with the color choices, I am an incredibly impatient person and couldn't go from place to place searching for white hanging files, plus it was snowing and I wanted to get home…so brown it was.

Initially I planned on creating my own labels when I got back home and just using boring construction paper, or possibly making them on the computer. When I saw the washi tape stand, I did a double take. After spending a few minutes rummaging through the display, I decided that at $2 a roll I would buy 5 for my five categories.

Don't they look nice? I simply took the white label they supplied, wrapped the washi tape around it, and then created a label with my label maker. I think they look great, and I'm really excited about the way my file drawer looks now.

After organizing everything into five categories, I made sure to sort through each folder, getting rid of any papers I wouldn't need anymore.

Look at all that recycling!

Now, here's what my file drawer looks like now...

Nice huh?!

My first category is financial. I have my paycheck stubs, credit card files, tax files, budgeting files, and anything else that has to do finances.

My second category has to do with my car. I have a folder for general information, one for maintenance, and one for car insurance.

The third category is anything that has to do with work. I keep my current background checks, information for my job, and information for DMA in these files.

My green category is special events. I have files for both weddings I am participating in this year (any hotel information, registry information, etc goes in these files), and I also have files for vacations that I took last year.

My last section is my "everything else" category. I keep warranties, my writing, and medical information in this section.

Behind the hanging file folders is extra printer paper and extra notepads.

Goodbye recycling and stuff I can donate!

By the way, I *think* that I can include this bag of donations, and a bag of recycling into my Less Stuff Less Stress total! It feels so good to get rid of things I don't need, and to simplify. I don't feel overwhelmed when I open this drawer anymore- everything is simple and neat, just the way I like it!

Here's a final before and after for you:

 SOOOO much better!

Did you organize your files along with me? Share your links in the comment section, I would love to see what you've done!

Organizing My File Cabinet

Since spring is coming in only 29 days, I've decided to start a little spring cleaning series here on the blog. I will be sharing different sections of the house as I clean and organize them for my annual spring cleaning, and you are welcome to play along with me! I've also FINALLY discovered how to edit my photos to include text, so get ready for the future Balancing On My Toes readers!

Today I'm sharing my file cabinet before pictures. I decided after watching Alejandra's YouTube video that I wanted to update my file cabinet and create a more uniform look. Here's a before look at my bottom desk drawer (aka my file cabinet).

I keep a ton of paper in this file cabinet. I keep some extra printer paper, all my finical documents, work papers, and other important papers in this cabinet. I will get into more specific categories in my after tour once I have everything sorted.

The first step of completing a successful organizing project? Come on guys you should know this by now- Empty it out!

Now, that drawer needs a good scrubbing before everything goes back inside! Look at all this gross paper crumbs in the bottom of the drawer!

Meanwhile, everything was piled on my bed...

…and sorted into categories.

I ended up having to move my piles off my bed and onto the floor, so I could actually get to sleep last night.

So this is where I stand currently. My plan for today (if the snow isn't too crazy- I'm a little over this snowstorm business), is to head out and buy some new hanging folders all in white. Then I will create colored labels that coincide with different categories (financial, medical, etc…)

 I should be sharing an update tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Happy Organizing!

Simple Craft Project For Desk Organization

Since January is office/paperwork organizing month I thought I would do something to dress up my desk a little bit.

When I started this project I had my pens and highlighters inside my desk drawer and my pencils and markers needed a place to live.

I decided to do a simple craft project to create a place for my pencils and markers to live. Since there was nowhere in the drawer for them to go- I figured a scrapbook paper and soup can project would do the trick!

I picked out a peacock feather print scrapbook page and cut it into two pieces.

Then I waited until I had eaten two cans of spaghettios- I like how tall the cans are and wanted both cans to be the same height so there was some uniformity on my desk. A small detail like that would drive me crazy! =)

I used double sided tape to get the scrapbook paper to stick to the can- and then cut it down to size. And voila!

It was a simple project but totally changed the look of my desk! I love the blue and green peacock style because the colors work well with the other colors I have working in my room but the peacock allows it to be a little whimsical at the same time!

I first put pencils in one and markers in the other...but realized that it didn't make a ton of sense. The reason they didn't have a place in my desk drawer in the first place was because I usually use pens and highlighters. So I switched everything around- put my pencils and markers in the desk drawer and the highlighters and pens inside the new containers on my desk!

I absolutely love how it looks-and this was definitely a great small project to change my work space a little bit!